Egyptology Tour Through Gilded Age New York

Women built American Egyptology. When Britons Amelia Edwards and Kate Bradbury arrived in New York in November of 1889, the first thing they saw was a still-copper-hued Statue of Liberty. They had arrived for a five-month whirlwind lecture tour, hoping to fan America’s spark of Egyptological interest into flames. Their plan worked. The women toured Egyptology collections, including at the New-York Historical Society and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Over the next 25 years, American women took up the mantle, building and curating these collections in New York. Dr. Kathleen Sheppard, author of the new book Women in the Valley of the Kings: The Untold Story of Women Egyptologists in the Gilded Age (St. Martin’s Press), will take attendees on a tour of New York between 1889 and 1916, shedding light on some of the city’s oldest Egyptological sights. Dr. Sheppard will be signing copies of the new book.

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