Egyptology
Among the strengths of the Penn Libraries' collections, especially those housed in the Penn Museum Library, are our collections related to the archaeology, architecture, arts, culture, history, languages, religions, and texts of ancient Egypt and Nubia.
Collection Overview
For over 160 years, the study of ancient Egypt and Nubia at the University of Pennsylvania has flourished, in large part due to the Penn Libraries' abundant resources for Egyptology.
Over 30,000 volumes on ancient Egypt and Nubia are housed in the so-called "Egyptian" section on the top level of the Penn Museum Library, which is dedicated to archaeology and anthropology and which is conveniently located next to the museum's Upper Egypt Gallery. The library's "Locked Room" for special collections includes another 124 antiquarian publications, such as the influential and beautifully illustrated publication Description de l'Egypte (1809-1828), the compilation of which began during Napoleon's military expedition to Egypt.
In addition to the Penn Museum Library, special and general collections related to the architecture, history, languages, and literature in ancient and medieval Egypt and Nubia can be found in the Van Pelt-Dietrich Library, Fisher Fine Arts Library, and the Library at the Herbert D. Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies where appropriate. Among the materials are more than 600 medieval manuscripts and fragments once held in the genizah or storeroom of the Ben Ezra Synagogue in Cairo, Egypt, which came to the Penn Libraries from various collections to which the manuscripts were dispersed; Penn Libraries has partnered with other holding institutions to digitize these scattered manuscripts and crowd-source transcriptions of the texts.
Penn Libraries continues to collect new Egyptological scholarship in support of research based in the Penn Museum and the University's prestigious programs housed in the Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures department.
Contact
Related Sites
The Aegyptus Electreus digital collection contains scans of excavation reports, philological works and museum catalogs from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, but the content is available only to patrons with valid PennKeys.
The Penn Libraries hold a collection of more than 600 medieval manuscript fragments from the Cairo Genizah.
The Penn Museum Library's Locked collection includes a wide array of rare books relevant to anthropology and archaeology. Worth noting are 18th-19th-century publications of early travelers and antiquarians and 19th-20th-century illustrated catalogs of textiles and small finds.
Exhibits
On display July 16, 2024 - December 12, 2024 at the Penn Museum Library, this exhibit showcases the first full English translation of the Rosetta Stone, which was prepared and later published by Penn students in 1858.