From Egypt to
Ann Arbor: The
Building of the Papyrus Collection
Among American universities, Michigan is unique in having a Research Professorship of papyrology, a fact which bears testimony to the relative importance of our papyrological collection. In 1929 the Advisory Committee on Near East Research, desiring to expedite the task of papyrus publication, recommended the creation of a research assistantship in papyrology. In September of that year, the new position was filled by the appointment of Mr. H. C. Youtie, who had received his training under the distinguished French papyrologist, Paul Collart. His research assistantship gradually developed into the research professorship to which he was advanced in 1946. Needless to say, the establishment of this research position has contributed greatly to the University's steady output of papyrological publications.
In addition to the permanent research appointee, Michigan papyrological studies have profited from the contributions of other, temporary research assistants, as well as from graduate students working in the field.
It was no easy task to find the money required for the continuous purchase of papyri over a long term of years. In March, 1920, Professor Kelsey suggested to Dr. Bishop that a sum of from $8,000 to $10,000 be raised for this purpose, but it was some years before any such amount became available. The University's share of the expedition of 1920 was financed by an appropriation by the Board of Regents and contributions from the Humanistic and Biblical Research Funds, amounting in all to $5,750. Further regental appropriations of $2,000 and $2,500 were made in 1921 and 1922, respectively. These appropriations were supplemented generously in 1922 and 1923 by Mr. J. W. Anderson, a Detroit alumnus, who made gifts of $7,500 each year for the purchase of a special group of documentary papyri, in the name of the Law Class of 1890, of which he was a member. When Professor Kelsey entered on his agreement with Mr. Nahman to take each year whatever good papyri came into the dealer's hands, he made this commitment largely on faith, since he literally did not know where the necessary funds would come from. And it speaks volumes for the confidence which he was able to inspire in others, that Egyptian dealer sent his materials to London for evaluation and waited, albeit at times under voluble protest, until the money could be raised to complete the payments on them. From 1923 until 1932, however, owing to the establishment and maintenance of the Near East Research Fund through the generosity of Mr. Horace H. Rackham, of Detroit, the financial situation was much more favorable; one of the specific objectives of the Fund the acquisition of papyrus manuscripts. Since 1932, additions to the Collection have been relatively few and have been financed from special funds at the disposal of the University.
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