Rich Egyptian Archive of Photos, Artifacts, and More Comes to the NYUAD Library

The Abu Shadi family, at the pyramids at Giza, circa late 1920s-early 1930s.

Over 40 boxes of correspondence, unpublished manuscripts, and photographs, offer valuable insight into the life of the famous Egyptian poet, doctor, and bee scientist Ahmed Zaki Abu Shadi

Press Release

The NYU Abu Dhabi (NYUAD) Library has acquired the archive of Egyptian poet, publisher, medical doctor, and bee scientist Ahmed Zaki Abu Shadi, who lived from 1892-1955. Containing over 40 boxes of correspondence, unpublished manuscripts, and photographs, as well as paintings and artifacts, the archive was acquired from Abu Shadi’s granddaughter, Joy Amina Garnett, earlier this year.

Abu Shadi was best known as a poet and founder of the literary journal Apollo, which was published in Cairo from 1932-1934, and for the group of poets affiliated with it. As a young man, he spent a decade in Britain, where he studied medicine at the University of London and set up a medical practice, at the same time developing a lifelong interest in bees and beekeeping, co-founding the Apis Club and its journal, Bee World. 

Returning to Egypt with his English wife Annie in 1922, the couple raised three children. Subsequently, the family immigrated to the United States, where Abu Shadi continued to write poetry and worked for the Voice of America, producing Arabic and English broadcasts on literary topics. 

The Abu Shadi archival collection contains a rich selection of material documenting these activities, as well as papers from his daughter Safeya, who worked for the Saudi Embassy in Washington DC, as well as with the US Information Agency. Following the cataloging and processing of the collection, and the eventual reopening of the Library, the Abu Shadi collection will be available for use in the Archives and Special Collections department of the Library.

 

“We are really pleased to be able to add such a richly varied archival collection to our holdings. Abu Shadi’s life and activities represent a number of areas that intersect with a variety of research questions and interests, focusing not only on modern Arabic literature, but also on the experiences of the Arab diaspora in places like England and the United States, and the influence of figures like Abu Shadi who mediated between Arabic and Western cultures.”

Associate Academic Librarian for Archives and Special Collections at NYUAD Library Brad Bauer

About NYU Abu Dhabi

NYU Abu Dhabi is the first comprehensive liberal arts and research campus in the Middle East to be operated abroad by a major American research university. NYU Abu Dhabi has integrated a highly selective undergraduate curriculum across the disciplines with a world center for advanced research and scholarship. The university enables its students in the sciences, engineering, social sciences, humanities, and arts to succeed in an increasingly interdependent world and advance cooperation and progress on humanity’s shared challenges. NYU Abu Dhabi’s high-achieving students have come from over 115 countries and speak over 115 languages. Together, NYU's campuses in New York, Abu Dhabi, and Shanghai form the backbone of a unique global university, giving faculty and students opportunities to experience varied learning environments and immersion in other cultures at one or more of the numerous study-abroad sites NYU maintains on six continents.