Help transcribe financial lists of donors to the Egypt Exploration Fund in 1899-1900

The Egypt Exploration Fund was set up in 1882 by Amelia Edwards, a travel writer, and Samuel Birch of the British Museum. Through this Fund, individuals and private organisations could donate money towards the Egyptian excavations, enabling artefacts to be brought back to Britain's museums and leading to the regional museum growth of the late-19th century.

This project is focused on who was donating to the EEF from 1899-1907 and is part of a wider project looking at donors from 1885-1923. These donors are listed in the reports from the Annual General Meetings of the EEF, allowing us to see who was donating, what they were donating and their link to the fund. With this information we can begin to understand patterns in donors and suggest why they may have donated.

The period of 1899-1900 was an exciting time for Egyptology. Key excavations included those at Deir el Bahari and Abydos, excavated by teams of Egyptians under the direction of Edouard Naville and Flinders Petrie. At Abydos, so many small figurines were found, that, for the first time, every donor to the EEF was personally given one. The American branch of the EEF was also increasing its involvement at the end of the 19th century, with nearly half of the Fund's income coming from branches in Boston, New York, Philadelphia and Chicago. The Fund was very popular there as it enabled Egyptian antiquities to enter American museums. However, by the 20th century, disagreements led to American donations falling, with a desire by American scholars to produce original work in Egyptology, away from the fund.

The Fund was a way for people, particularly women, to increase their social standing. As Egyptology wasn't yet a discipline, there were less boundaries limiting those who could be involved and thus large numbers of women took on the role of local honorary secretaries and campaigned locally for the EEF. This project will be able to identify more of these individuals and their roles.

It is worth noting that the EEF's annual report from 1900-1901 has not yet been digitised (and due to the current climate is impossible to do so), however with the remaining 6 reports from this critical period we can begin to understand the people involved. This cannot be done without the transcribing of the lists of donors that will enable data collection and analysis.