Promoting passion
By Zahi Hawass
Noele Switzer is an American who never studied Egyptology but has devoted more than 40 years of her life to a study of Egypt and its ancient history. She heads a company in Los Angeles that builds houses for the poor. With little time to spare, she has nevertheless managed to play an important role in promoting an awareness of Egypt's Pharaonic heritage around the world.
Twenty years ago, Switzer opened a new chapter in LA of the American Research Center (ARCE), and was able to collect funds to invite scholars from all over the world to give lectures about their specialised fields of interest, especially new discoveries. I attended more than four conferences at the Natural History Museum. One was with my friend Mark Lehner, in which we presented the latest discoveries and observations about the Pyramids Plateau; another covered the discoveries in Alexandria and the Ptolemaic and Roman eras in general; at a third the French scholar Jean-Yves Emperer talked about underwater discoveries off shore at Alexandria, and at the fourth I talked about my own discovery of the Valley of the Golden Mummies in Bahariya Oasis.
The ARCE chapter in LA has members that are in love with Egyptology. We affectionately call them, "The lovers of Egypt and the followers of Ms Switzer". She promotes Egypt wherever she goes and her love and enthusiasm for our country seems to be contagious; it rubs off on all those with whom she comes into contact. She invited Farouk El-Baz many times to talk about his work -- his studies on Mars and his search for water under the deserts of Egypt.
Switzer and her group usually come to Egypt twice a year. They travel all over the country, visiting the major archaeological sites. On one occasion, three years ago, she was present for the opening of the intact shaft tomb at Abusir belonging to Nikau, the son of Iufaa, an official who had held the title of director of the palace. The discoverer was Egyptologist Mirslov Verner.
Switzer, with her special interest in aiding the poor, has helped many children of Luxor and other cities in Egypt by sending them books they could not otherwise afford and inviting young people to attend courses on Egyptology.
She has even helped aspiring Egyptologists by buying them books and other equipment needed for their work. She has also arranged for some scholarship programmes allowing them to study at universities in America.
The ARCE chapter that this energetic and enterprising lady has established in Los Angeles has become an institution in itself. It has invited some 12 Egyptologists from all over the world to lecture at UCLA, the university affiliated to the ARCE chapter there. The former head of the Egyptology Department at University College of Los Angeles, along with Antonio Leopriano, opened his department for all scholars who have travelled to LA to give lectures and attend conferences. His students have benefited greatly from attending these presentations, which outline more up- to-date archaeological activities and discoveries than any other university.
Yet after all Switzer's hard work, the main office of ARCE in Washington wanted absolute control of the ARCE chapter in LA, and the two parties could not reach a solution. Although an outsider, I can say that Switzer's group did more work for Egypt than the main chapter did in 20 years. She has undertaken a mission to spread a love for Egypt among Americans, and that she has done most effectively. Until this day we do not know exactly why Switzer closed the ARCE chapter in LA and established a new organisation called the Southern California Organization for the Study of Ancient Egypt. But I have to say that, with all the other good things about Switzer, she is also a stubborn person.
When Switzer visited Egypt recently, she went to Bab Al-Ahmar and wrote an excellent article about this area. She loves the gold and silver crafted in Egypt and visits the Khan Al-Khalili on every visit. She has also collected jewellery crafted by the people from the oases in the Western Desert.
Switzer has an incredible modern art collection, and once told me that she wanted to leave all her wealth to Egypt; she asked if we could allot a small room for an exhibition of her collection so people would know the real Noele Switzer.
Over the last 30 years Switzer has collected books on a wide range of aspects of Egyptology, and she would also donate them to a library in Egypt. But Ali Radwan, head of the Arab Archaeologists' Association, opened a new library to help Egyptian students who did not have access to a college library. Now Switzer is thinking of donating her book collection to this library which will, in turn, allocate a section for her collection and write a biography about this amazing woman.
