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Nancy Hatch Dupree ( ps, نانسي دوپري, translit=Nansi dupri; October 3, 1927 – September 10, 2017) was an American-Afghan historian whose work primarily focused on the history of modern
Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
. She was the director of the Afghanistan Center at
Kabul University Kabul University (KU; prs, دانشگاه کابل, translit= Dāneshgāh-e-Kābul; ps, د کابل پوهنتون, translit=Da Kābul Pohantūn) is one of the major and oldest institutions of higher education in Afghanistan. It is in the 3rd ...
and author of five books that she compiled while studying the
history of Afghanistan The history of Afghanistan as a State (polity), state began in 1823 as the Emirate of Afghanistan after the exile of the Durrani dynasty, Sadozai monarchy to Herat (1793-1863), Herat. The Sadozai monarchy ruled the Afghan Durrani Empire, conside ...
from 1962 until the late 1970s, writing about tourism and history of Bamyan,
Kabul Kabul (; ps, , ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province; it is administratively divided into 22 municipal districts. Acco ...
,
Kandahar Kandahar (; Kandahār, , Qandahār) is a List of cities in Afghanistan, city in Afghanistan, located in the south of the country on the Arghandab River, at an elevation of . It is Afghanistan's second largest city after Kabul, with a population ...
,
Herat Herāt (; Persian: ) is an oasis city and the third-largest city of Afghanistan. In 2020, it had an estimated population of 574,276, and serves as the capital of Herat Province, situated south of the Paropamisus Mountains (''Selseleh-ye Safēd ...
,
Mazar-i-Sharif , official_name = , settlement_type = City , image_skyline = , pushpin_map = Afghanistan#Bactria#West Asia , pushpin_label = Mazar-i-Sharif , pushpin ...
and so on. She was fondly called the "grandmother of Afghanistan", having spent more of her life there or with Afghans abroad.


Early life and education

Nancy Dupree was born as Nancy Hatch in
Cooperstown, New York Cooperstown is a village in and county seat of Otsego County, New York, United States. Most of the village lies within the town of Otsego, but some of the eastern part is in the town of Middlefield. Located at the foot of Otsego Lake in the C ...
. She spent most of her childhood in
India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
, then under the
British Raj The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent; * * it is also called Crown rule in India, * * * * or Direct rule in India, * Quote: "Mill, who was himsel ...
. Her parents were working in
Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...
, where her father was an adviser to the Maharaja of
Travancore The Kingdom of Travancore ( /ˈtrævənkɔːr/), also known as the Kingdom of Thiruvithamkoor, was an Indian kingdom from c. 1729 until 1949. It was ruled by the Travancore Royal Family from Padmanabhapuram, and later Thiruvananthapuram. At ...
. Her mother, a Broadway actress, was drawn to
Indian art Indian art consists of a variety of art forms, including painting, sculpture, pottery, and textile arts such as woven silk. Geographically, it spans the entire Indian subcontinent, including what is now India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, N ...
and theatrical dance forms and embarked on the first PhD on
Kathakali Kathakali ( ml, കഥകളി) is a major form of classical Indian dance. It is a "story play" genre of art, but one distinguished by the elaborately colourful make-up and costumes of the traditional male actor-dancers. It is native to the M ...
in the British Raj by a foreign scholar. Hatch graduated from
Barnard College Barnard College of Columbia University is a private women's liberal arts college in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1889 by a group of women led by young student activist Annie Nathan Meyer, who petitioned Columbia ...
in 1949. She then went to
Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
to study
Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...
. She did her master's in Chinese Art at Columbia University, but her life was linked to southern Asia in an inexorable manner.


Career

First married to an American intelligence officer, Alan D. Wolfe, posted in Ceylon (present day
Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...
), she later moved with her husband to the
First Iraqi Republic First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number 1 (number), one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, D ...
, then Pakistan, and finally the Kingdom of Afghanistan in 1962. Dupree first arrived in Afghanistan in 1962 as a diplomat's wife. Shortly after she wrote the first guide in English to the
Bamiyan Buddhas The Buddhas of Bamiyan (or Bamyan) were two 6th-century monumental statues carved into the side of a cliff in the Bamyan valley of Hazarajat region in central Afghanistan, northwest of Kabul at an elevation of . Carbon dating of the structural c ...
. Several years later, she met Louis Duprée, who was a renowned
archaeologist Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...
and
scholar A scholar is a person who pursues academic and intellectual activities, particularly academics who apply their intellectualism into expertise in an area of study. A scholar can also be an academic, who works as a professor, teacher, or researche ...
of
Afghan culture The culture of Afghanistan has persisted for over three millennia, tracing record to at least the time of the Achaemenid Empire in 500 BCE, and encompasses the cultural diversity of the nation. Afghanistan's culture is historically strongly c ...
and history. The two fell in love and got married after divorcing their former spouses, marrying in the
Bagh-e Bala Palace The Bagh-e Bala Palace ( prs, قصر باغ بالا کابل) is a former royal palace in Kabul, Afghanistan. It is located at a hilltop in the Bagh-e Bala (''High Garden'') park near Karte Parwan. The palace has a large pool (added in the 197 ...
in 1966. After the
Soviet invasion of Afghanistan The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
in 1979, Nancy was forced to leave the country, while Louis remained. Rather than return to the United States, she moved to a refugee camp in
Peshawar Peshawar (; ps, پېښور ; hnd, ; ; ur, ) is the sixth most populous city in Pakistan, with a population of over 2.3 million. It is situated in the north-west of the country, close to the International border with Afghanistan. It is ...
,
Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
. Louis was eventually arrested under suspicion of working for the
Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...
as a spy. He then joined Nancy in Peshawar. While in the refugee camp, Nancy realized the potential for the loss of unique documents about Afghanistan to be lost or destroyed forever. In order to preserve these works and to teach them to a new generation, she and Louis formed the Agency Coordinating Body for Afghan Relief (ACBAR). They began to collect both government and non-government documents that related to the country's history, culture, the Soviet-Afghan War, the Mujahedeen, and the
Taliban The Taliban (; ps, طالبان, ṭālibān, lit=students or 'seekers'), which also refers to itself by its state (polity), state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalism, Islamic fundamentalist, m ...
. Nancy said that in the looting that began after the Soviet invasion, many priceless books were sold to be used for fuel. A large number of books were also sold by weight to be used to wrap food. According to ''
The Economist ''The Economist'' is a British weekly newspaper printed in demitab format and published digitally. It focuses on current affairs, international business, politics, technology, and culture. Based in London, the newspaper is owned by The Econo ...
'', "her networking prowess was so notorious that she was once approached, to see if she could help with permits to dig tunnels in Kabul, by the young
Osama bin Laden Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden (10 March 1957 – 2 May 2011) was a Saudi-born extremist militant who founded al-Qaeda and served as its leader from 1988 until Killing of Osama bin Laden, his death in 2011. Ideologically a Pan-Islamism ...
." Louis died in North Carolina in 1989, a short time after Soviet forces completed their withdrawal from Afghanistan. After the Coalition forces moved into Afghanistan in 2001, Nancy did not immediately move back. She and her colleagues were concerned for their own safety and that of ACBAR's collection, which by 1999 consisted of 7,739 titles written in
Pashto Pashto (,; , ) is an Eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family. It is known in historical Persian literature as Afghani (). Spoken as a native language mostly by ethnic Pashtuns, it is one of the two official languages ...
,
Dari (Persian) Dari (, , ), also known as Dari Persian (, ), is the variety of the Persian language spoken in Afghanistan. Dari is the term officially recognised and promoted since 1964 by the Afghan government for the Persian language,Lazard, G.Darī  ...
,
French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
,
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...
, Norwegian, and
Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
. In 2005, Nancy moved back to Kabul and worked with the Afghan government to find a place to house ACBAR's collection. The collection was moved to Kabul University and the name was changed to the Afghan Center at Kabul University (ACKU). A $2 million building of where ACKU is located was completed to house the collection in 2012. Part of ACKU's collections have been digitized in collaboration with the University of Arizona Libraries and are available online for global open access. When University of Arizona Librarian Atifa Rawan knew Nancy personally and her collections moved back to Kabul from Pershaw, Pakistan in 2005 by the invitation from Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai. In 2006, Atifa Rawan and Yan Han met with Nancy to submit a grant proposal of digitizing all ACKU's collections for two major purposes: 1) universal open access and 2) digital preservation. In 2007, a NEH grant of $300,000 was funded to digitize 3,000 titles of ACKU's collection for open access and digital preservation. Nancy selected these 3,000 titles from ACKU's collection. The grant project ended in 2011, and provided a great start for open access and digital preservation of related Afghan materials. Since 2011, more than 1.4 million pages of documents have been added
The Afghan Digital Repository
is the world largest digital collections related to Afghanistan and its related regions, consisting of over 1.7 million pages of documents in Pashto,
Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
and English. Dupree divided her time between
Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
and her other home in
North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...
.


Death

Dupree died after battling an unspecified illness in Kabul, Afghanistan, at the age of 89. President Ashraf Ghani and CEO Abdullah Abdullah offered their condolences. Ghani added that Nancy "considered Afghanistan her real home and willed to be buried in Kabul next to the tomb of her husband." Former President
Hamid Karzai Hamid Karzai (; Pashto/ fa, حامد کرزی, , ; born 24 December 1957) is an Afghan statesman who served as the fourth president of Afghanistan from July 2002 to September 2014, including as the first elected president of the Islamic Repub ...
said "Nancy Dupree, a loving daughter of Afghanistan, is no more with us. May God bless her soul." and "Afghanistan will keep her in affectionate memory." A large mural of Dupree was painted on a wall in downtown Kabul in honor.


Bibliography

* * *


References


Further reading

* Maley, William. (2013). Afghanistan as a cultural crossroads: Lessons from the writings of Ella Maillart, Annemarie Schwarzenbach and Nancy Dupree. ''Asian Affairs, 44(2),'' 215. * Moustafa, Laila Hussein. (2016). From Peshawar to Kabul: Preserving Afghanistan's cultural heritage during wartime. ''RBM: A Journal of Rare Book, Manuscripts, and Cultural History, 17(2),'' 134–147. * Dupree, Nancy Hatch. (2002). Cultural heritage and national identity in Afghanistan. ''Third World Quarterly, 23(5),'' 977–989. * Dupree, Nancy Hatch. (1996). Museum under siege. ''Archaeology, 49(2),'' 42–51. * Dupree, Nancy Hatch. (1988). Demographic reporting on Afghan refugees in Pakistan. ''Modern Asian Studies, 22,'' 845–865.


External links


Louis and Nancy Hatch Dupree FoundationMuseum Under Siege: Full Text by Nancy Hatch DupreePreserving Afghanistan's Cultural Heritage: An Interview with Nancy Hatch Dupree
*
Groundbreaking ceremony for new library at Kabul University: 25 July 2009
*
Afghanistan Center at Kabul University
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dupree, Nancy Hatch 1927 births 2017 deaths American archaeologists American emigrants to Afghanistan American expatriates in Pakistan Central Asian studies scholars Kabul University faculty American women archaeologists Barnard College alumni Columbia University alumni 21st-century American women People from Cooperstown, New York