James H. Breasted

American Egyptologist and orientalist. He was born in Rockford, Illinois, 27 August 1865, son of Charles B. and Harriet N. Garrison, and was educated at North-Western College, Naperville, Illinois, then Chicago College of Pharmacy, 1882–1886. He started his career in pharmacy before going on to study Hebrew at the Congressional Institute, Chicago, and then attended Yale University, 1890–1891. AM degree, 1892.

He went to Berlin to study Egyptology with Jean P. A. Erman (1854–1937), 1894. He became assistant in Egyptology and assistant director of Haskell Oriental Museum, University of Chicago, 1895–1901, and Director of Haskell, 1901–1935. He was appointed instructor in Egyptology and Semitic Languages, 1896, and Professor of Egyptology and Oriental History, 1905. Whilst working on the Berlin dictionary in 1900–1904, he was also able to record many texts from monuments in various German museums which formed the basis of his publication Ancient Records of Egypt (1906–1907). He was Director of the University of Chicago Egyptian Expedition, 1905–1907.

He was awarded many honours during his career. He founded the Oriental Institute (now the Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures) at the University of Chicago, which was financially backed by John D. Rockefeller, Jnr (1874–1960). He died in New York, 2 December 1935.