The work of James Henry Breasted, Class of 1890 and among North Central’s most revered alumni, is being honored with an exhibit at the
Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago through Aug. 31. “Pioneers to the Past: American Archaeologists in the Middle East, 1919-1920,” follows Breasted’s travels through Egypt and Mesopotamia in the unstable aftermath of World War I.
A leading Egyptologist, Breasted was founder of the Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago, and the goal of this journey was to acquire artifacts for the new Institute and to select sites for later excavation. His story is told by never-before-exhibited photos, artifacts, letters and archival documents.
“This exhibit gives us a fascinating glimpse of a pivotal moment in history—the birth of the modern Middle East as we know it today and, at the same time, the genesis of modern archaeological research in the cradle of civilization,” says Oriental Institute Director Gil Stein.
The
Oriental Institute Museum is located at 1155 E. 58th St., Chicago.
