Capturing Egypt's Archaeological Heritage from Postcards of the Early-20th Century

Introduction:

This site exhibits a collection of over 300 vintage, early 20th-century postcards depicting ancient Egyptian archaeological heritage. Postcards such as these represent one of the largest categories of souvenirs that tourists, primarily, acquired during the rise of Egypt's popularity as a destination for European and American travelers (and smaller numbers from other world regions). They are the kind of mementos that allowed visitors to capture the sites they visited during their sojourn along the Nile, particularly at a time when many tourists did not travel with their own personal camera equipment. Whether the cards were kept unposted or were eventually sent to others, they carry with them a vast trove of information about the changing nature of the sites, how they were presented, and their development as world cultural heritage.  As a whole, they provide us with a sense of how Egypt was marketed and represented to tourists - and also by them - through the popular practice of acquiring and sharing these pocket-sized images. The cards curated on this website offer a lens into the workings of Egyptomania, specifically, the early 20th-century imperial efforts to define the value of that land's Pharaonic past in universalist terms. 

Representative Examples from the Collection:

Edfu - Temple of Horus c. 1915

The iconic pyramid scene c. 1915

Phylae in the cataract c. 1905

Camels at the Sphinx c. 1910