January 11, 2010
6:00 pm, The Oriental Institute
RSVP required

Oriental Institute Members are invited to join us for and exclusive Members’ Preview of the special exhibit Pioneers to the Past: American Archaeologists in the Middle East 1919-1920.

Ninety years ago, the archaeologist-Egyptologist James Henry Breasted traveled with four companions across a war-torn Middle East to purchase antiquities for study and display in Chicago and to identify sites for excavation. It was the first expedition of the Oriental Institute. The exhibit Pioneers to the Past: American Archaeologists in the Middle East 1919-1920 takes a fresh look at this formative event in the life of the Oriental Institute.

The exhibit features Breasted's letters, photographs, and some of the objects he brought back to Chicago. They tell a great adventure story, but they also raise questions for archaeologists of today who think differently about many issues. For example: who owns the past? How are modern nations linked to past civilizations? How do archaeologists relate to people in foreign countries where they work? This thought-provoking exhibit explores these questions and more.

6:00 Program and remarks by curator Geoff Emberling, followed by exhibit viewing in the Marshall and Doris Holleb Family Gallery

Reception to follow in the Edgar and Deborah Jannotta Mesopotamian Gallery

7:00-7:30 Exhibit catalog signing
The Suq will feature a special selection of related books and gifts.

Please RSVP by January 4 to the Membership Office at oi-membership@uchicago.edu or 773.834.9777.