The Women and Memory Forum (WMF), in collaboration with the Department of Arab and Islamic Civilizations at the American University in Cairo (AUC) and the AUC Rare Books and Special Collections Library (RBSCL), organized a two-day research workshop titled “Women’s Private Archives in Egypt: Revisiting the Canon.” The workshop was held on 6-7 April 2025, in Arabic and English, bringing together researchers studying women’s archives in Egypt.

Day one sessions convened at Nadia Niazy Room in the RBSCL on the AUC’s New Cairo campus, and explored three main themes: Huda Shaarawi’s private papers and the national, African, and Arab feminist solidarity networks; women’s private archives at the intersections between intimate relationships—such as friendship and motherhood—Egypt’s political history, and political activism in Egypt; and oral histories and private archival materials, such as family photographs. Day one concluded with a guided tour of the RBSCL, and an exhibition of the private archives of Huda Shaarawi and Doria Shafik.

Day two sessions were held at the WMF headquarters in Cairo and explored three additional themes. A panel dedicated to activist Wadad Mitri (1927–2007) examined her family archive through the lens of her role as a mother, the travel journals she kept during her visits to several Arab countries as a witness to critical moments in the history of the region, and the memoirs and observations she recorded when visiting the Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon. Day two also included a panel on family archives, and a range of sessions that investigated women’s presence in the records of the Coptic Church, the archives of the Egyptian labor movement, the Egyptology literature and research records, the Egyptian television archive, and the cultural archives associated with the print and publishing scene in Egypt. The day concluded with a presentation on the WMF’s private archival collections.

The WMF Library acquired the private collections of pioneer and feminist Egyptian women who were active in a diverse array of professional fields, and the Women’s Oral History Archive  provides oral history interviews with them. Similarly, the RBSCL at AUC acquired the archives of feminist activists, along with a wide collection of women’s periodicals and other related archival materials. This research workshop encourages in-depth academic studies on these private archives, with the aim of critically revisiting dominant historical narratives, recovering forgotten voices, and generating new discussions about the histories of feminist movements in Egypt, the Arab world, Africa, and beyond.