From Egypt to Ann Arbor: The Building of the Papyrus Collection

The Michigan Papyrus Collection is a monument to the vision, faith, and tireless energy of the late Professor Francis W. Kelsey, Chairman of the Department of Latin from 1889 to 1927, whose name has been most appropriately commemorated in the Francis W. Kelsey Museum of Archaeology, situated on South State Street. In 1915, Professor Kelsey was in Italy for the settlement of the estate of Thomas Spencer Jerome, an alumnus of Michigan, whose bequest to his alma mater supports the lectureship that bears his name. There he met Dr. David L. Askren, a former American medical missionary in Egypt, then practicing in the Fayum, where he later rendered his service to the University's archaeological expedition to Karanis and Dime. Dr. Askren interested Professor Kelsey in the possibility of acquiring such papyri as he might be able to purchase from their discoverers or from local dealers in antiquities. But, owing to the fact that World War I was in progress, no definite arrangements could then be made. In 1916, Mr. Charles L. Freer, of Detroit, a great collector of Asiatic art, acting with the Morgan Library in New York, purchased by correspondence, from Maurice Nahman, a well known and very astute Cairene dealer in antiquities a papyrus codex or book of the Minor Prophets, together with a group of Coptic manuscripts, acquired by Dr. Askren in the Fayum. The University was concerned in this because Mr. Freer intended that his codex should be published by Professor H.A. Sanders, who already had edited Freer's parchment manuscript of the Gospels, acquired in 1906. But the prevailing war conditions prevented the delivery of the new purchases, which were placed in the custody of the American consul in Cairo. Professor Kelsey, however, continued his personal correspondence with Dr. Askren, and the latter kept buying small quantities of Greek and Coptic papyri, which Kelsey in turn hoped ultimately to be able to buy from him for the University Library.

It was not, however, until after the armistice of 1918 that Professor Kelsey could make definite plans for a personal visit to Egypt, in order to acquire what papyri were available and to make an on-the-spot investigation of the whole papyrus situation. But, in spite of the delay, he never lost confidence in the ultimate success of his project to make papyrus manuscripts available to American scholars, and energetically sought to secure cooperation both from within and without the University. the writer of this article well remembers being halted by him on the walk between Tappan and Alumni Memorial Halls and asked abruptly, "When I bring some papyri to the University, will you help to edit them out?" His enthusiasm compelled immediate consent. At long last, in February, 1920, Professor Kelsey arrived in Cairo on what may appropriately be called the First Near East Expedition of The University of Michigan. Associated with the University in this venture were the Morgan Library, the Freer Fund, and the University of Wisconsin. In Cairo, Professor Kelsey secured the codex of the Minor Prophets, which Freer had bought in 1916, and also bought what papyri Nahman and Askren had on hand. More important, however was his meeting with B. P. Grenfell of Queen's College, Oxford, then the leading British papyrologist, who many years before had unearthed large quantities of papyri in both the Fayum and the Nile Valley.

In Grenfell Professor Kelsey found a warm friend and an expert advisor. From him, Dr. Askren, and others he learned that the current supply of papyri was coming mainly from the ruins of ancient villages, which formed mounds of varying height on the borders of the cultivated land, especially in the Fayum. The debris of which these mounds were composed contained a considerable quantity of nitrogenous matter which made it valuable as an agricultural fertilizer. When Egypt was cut off from its normal supply of imported nitrates, owing to the war, the local cultivators began to exploit the mounds as a substitute, and they continued to do so after the war was over. As a result, these village sites were rapidly disappearing from the landscape. In the course of their digging, the peasants unearthed quantities of papyri, which they were supposed to turn over to the guards supplied by the Egyptian Department of Antiquities to supervise the digging. But usually they managed to conceal the bulk of their finds, divide them among themselves, and sell them to local dealers. The latter, in turn, generally tried to dispose of them at a profit in one of the larger towns, preferably in Cairo.

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