S. J. Wolfe

I'm originally from that little notch in the state of Massachusetts which juts into Connecticut (Westfield and Southwick). In 1982 I moved to Worcester, Mass. to take a job at the American Antiquarian Society, a research library of American history. I have been there ever since, and am now senior cataloguer and serials specialist at AAS.

My interest in ancient Egypt began when I was about 3 or 4 years old and my grandfather took me to the museums at the Quadrangle in Springfield, where I saw a mummy case. There were no books about Egypt for children at that time (the early 1950's)and so I badgered the adults in my family to take books out from the "BIG" library for me. Luckily I was a precocious reader!It was not until I was in college (UMASS Amherst, class of 1973)that I was actually able to nurture my interest in ancient cultures, and I immersed myself totally in independent study and research on ancient Egypt. I wish I could have been an archaeologist, but instead got my Master's degree in Library Science from SUNY Albany and quickly decided the public library was not for me.

When I joined the staff at AAS I never dreamed that I could still pursue my interest in ancient Egypt, it seemed too distant from American history. However, I have found a way to do so, just on a different level. My husband, a history professor at Worcester Polytech and at Anna Maria College urged me to work on my research and give lectures and talks and write a book. I took his advice and the result is numerous lectures, articles, and of course, this book on the history of the mummy as artifact.

Part of my research involved building a database of all mummy references I could find. The total number of mummy parts and whole mummies numbers over 1250 and represents at least 560 individuals. Eventually I hope to mount this still-growing database on a web site to make it accessible to other researchers.

I plan to keep writing on different aspects Egyptian mummies, plus I am involved in other research projects--a bibliography of the paper industry in the United States before 1900, a history of Sabbath reading, bio-bibliography of printing and publishing in Virginia before 1820; and documenting and researching iron furnaces, mill dams and other industrial archaeology sites.

My husband and I currently have four cats, all adopted from shelters (we volunteer for NEADY Cats in Princeton, Mass.)and live in Worcester, Mass.

My leisure pursuits include reading, needlework, creating miniatures and dollhouses, designing and making my own clothes, gardening and making jewelry.