Harry Ransom Center

What can ancient scraps of papyrus reveal about everyday life 2,000 years ago?
“Lives and Literacy in Ancient Egypt,” a new exhibition at UT's Harry Ransom Center, explores how writing preserved the stories, beliefs, records, and routines of people living in Greco-Roman Egypt through remarkably rare manuscripts and artifacts.

Learn more in the latest issue of the Alcalde: https://alcalde.texasexes.org/2026/04/ancient-documents-once-buried-with-mummies-are-now-at-the-harry-ransom-center

Just because school is out for the summer doesn't mean you can't learn something new! 💡

Join a docent-led tour of our exhibition Lives and Literacy in Ancient Egypt this summer and step back in time as they bring to life the voices of a multilingual, multicultural society from Greco-Roman Egypt. Each fragment and object on display offers an extraordinary glimpse of daily life, revealing the lives of ordinary people and their vibrant cultures along the Nile.

We would tell you to visit on Monday, May 18 for International Museum Day, but the gallery is closed every Monday! We offer tours every Tuesday through Friday at noon and at 1 and 2 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. Learn more and plan your visit: https://www.hrc.utexas.edu/visit/

Pictured here is Lives and Literacy co-curator Aaron T. Pratt, the Center's Carl and Lily Pforzheimer Curator of Early Books and Manuscripts, leading Ransom Center staff on a tour of the exhibition.