Haihan Gao
Pronouns: he/his/him
Research Mentor(s): Irene Soto Marin, Assistant Professor/ Assistant Curator
Research Mentor School/College/Department: Classical Studies / Kelsey Museum of Archaeology, College of Literature, Science, and the Arts
Presentation Date: Thursday, April 22, 2021
Session: Session 2 (11am – 11:50am)
Breakout Room: Room 8
Presenter: 5
Abstract
In the 1910s and 1920s, Professor Francis W. Kelsey, Chairman of the Department of Latin at UM, brought a collection of papyrus from the hands of dealers and his friends in Egypt back to the US. His goal was to make papyrus manuscripts available to American scholars. My work is to read and transcribe around 30 letters between Professor Kelsey and Dr. Askren, one of his friends and colleagues in Egypt. After the reading, I learned a lot about the details during the dealing process. The current supply of papyri was coming mainly from the ruins of ancient villages and fellahs would exploit the mounds with papyri as an agricultural fertilizer. The research aims to share this kind of information relevant to researchers working with the papyrus collection and other objects stored at the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology, as well as anyone who is curious about the collecting process.
Authors: Haihan Gao
Research Method: Library/Archival/Internet Research
