Note: A previous version of this story misspelled Flinders Petrie’s name, and incorrectly stated that the Hawara mummy was found in a basement by the Block Museum curator.
ALTHOUGH MUMMIES ARE OFTEN PERCEIVED AS PROPS IN A LARGER STORY, THIS STORY CENTERS AROUND THE MUMMY ITSELF AND BRINGS UP QUESTIONS ABOUT OWNERSHIP, RESPECT, REPATRIATION, AND BELONGING THAT ARE BEING PLAYED OUT ON CAMPUS.
LAST QUARTER, I TOOK A CLASS CALLED THE POLITICS OF DISPLAY. ONE OF OUR ASSIGNMENTS WAS TO VISIT THE MUMMY, WHICH WAS ON DISPLAY IN STYBERG LIBRARY. ONE OF THE PEOPLE ALSO TAKING THAT CLASS WAS WEINBERG SENIOR KATY KIM. SHE’S AN ART HISTORY AND POLITICAL SCIENCE MAJOR. LIKE ME, SHE DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT THE EXISTENCE OF THE MUMMY UNTIL OUR ASSIGNMENT, WHICH WAS TO WRITE A LABEL FOR ITS DISPLAY CASE.
[KK] My initial reaction was surprise and shock. I think it’s important to note that for the purposes of this assignment, we couldn’t opt out of not displaying the mummy, which I feel like is a decision that I preferred. It made me really think about the ways in which through this label, I could communicate that this just wasn’t an object and that we could present the mummy in a way that both respected its humanity as a person and also the aesthetic considerations.
TO VISIT THE MUMMY, STUDENTS ENTER GARRETT-EVANGELICAL THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THEOLOGY ON NORTHWESTERN’S CAMPUS, AND TURN RIGHT TO ENTER STYBERG LIBRARY. IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROOM, SURROUNDED BY CHAIRS AND BOOKSHELVES, IS A DISPLAY CASE WITH THE MUMMIFIED REMAINS OF A FIVE YEAR OLD GIRL. KIM SAYS THE CLASS, AND THE ASSIGNMENT, MADE HER THINK ABOUT HOW WE DISPLAY OBJECTS, PARTICULARLY HUMAN REMAINS.
[KK] I learned a lot in the class. But two things that really came to mind were how much a museum’s display surrounding an object can influence how visitors engage with it. Especially in regards to the mummy, it made me think about how a museum has a really big responsibility to provide context on the work of art. But when you’re also thinking about mummies, or the display of human remains, it’s important to balance those aesthetic considerations with respect and dignity for that person’s life.
WHEN I RETURNED TO STYBERG LIBRARY FOR THIS STORY, THE MUMMY’S DISPLAY HAD CHANGED. NOW, INSTEAD OF AN INFORMATIONAL LABEL, THERE WAS A LITURGY WRITTEN BY KAREN MOSBY, THE DEAN OF STUDENT LIFE OF GARRETT, AND A SHROUD COVERED THE DISPLAY CASE FROM VIEW.
TO UNDERSTAND THE CHANGE IN THE MUMMY’S DISPLAY AND HER HISTORY IN STYBERG LIBRARY, I SPOKE TO DR. BARRY BRYANT, A PROFESSOR AT GARRETT SEMINARY.
[Barry Bryant] It came to us through the Hibbard collection. Lydia Beekman Hibbard was a wealthy Episcopalian and she funded the procurement of her remains from a rather noted Egyptologist, Flinders Petrie, who was a bit of white supremacist, he believed in eugenics and the superiority of the Anglo-Saxon race. And I think he excavated her from the site in 1909. And I think she was procured around 1911. And she was at Seabury-Western (Theological Seminary) for, for all that time. And when they closed, our library procured their library collection. She ended up at Garrett until she was discovered by a curator for the Block Museum.
THE BLOCK MUSEUM’S 2018 EXHIBIT, “PAINT THE EYES SOFTER”, DISPLAYED THE HAWARA MUMMY, AS IT WAS KNOWN, AS ONE OF ONLY ABOUT 900 PORTRAIT MUMMIES KNOWN TO EXIST. AFTER THE EXHIBIT ENDED, SHE WAS RETURNED TO GARRET SEMINARY. BRYANT SAYS IT WAS HER PRESENCE THERE THAT BEGAN TO RAISE QUESTIONS FOR HIM ABOUT HOW TO PROPERLY DISPLAY THE MUMMY.
[BB] I have a five year old granddaughter who was with me on a trip to the library, and we walked past the case. And she glanced to her left and said, “What’s that?” How do you explain to a five year old girl that that’s the mummified remains of another five year old girl, who is about her size, and probably about her weight? I sort of took the easy way out, knowing that she probably wouldn’t fully realize what a mummy is, and said, “That’s a mummy.” And she said, “What’s a mummy?” I said, “Well, it’s how Egyptians buried their dead.”
ABBY HOLCOMBE, A MASTERS OF DIVINITY STUDENT AT GARRETT, SAYS HER ROLE ON THE STUDENT COUNCIL GAVE HER INSIGHT INTO HOW OTHER SEMINARY STUDENTS FELT ABOUT THE MUMMY.
[Abby Holcombe] There were a couple of students who were on board with having her there because they thought that we kind of cared for Hawara in some ways, but for the most part, people thought it was racist and participating in colonization to have her on display.
BRYANT SAID THAT CONTINUING TO REFER TO HER AS “THE MUMMY” FELT DEHUMANIZING. SO THEY NAMED HER HAWARA.
[BB] Hawara is where she was discovered. That’s the name of a locale. And I thought, it’s a way of honoring time and place. There’s a place in the shrouding ceremony where it’s acknowledged that that’s not her name. It’s a name that we’ve chosen to give to her, in the hopes that she and her ancestors would understand. We’d had no idea what her name really was, or how to find a name that would perhaps be more fitting, but it was a way of honoring where she was interred.
HE SAID THE QUESTION OF HAWARA’S FUTURE IS ONE THAT IS UNIQUE TO OUR TIME, AS WELL AS GARRETT’S IDENTITY AS A SEMINARY.
[BB] Being a seminary, you know, one of the things that we try to teach our students about is, what’s it like to live in a postcolonial world? Where even the Vatican is sending artifacts back to the Orthodox Church, and other places. And I think that there’s more of a sensitivity about where these artifacts came from, how they got here? And do we still need to keep them? My word to the Board is, you don’t buy a human being, living or dead. You just don’t buy a human being. So we changed the language. We’re custodians. We’re stewards of her remains, until we can figure out what we do with her remains, that’s in keeping with our values.
HOLCOMBE AGREED, AND ADDED THAT HAWARA’S HISTORY IS ONE OF THE REASONS A SOLUTION IS SO HARD TO FIND.
[AB] I think this is one of those things where we are so deep in so many layers of injustice that any solution is not good, objectively. We’ve talked about sending her to this place in Texas that wants to rebuild her burial site and have an educational thing around her. And even that is still like, we’re not laying a child’s body to rest. Anything that we do has a contract and money attached to it. Even if we send her to Texas, for instance, for $1, there still is this principle of like, we’re exchanging something we possess. And no one owns anybody. And so we’re treating her like we own her even in the best of our solutions and so all that has been frustrating.
BRYANT CONFERRED WITH AN EGYPTOLOGIST IN CAIRO, WHO TOLD HIM THAT IF HAWARA WAS REPATRIATED, OR RETURNED TO EGYPT, IT WAS LIKELY SHE WOULD JUST BE PUT INTO STORAGE AGAIN. THE OTHER OPTION WAS TO SEND HAWARA TO THE MUSEUM IN TEXAS, WHERE SHE COULD BE DISPLAYED WITH MORE RESPECT. BRYANT CONSIDERED BOTH, BUT CAME UP WITH ANOTHER SOLUTION IN THE MEANTIME.
[BB] I thought, we’ve got to come up with a plan for either finding her another resting place or finding a solution for keeping her there, and that’s when I came up with the idea of shrouding. I went down to the fabric shop here in Evanston and bought an ample supply of Egyptian linen. And that’s what she’s covered in. And it’s a way of trying to, to honor her humanity. And if she stays with us, she’ll remain shrouded.
THE LITURGY, OR THE CALL AND RESPONSE DEAN MOSBY CONDUCTED DURING THE SHROUDING CEREMONY, AIMED TO TELL THE STORY OF HAWARA AND SHOW RESPECT FOR HER DEATH.
[AB] The shrouding was our band aid solution until we find a better one. And we wanted to make it ceremonial, as a way of honoring and respecting her. We basically read these pieces about how we can’t undo the injustice that has been done. But we’re going to do our best to try to steward something that’s more honorable and respectful of Hawara’s life and something that humanizes her.
I ASKED BRYANT WHAT HE THINKS THE BEST CASE SCENARIO IS FOR HAWARA.
[BB] Oh, the best of all possible worlds, would be for her to go back to Hawara and be re-entombed. But there’s still excavation going on there.
[BB] I’ve just left that all in the hands of our Board of Trustees, which are meeting next week, in fact, to determine, Should we keep her in and just have the shroud over the case? Or should we find another location for her?
UNTIL THEN, AS HAWARA’S FATE HANGS IN THE BALANCE, SHE REMAINS IN STYBERG LIBRARY.
FOR WNUR NEWS, I’M MIKA ELLISON.
Music: Glacier by SalmonLikeTheFish
