The American Research Center in Egypt (ARCE) is dedicated to building Egyptian capacity to conserve and protect its cultural heritage. The first quearter of 2006 witnessed the graduation of conservation and maintenance inspectors of Islamic and Coptic period artifacts and monuments, and the formation of the first-ever museum registrars’ office and training course at the Egyptian Museum. Both of these programs serve to strengthen a growing cadre of ARCE-trained public servants who are working to preserve the nation’s heritage for future generations.

The principle objective of the two-year hands-on registrar’s training course is to establish the policies and procedures that will enable the Registrar’s Office to effectively track over 200,000 objects in the Egyptian Museum’s collection. Fully endorsed by the Supreme Council for Antiquities and funded by grants from USAID, the registrars will learn to diplomatically disseminate information, build bridges between museum staff, and track and care for museum collections and documents.