I just died and went to heaven and it was called the library at Chicago House. I had asked if I could use their facilities in connection with my Manchester Uni course and I went along there for the first time today.
It is a proper library with a musty smell and shelves of tooled leather volumes. The index is on cards, they have field reports dated 1920,1921 etc. There were sections of German and French books. Folios, wonderful prints. It was truly fantastic.
They also had all the modern stuff as well so I read one book on my list and got to chapter 2 on another. I must admit to complete curiosity and rummaged around the returned books as people left to see what they were reading. Kent Weeks was there when I arrived and I think he was looking at some hieroglyphic texts, there were 2 Egyptian girls look at tomb publications.
Honestly you could spend all day in there, there were some wonderful black and white photos in the corridor when I went to the loo. Men in dinner jackets, ladies in wonderful old costumes all posed in front of Chicago House
4 comments:
Thanks for the "rave" review of the Chicago House library, Jane! I'm glad you had a successful first visit.
Marie (the CH librarian)
Are the library opening now days
The Chicago House Library is a private library and is only open to our staff, members of Egyptological missions, employees of the Ministry of Antiquities, and Egyptian students at Egyptian universities pursuing Master's and Doctoral degrees.
Yes the library is open every season but it is not a public library. It belongs to Chicago Uni and is a resource for them which is also open to field archaeologists. The current director will listen favourable to students doing accredited courses at university and may grant individual permission. You have to make a personal application. Also visitors have to make arrangements in advance to visit, you cant just turn up.
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