Tourists, Postcards & Egyptomania
Postcards provided the growing number of upper middle-class tourists who embarked on the Nile - through outfits such as Thomas Cook and Sons - with tangible mementos of their travels. Many of these visitors would arrange their postcards for further study in albums upon their return, while some would post them from Egypt or even upon return to Europe or the United States. The Egyptomania craze which took hold in the early 19th c. following the publication of major works about the country and its monuments, particularly the decipherment of hieroglyphics, was reflected in the subjects represented on these cards. While archaeological sites and related topics were popular, images of Egyptian rural and urban life, studio portraits of Egyptian women (sometimes in sexually provocative poses), cityscapes, and architecture (including the hotels where tourists stayed) were similarly widespread. Postcards fell out of fashion for many international travelers after WWI, however, in Egypt they retained their popularity much longer. This was perhaps a result of the indternational media sensation surrounding the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb in 1922 that set off a new wave of Egyptomania and tourist interest.
Shops and souvenir vendors at major Egyptian sites and cities offered postcards, especially in and around the major hotels. Several studios set up retail outlets in Cairo, Luxor and Aswan as well as the major ports of Alexandria and Port Said. One of them, that of the Egyptian photographer Attiya Gaddis, still exists in Luxor and has become something of a museum in its own right.
This website exhibits a collection focused specifically on how the archaeological heritage of Egypt was depicted through this medium by studios operated by both European and Egyptian photographers from c.1900-1940. It was a period that witnessed rapidly changing attitudes towards archaeology, cultural heritage, the role of the tourist economy, and Egypt's emergence as a modern nation state. Each exhibit was developed by students at the University of California, Irvine enrolled in the the anthropology course "Egyptomania" taught by Dr. Ian Straughn. Each section explores a particular theme and how it contributes to our understanding of Egyptomania as well as both the representation of Egypt and the production of knowledge about the country, its people, its culture, and its place in discourses of world heritage.