About RBSCL
Founded in 1992, the Rare Books and Special Collections Library was created through the combination of other units at the American University in Cairo, including the Center for Arabic Studies Library at AUC’s Tahrir Square campus, which housed the Creswell Library. This was the personal book and photograph collection, acquired by the university in the 1950s, of pioneering Islamic art and architecture scholar Sir K.A.C. Creswell. In the 1960s and 1970s AUC added the personal libraries of other prominent bibliophiles, intellectuals, and Egyptologists, with holdings like rare books, photographs, and maps managed by the Special Collections unit in the Main Library building on AUC’s Greek Campus. These libraries were brought together in 1992 as the Rare Books and Special Collections Library, then located in a restored downtown 19th-century villa.
Primarily supporting the university’s programs in Islamic Art and Architecture and Egyptology in its early years, the RBSCL gradually expanded its special collections focus. As early as the 1970s and 1980s AUC library units had accepted archival collections and housed the university’s archives, but it was in the mid-1990s that the RBSCL began to build substantial collections, like that of the prominent Egyptian architect Hassan Fathy. From that time the library made steady acquisitions of archival resources documenting Egyptian history, society, and arts, another landmark addition being the Van-Leo photograph collection in 2000. In the 1990s a conservation laboratory was developed to care for books and archival collections, and in that decade and the 2000s the library received a number of grants from agencies like the Getty Grant Foundation and National Endowment for the Humanities to support making archival holdings available for research.
The RBSCL relocated to the Library Building on AUC’s New Cairo Campus in 2010. Since the move to the New Cairo Campus, the library has received support for projects from funders like the New York University’s Arabic Collections Online project and the U.S. Embassy in Cairo. In 2022 the library was awarded the UNESCO/Jikji Memory of the World Prize for its heritage documentation and preservation efforts.
The Rare Books and Special Collections Library occupies the third floor and parts of the second, first and ground floors of the Library building on AUC’s New Cairo campus.
The third floor includes:
RBSCL Research Help Desk.
The John Gerhart Reading Room as well as study carrels.
The Creswell Room, with the bulk of K.A.C. Creswell’s library housed in his custom-made glass-front bookcases. This room serves as a rare materials reading room as does the nearby Rare Books Room, which contains the Debbane Collection, the Description de L’Egypte and other rare books.
RBSCL’s main exhibition spaces: the Abdallah S. Jum’ah Exhibition Room and Richard and Kerry Bartlett Exhibition Foyer on the third floor of the library
The Nadia Niazey Mostafa Room, a lecture hall.
Open stacks containing books and journals on a variety of subjects, in particular specialties like Egyptology and Islamic art and architecture.
Archives staff offices and workspaces,a researcher reading space, and an oral history recording room. Storage for archival and other special collections, photograph holdings, and materials forming the AUC University Archives, including compact shelving, is located nearby.
Personnel offices including those of curators.
The Library’s Digitization Center has a facility to provide services to users.
The second floor includes:
The Regional Architecture Collections unit and holdings, with a researcher service area, storage for collections, staff offices and workspaces.
Closed compact shelving.
The first floor includes:
RBSCL’s Conservation Laboratory
The ground floor includes:
AUC Records Management’s main records center and staff offices.
RBSCL's Conservation Laboratory plays a key role in the preservation and display of library collections. Established in 1995, the Lab occupies a dedicated space on the library’s first floor, and employs specialized equipment and archival-quality conservation supplies. Staffed by trained conservation specialists, the lab is is responsible for the following aspects of collection care:
Performing conservation treatment on materials in all formats (including books, paper documents, architectural plans, photographs, artifacts, etc.), including:
Cleaning (from basic dusting to intensive stain removal) and flattening
Repairing books, including mending, performing deacidification, and rebinding and recasing with archival paper, cloth, and fine leathers, and consolidation of text blocks, as well as applying endsheets using paper marbling techniques.
Repairing torn paper items, including architectural plans, employing the application of heat-set Japanese tissue.
Encapsulating fragile items, especially oversize materials like maps, in custom-made polyester envelopes and sleeves.
Constructing custom-designed storage containers like sink-mats, phase boxes, and clam-shell boxes to provide protection and support for rare and fragile items.
Packing and transferring to the library acquired items and incoming donated collections, and fumigating such material to eliminate the risk of contamination.
Monitoring environmental conditions in the library in order to that appropriate temperatures and humidity levels are consistently maintained.
Surveying stack areas and storage units to detect preservation issues.
Preparing and mounting material for display in exhibitions at the library, other AUC venues, and locations off-campus and abroad, including matting, framing, and installing items. Inspecting the condition of items selected for loan is also performed by Lab staff.
The Rare Books and Special Collections Library mounts regular exhibitions of items from its collections. Material displayed includes rare books, photographs, archival documents and publications, architectural plans and models, maps, artifacts, artwork, and audiovisual media (original as well as documentary works produced specifically to accompany exhibitions). Exhibitions are collaborative efforts drawing on the expertise and creativity of RBSCL curators and other library personnel, and mounted by the RBSCL Conservation Laboratory team. Digital exhibitions are also produced. Some exhibitions are joint efforts with other units at AUC or outside institutions or individuals.
RBSCL exhibitions are open to the public and free of charge. See the RBSCL home page and social media for upcoming exhibition announcements and news, and Visiting and Doing Research to plan your visit. The RBSCL’s main exhibition spaces are the Abdallah S. Jum’ah Exhibition Room and Richard and Kerry Bartlett Exhibition Foyer on the third floor of the library, as well as the Plaza Level foyer of the Main Library Building. Other display cases located throughout the RBSCL feature displays of books, documents, artifacts, and other holdings.
RBSCL materials are often exhibited on the New Cairo Campus at the Photographic Gallery in Abdul Latif Jameel Hall and the Sharjah Art Gallery in AUC’s Center for the Arts, as well as in galleries and public spaces at AUC’s Tahrir Square campus. Library materials are also periodically exhibited in other locations in Cairo and at venues abroad.
- Service to the Community and Nation: A Double Exhibition Celebrating a Century of Continuing Education and Outreach at AUC and AUC's Contributions to Desert Development and Sustainability in Egypt, September 2025-Summer 2026
- Sayyida Zainab: The Tale of a Mosque & Legendary Sites Around it (curated by Oberlin College students of Zeinab Abul-Mag and AUC students of Hoda El Saadi), Tahrir Square Campus July-August 2025, AUC Library Foyer September 2025-Spring 2026
- Mining the Library: An AUC Exhibition by ARTV3270 Curatorial Practices (curated by AUC art program students of Elizabeth Rauh), May-December 2025
- A Diplomatic Odyssey Serving Egypt: Ismail Fahmy's Journey in International Relations, September 2024-May 2025
- Beyti Beytak (curated by Qatar's Art Mill Museum at the Venice Biennale), featuring over 20 original drawings by architect Hassan Fathy loaned by RBSCL, Venice Italy, May-November 2025
- Reflections on the Nile honoring the late Swiss artist Margo Veillon, Tahrir Square Campus, February-March 2025
- Urban Spaces of Cairo: Past, Present, Future (curated by Ramzi Ebeid, Nisreen Moustafa, and Nazly Abaza), Grand Egyptian Museum, Cairo, November 2024
Tahrir Images and Narratives (1900-2011) (curated by Cairo in the Cultural Imaginary course students), Tahrir Square Campus, April 2024
AUC Archives Walk-through University History Exhibition, Tahrir Square Campus, April 2024
School Days, AUC Main Library Foyer, Fall 2023
Becoming Van Leo, Hammer Museum, University of Los Angeles, California, USA, July-November 2023
Movie Nights, Ewart Hall at Tahrir Square Campus, November 2022
Time, Space, Existence (Display of Hassan Fathy architectural item images from RBSCL at the European Cultural Center in parallel with the Venice Architectural Biennale, curated by the Department of Explorative Architecture, Faculty of Architecture, Budapest University of Technology and Economics), Venice, Italy, May-November 2023
A Journey into Architecture Archives: Beirut, Cairo, Rabat (Curated by Arab Center for Architecture, highlighting architectural archives for modern architecture) Sharjah Architecture Triennial, UAE, May 2023
Egyptian Wedding Heritage, Khazanah in Darb al Ahmar, Cairo, February 2023
Activate the Archive (curated by AUC Design program students), Main Library Foyer, October 2022-May 2023
Dance in ancient Egypt, Ewart Hall Foyer Gallery, October 2022
Tutankhamun: The Centennial Exhibition, October 2022-September 2023
Technology, Media, and the Transmission of Ideas (images and items from RBSCL holdings showing these developments in Egypt over the millennia), RBSCL Exhibition Rooms, October 2022-October 2023
Van-Leo, Cairo, Tahrir Cultural Center and Main Library Foyer, Spring-Summer 2022
Creswell's Cairo Collection, AUC Main Library Foyer, February 2020
Princess Fawzia: The Duality of Egyptian Womanhood Through Western and Egyptian Eyes, July 2019
Ramses in Tahrir, Legacy Gallery, AUC Tahrir Campus, September-October 2019
Preserving Architectural Heritage: Highlights from the Regional Architecture Collection (Salah Lamei architectural conservation collection, Hassan Fathy Collection), Future Gallery, AUC Tahrir Campus, September 2019
Sketching Harrania Exhibit (Student Projects), AUC Main Library Foyer, May 2018
Hassan Fathy’s New Gourna (with Egypt National Organization of Urban Harmony), Cairo Citadel, November 2017
Gamal Bakry, 1931- 2006: Between Time and Affection, Supreme Council of Culture, April 2017
Verdi and Egypt, AUC Sharjah Art Gallery, AUC Main Library, March 2017
Romance in the Egyptian Cinema, AUC Sharjah Art Gallery, January 2017
Exploring the Rare Books and Special Collections Library: The Hidden Treasures, October 2016 - May 2019
When Art Becomes Liberty: The Egyptian Surrealists 1938-1965 (Van-Leo portraits), The Palace of the Arts, Opera House Complex, September-October 2016
Sanduq el-Dunia (The Cairo Wall), Danish-Egyptian Dialogue Institute, Cairo, various sites, July 2016
Women’s History Archives at AUC’s Rare Book and Special Collections Library, March 2016
The Private Papers of Wedad Mitri: Pioneering Unionist, The Women and Memory Forum Exhibition at RBSCL, March 2016
Palmyra: A Cultural Heritage Going, Going . . .?, November 2015-September 2016
Egypt Stereoviews, The Photographic Gallery (AUC), October-November 2015
Ex RBSCL Libris: The Golden years of Egyptian cinema, 1936-1967, April 2015-June 2017
Boutros Boutros-Ghali Collection, February 2015-June 2017
Echoes II: Photographs from the Collection, The Photographic Gallery (AUC), December 2014-January 2015
Treasures in the Archives (Postcards), AUC Main Library foyer, November-December 2014
Here and Elsewhere (Van-Leo portraits), New Museum, New York City, July-September 2014
Aziza Hussein: An Egyptian Feminist and a Diplomat, May - June 2014
Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here (Memorial to destroyed Baghdad book market, book arts), March-August 2014
See You at the Movies: Egyptian Cinema Stills 1930s-1970s, The Photographic Gallery (AUC), March-April 2014
Anis Mansour Collection, March 2014-January 2015
Sanduq el-Dunia (The Cairo Wall), Museum of Copenhagen, Denmark, August-September 2013
Rencontres de la photographie (Van-Leo portraits), Arab Image Foundation (Beirut, Lebanon) entry, Arles, France, July-September 2013
Ex RBSCL Libris: Curtis's Botanical Magazine, March 2013
Studio Viennoise (Van-Leo portraits), Former Viennoise Hotel, Downtown Cairo, November 2012
Face Time (Van-Leo portraits), The Photographic Gallery (AUC), October-November 2012
Van-Leo: A Rare Look, The Photographic Gallery (AUC), March 2012
Ramses Wissa Wassef: An Exhibition of his Architectural and Artistic Legacy, The Palace of the Arts, Opera House Complex, November 2012
Ramses Wissa Wassef: An Exhibition of his Architectural and Artistic Legacy, February 2008-December 2009
Hassan Fathy, An Egyptian Ambition, Gezira Art Center, Cairo, June 2011
Spotlight on Youssef Chahine: Selections from the Rare Books and Special Collections Library, February 2008-December 2009
Naguib Mahfouz: Child of the Alley, Writer for the World: An Exhibition of AUC Press Publications, Foreign-Language Editions, and Selections from the Rare Books and Special Collections Library, December 2006-December 2007
Van-Leo Self Portraits, Brighton Photo Biennial, Brighton, England, October 2006
Cairo and Its People: Selections from the Rare Books and Special Collections Library's Van-Leo and Creswell Collections, September-December 2005
Traumbilder der Architecktur: Gouachen und Zeichnungen von Hassan Fathy (Architectural Visions: Gouaches and Drawings by Hassan Fathy), Deutsches Architektur Museum, Frankfurt am Main, Germany, February-March 2005
Nubia: Before the Flood, February - March 2005
Kairo Damals und Heute: Mamlukenbauten in den Fotografien von K.A.C. Creswell und im Heutigen Aussehen (Cairo Then and Today: Mamluk Buildings in the Photographs of K.A.C. Creswell and as Seen Today), Staatliche Museen zu Berlin - Pergamonmuseum, Museum für Islamische Kunst, Berlin, Germany, July-September 2005
Hajj: On the Pilgrimage, November-December 2004
Nazar: Photographs from the Arab World, Fries Museum, Leeuwarden, Netherlands, September 2004-January 2005
Creswell's Cairo: Then and Now: A Joint Exhibition of Photographs from the Creswell, Collection and the Islamic Art Network (IAN) Photo Archive, December 2002-February 2003
Hassan Fathy, Un Architecte Égyptien (Hassan Fathy, An Egyptian Architect), Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris, France, December 2002-February 2003
Berber! An Exhibition of Imazighen Silver: The Jewelry of the "Free People" of North Africa and the Maghreb Postcards of Lehnert & Landrock and their Contemporaries, October-December 2002
Photo Cairo: Van Leo, Townhouse Gallery of Contemporary Art, Cairo, September-October 2002
Van Leo: Tentation/Temptation, Centre Francais de Culture et de Cooperation, Cairo, April-May 2002
Egypt Described: La Descripton de l'Egypte, February-March 2005
Sacred Rivers: Featuring the Works of Anna Boghiguian, October-November 2001
Van Leo: The Chronology 1940-1969, March-May 2001
ARTAS: Portrait of a Palestinian Village Then and Now, May 2001
Photographs by Van-Leo, Townhouse Gallery of Contemporary Art, Cairo, December 2000-January 2001
Hassan Fathy Centennial Exhibition: Selections from the Hassan Fathy Archives, March-July 2000
Islamic Inscriptions: an Exhibition of Illustrations from the Collection Depicting the Varied Uses and Forms of Epigraphic Arts in Islamic Culture, February-May 2000
Going, Going, Gone: Conserving Rare Materials at the RBSCL, 1999
Van-Leo: A Moveable Feast, October 1998-January 1999
Ancient Nubia: The Land and its Legacy, June-September 1997
Glamour as Genre: Portrait Photography of Van Leo, November-December 1996
Animals in Egyptian Art, October-December 1996
Through Others Eyes: An Exhibition on Travelers Accounts of Egyptian Life, March-May 1996
Passage to Eternity: An Exhibition on Ancient Egyptian Funerary Customs and Beliefs, October-December 1995
AUC Building History: Views from the Archives, October 1994-January 1995
In Search of Blessings: Egypt's Holy Places, May-September 1994
Cairo Revisited, February-May 1994
Joy of Egypt, Exploring the Nile Flood throughout the Ages, October-November 1993
Naguib Mahfouz in Many Languages: An Exhibition of More than 175 Published Translations of the Works of Naguib Mahfouz in over Twenty Languages, February-May 1993
Max Debbane, September-December 1992
The Art of Paper Marbling: History, Samples, Techniques, May-July 1992
