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Show inO Farouk 1st Avenue, *** RAKLEH, A L F A A N D R I A. Nov. 21, 1949 Dear Mr. wendel Phillips, I was very pleased tc receive your letters cf the 9th and 11th Nov. sent unoer the same cover and to know that you are satisfied with the result hitherto attained with the Archbishop. You can rest assured that I will do everything humanly possible for the realisation of the Sinai project at this end. It was gratifying to underatand that, at the same time, your efforts in America have met with so much success. I had a' nice letter of appreciation from Dr. Luther Evans s&ise time ago and I am writing to him by the same mail. About a fortnight ago, I had an official dinner with a group of American Senators on visit to Egypt and I spoke to some of them about our project, - particularly Senator Ben Crosby of the Dept. of State. The preparations you mention in your letters appear to be encouraging and I feel that they will make our stay in Sinai most satisfactory. I can see that you have thought of everything, It is good to know that you have secured the cooperation of Mr. & Mrs. Terry as well "as the prospect of collaboration of Profs. Albright & Kenneth Clark. I look forward to meeting them all here, and above all, yourself in the near future. Since I lase wrote to you, I have not been idle, I have approached the authorities in various quarters and I trust that my preliminary negotiations in official circles will soon bring good news in regard to the facilities expected in vour letters. I shall write to you again shortly with precision on details re" facilitation of unloading and entrance of men and material in Egypt etc. etc. without any bother. Of course I shall not hesitate to meet the party et Port-Said. I shall also make a search for the office of the Near hast Superintending Co. in Cairo, and let you know their approximate estimate for trans- . portaticn of equipment from the tanker while at sea. Now regarding the photographing of the icons and pictures in the Monastery, I should have liked to furnish jtou with a document signed by the Archbishop. But unfortunately he has returned to the monastery in Sinai and is therefore practically inaccessible at present. Nevertheless I can assure you that I will *do everything in rav power to secure his permission to include the icons in our plan, and I have a*deep feeling that I shall not fail. In fact, I am under the impression that he has verbally agreed to ray proposition to film the whole monastery together with the icons as a prospective source of revenue and as an element of propaganda. I do not really think that you ought.to worry much ; about this matter. A f .*''• J The rolls which i have discovered in recent years will of course be, photographed with the rest of the manuscripts. They form an almost complete and continuous set of official documents extending from the eleventh century., to the nineteenth. They are unioue in more than one respect, and I haVe^always contemplated editing them with a team of willing scholars. I shefcld Very much like this to be observed. If these documents arouse interest in the[Institutes of Oriental Research in America, I shall welcome collaboration with,'.them jjin this great task. This is going to be a rather long business, and I shall .be glad to discuss the possibilities with you at a later stage in Egypt. : /. ft. o The main thing at present is that I am getting busy here in order to cope with the urgency of all your requests connected with the dates of sailing and arrival in December. I trust that no unforeseen circumstances will cause any delay ; but, just to be on the safe side, if anything of a contrary nature does occur before the 6th Dec., I shall at once cable to you. Otherwise you can go ahead and depend on my earnest goodwill to serve the good cause. I feel that y*C are going to do a good job and I trust this is only a beginning of further collaboration in several fields. My very best wishes, lours Very Sincerely Mr. Wendell Phillips /y n^JX President, American Foudation for the Study of Man*^^ ,' Hew Yorfr,, ) |
