The Society’s Amelia Edwards Projects have become an enormously important part of our annual activities. Since we launched the first round of projects in 2008, we have sent additional archaeological teams to Egypt, provided them with new equipment, transformed the Lucy Gura Archive from a forgotten collection into a professionally-run world-class resource, and brought twelve young Egyptian scholars the UK to further their research in our library. None of this could have happened without our supporters' donations.

We are now ready to launch the latest round of projects; as usual we are looking for support to build on existing initiatives and to introduce some new ones as well. We hope you will approve and feel moved to contribute. The Amelia Edwards Projects have given us some of our biggest successes in recent years and we are confident that this will continue in the coming months.

The 2015-16 Amelia Edwards Projects

UK Archive Intern

The Society employed two interns in summer 2015, to continue the work of cataloguing, digitizing and promoting the archive holdings. This was enormously useful both in terms of advancing our work on the collections and in exposing the interns (students of archiving and conservation) to the work of a specialist archive. It is also just one of the opportunities the Society is now offering as part of its commitment to talent development.

Total Funds Required: £2,500

 Egypt Archive Intern

We have been aware for some time the Society has a great deal to offer our Egyptian colleagues in terms of access to library and other facilities. The programme of scholarships – which began as an Amelia Edwards Project and has now blossomed into a much larger initiative with funding from the British Council – is one result of this. The scholarships have been of enormous benefit in helping us to understand much better the challenges faced by our colleagues in Egypt; one theme which has emerged is the rapidly developing awareness there of the importance of archives and the need to preserve them. In terms of its archival work the Society is now among the leading Egyptological institutions and has much to offer in terms of skills and experience. We propose to extend the scholarships programme by offering one additional place specifically for an Egyptian to work with the Society’s staff and volunteers, gaining experience of working with a well-organised collection and the benefit of the skills the team has to offer.

Total Funds Required: £5,000

Exhibition: ‘Excavating Egypt’

In summer 2015 we staged the first EES exhibition in many years, gathering a mass of text and images together to tell the story of the Society’s work over the past 130 years. This was a clear and succinct way to explain what the Society is, what it has achieved and what its work is today. We could only make the space available at Doughty Mews for a limited period of time but do not want to lose the opportunity to make use of its content for a wider audience. We therefore propose to take the exhibition forwards in two ways:

‘Excavating Egypt’: In Cairo

Firstly, we would like to recreate the exhibition in the form of information panels in English and Arabic to be displayed at the British Council in Cairo. Our aim would then be for the panels to be circulated to other institutions with which we have partnerships including Cairo and Faiyum Universities and the Bibliotheca Alexandrina.

Total Funds Required: £1,500

‘Excavating Egypt’: in Print

Secondly, we would like to convert the text and images into a printed booklet which could be circulated even more widely. This would be sold for a small charge to EES members and others and otherwise distributed to potential sponsors and partner institutions.

Total Funds Required: £1,000

To make a donation please go here.

Thank you! Your support will make a very real difference to what we can achieve in the future.

Achieved in previous thanks to your support

Since 2008 we have launched twenty new Amelia Edwards Projects. Our aim has been to maintain and develop our existing activities and to give you the opportunity to make a direct contribution to our efforts, and to show you how your contribution can be put to immediate good use.

Fieldwork and Research
Your donations have helped to maintain and develop our portfolio of fieldwork projects especially in the crucial years following the withdrawal of the British Academy when it was unclear to what extent we would be able to continue the vital work the Society has undertaken in Egypt for over a century. Joanne Rowland’s work at Quesna was given a vital lift at this time, and has since yielded numerous important discoveries including the revelation of a Third Dynasty mastaba. Angus Graham’s Theban Harbours and Waterscapes Survey which is transforming our understanding of the Theban landscape is now established as a major part of the Society’s work. At Tell Basta, decorated Old Kingdom tombs have been properly recorded by Eva Lange and her team for the first time. An entirely new project at Tell Mutubis directed by Penny Wilson was inaugurated, and has since developed into another longer-term project.

New activities in Egypt
Your support has allowed us to develop the activities of the Cairo office in entirely new ways. In order to engage better with our friends, colleagues and supporters in Egypt we are now publishing a Cairo edition of the Society’s Newsletter in English and Arabic, and the Journal of Egyptian Archaeology now contains summaries in Arabic as well. A complete set of the Society publications is in the process of being transferred to the Society’s Cairo library. Most importantly, the idea of bringing Egyptian scholars to the UK which began as an Amelia Edwards Project now has the support of the British Council and has allowed us to bring twelve of our most promising young to London over he last two years. Furthermore we will be developing the programme of training activities we offer in Egypt thanks to the first EES ‘fellow’ who will join the office in Cairo in early 2016.

Archive
Our work on the Society’s Lucy Gura archive has been transformed in the last few years thanks to your contributions and enthusiasm for the Society’s rich history and collections. The beautiful watercolour paintings by Howard Carter and others have now been cleaned, conserved and rehoused, along with the early correspondence, Flinders Petrie’s earliest photographs, and a collection of material associated with Amelia Edwards herself. A new archive catalogue has been introduced and an internship allowed us to catalogue the crucially important record cards documenting the objects discovered by the Society, principally at Amarna. One of the very first Amelia Edwards Projects, the Oral History of Egyptology Project enabled us to record the memories of some of the most senior Egyptologists, helping us to add context to the stories told through the archives.

Help us to repeat this success
We have been fortunate that, thanks to your generous response to each year’s campaign, we have been able to carry out all the projects proposed, but some have proven more popular than others, which has helped us to plan further activities with a much improved idea of the kinds of undertaking that you would be most willing to support. Some of the projects represented entirely new activities for the Society, and proposing them allowed us to test their viability and your enthusiasm for them. Perhaps most gratifyingly, several of these have grown to become established as major areas of activity.

The new projects announced here are intended to help us repeat the successes of previous years by expanding and developing our activities, and giving you the chance to have your say in our work by choosing which you think are most deserving of support. We have been able to achieve a lot since 2008 but could not have done it without your help.

Please help us to continue this success: make a contribution now

Thank you! Your support will make a very real difference to what we can achieve in the future.