Shortly after New Year's, my family surprised me with the promise of a summer vacation in Egypt. Recognizing that temperature would be a challenge, planning still proceeded happily until events unfolded on CNN. Concern grew for the country's political stability, but after embassies reopened and tiles ripped from Tahrir Square were replaced, we decided to go. Election schedules were being discussed and there were no new headlines at that time. A few friends asked about safety but most were supportive, at least to our faces...

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On May 31, 2011, ARCE sent an email to its membership explaining the recent decision of the U.S. Department of Education (USED) to cancel its funding of the American Overseas Research Centers (AORC) program for fiscal year 2011. Many ARCE members showed their support by signing a petition to reinstate this funding, also leaving wonderful comments.

Read the member comments>>

On January 28th, 2011, amid the chaos of the recent Egyptian revolution, the Egyptian Museum was broken into for the first time in its history. More than a dozen vitrines were broken and objects were scattered all over the museum. The army took control immediately, with their first priority to secure the museum against further break-ins. The museum staff was allowed in to begin assessing the damage and inventorying the broken vitrines on February 6th.

As bad as this was for one of the world's most iconic Egyptology collections, it could have been worse. The fact that registrars were on staff and able to take an inventory of the objects is important to note here. The database created as part of the ARCE Registrar project was an enormous help during the recent crisis.

Read more about the Registrar Training Project and how it helped>>