Presenter: David Moyer, Writer, KMT Magazine (A Modern Journal of Ancient Egypt)

Location: Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, 15 East 84th Street (between 5th and Madison)

This lecture is free and open to the public, but RSVP is required at isaw@nyu.edu.  

Description: This slide-illustrated talk by David Moyer recreates a "grand tour" to Egypt by L. Frank Baum, author of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, and his wife Maud in the early 1900s. Baum’s own sepia photos are juxtaposed with Moyer’s nearly identical photos of the same sites making for a stunning visual presentation. Moyer also quotes many of Maud Baum’s humorous and sometimes poetic remarks from her letters written to family members describing their experiences and her impression of the monuments they visited.

About the Speaker: David Moyer, B.A./M.A., is a 1982 summa cum laude graduate of the City University of New York’s Hunter College where he took courses in the archaeology of ancient Egypt; the Levant, Mesopotamia, Persia, Anatolia, Greece and Italy and was awarded the Rhys Carpenter award in archaeology. After graduation, he began teaching Adult Education courses in those civilizations at New York University, Long Island University, Marymount Manhattan College, the Adult School of Montclair (NJ) and other local institutions. He has also presented lectures to ARCE and AIA groups in the United States and to Egyptological groups in the United Kingdom.
 
Mr. Moyer has traveled extensively in Egypt, Greece, Italy and Turkey and is a member of several professional Egyptological/Archaeological societies. Since 1994, he has been Special Correspondent for the quarterly magazine Kmt: A Modern Journal of Ancient Egypt, for which he writes a popular column each issue on Egyptological news around the world and to which he has contributed book reviews and articles. In addition to his archaeological interests, he is a recognized expert on L. Frank Baum and the world of Oz; a long-time member of the International Wizard of Oz Club and the 2006 recipient of the L. Frank Baum Memorial Award given by the Club.