JEFFREY ABT. American Egyptologist

In his recent biography, Jeffrey Abt seeks to restore pioneering American Egyptologist James Henry Breasted to his position as a prominent public intellectual in the early twentieth century. Abt portrays Breasted in the image of an early Indiana Jones—a handsome and charismatic scholar who was able to communicate equally well with the public, fellow academics, and philanthropists like John D. Rockefeller. Trained in the model of German research universities, Breasted helped define the fields of Near Eastern and Egyptian archeology through the study of language, religion, and culture, eventually founding the Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago. Abt situates Breasted's professional contributions within the contemporary politics of academic professionalization, emerging national models of archaeology, and museology, and Progressive interpretations of the New History in America. Among a new generation of scholars in the late nineteenth century, Breasted sought to integrate academic disciplines while also making his research available to the public. Breasted first studied under mentor William Rainey Harper in public courses at the Progressive summer community of Chautauqua, New York, later studying philology at Yale, and Egyptology at the University of Berlin under Harper's direction. Breasted began his professional career at the University of Chicago as both a teaching instructor and curator of the new Haskell Oriental Museum. It was at the University of Chicago, Abt argues, that Breasted first worked out the balance between academic research and public education, at the museum and through teaching university extension courses. Breasted also learned how to negotiate with patrons and benefactors to fund research projects and the multiple trips abroad that were required to conduct said projects. Through detailed discussion of Breasted's correspondence, American Egyptologist provides an engaging cultural and intellectual history of the early formation and professionalization of academic and museum archeology.

Art history · Biography · Charisma · Egyptology · Media studies · Political science · Politics · Professionalization · Public figure · Social science · Sociology · Thriving · Ancient Egypt and Archaeology · Classics · History · Law