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Show 5"'. ?ll"+ Dr. Aziz Atiya -2- July 20, 1954 for the academic year 1955-56. If this be so, then obviously Michigan would be very much interested in.nominating you as the recipient of the Visiting Professorship. However, before I carry my conversations any further I would naturally be interested in ascertaining whether you yourself would be interested. It is my understanding that you resigned some time during the academic year just concluded from your teaching position at the University of Alexandria and have been working with research and the establishment of a new institute for Coptic studies. As further inducement, if such be needed, I would remind you that William H. Worrell who died two years ago was for many years in the service of the University, that Charles Odegaard, Palmer Throop, Albert Hyraa, Arthur Boak, and Benjamin Wheeler are on the staff of the Department of History. I believe that you will be acquainted with all or most of these scholars. Professor Boak especially has always followed your studies with the keenest interest. This then is a tentative inquiry although it is my sincere hope that you may already be familiar with the University*s work in Medieval History and in Near Eastern Studies. Ann Arbor itself I have found in my six years here (for 16 years I taught at the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago) to be a delightful community. It lies approximately 35 miles from Detroit and some 60 miles from the state capital Lansing and Michigan State College. This past year some 17,000 students were enrolled in the University. Our mutual friends Miss Lam, John Badeau, Arthur Boak, and Charles Odegaard have asked me to convey to you their sincere regards together with my own. Sincerely yours, George G. Cameron t |