SSEA Website Renewal

With chapters in four Canadian cities -- Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver and Calgary -- a Head Office in Toronto, an American subsidiary (SSEA-USA) and members worldwide, The Society for the Study of Egyptian Antiquities/La Société pour l'Étude de l'Égypte Ancienne (SSEA/SÉÉA) is a Canada-based not-for-profit organization founded in 1969 to stimulate interest in Egyptology, to assist those interested, professional and non-professional alike, with research and training in the field, and to sponsor and promote archaeological expeditions to Egypt. The SSEA has also offered grants and scholarships to students who wish to do research in Egypt or international scholars who wish to attend the Society's Annual General Meeting to present the results of their research.

The SSEA/SÉÉA is a Registered Charity in Canada and the U.S.A. The Society has been registered as a Charitable Organization with the government of Canada since 1970:   Charitable Registration No. 13319 4704 RR0001.  The Society is separately registered as a Public Charity in the United States under the name "​Society for the Study of Egyptian Antiquities USA Inc.​ " The IRS TIN/EIN is 86-0769850​ .

The Society's current website (www.thessea.org) was custom-made in 2006 by Chris Irie, who was then a Trustee of the SSEA, to allow members not only to find out Society news and events but also access the Society's publications online and other resources, such as bibliographies, which are available to the general public. Since 2009, it has has been maintained by Peter Robinson, with the assistance of Dr. Lyn Green and the advice (until 2009) of Mr. Irie. As of 2012, Dr. Nick Wernick has been available for further consultation as Associate Web Manager. Now, however, after nearly a decade of use, changes in software technology have made the site's function increasingly problematic, especially its publications' section. Very soon, the current site will be non-functional and people will no longer be able to access the site at all.

The SSEA/SÉÉA has therefore created an initiative to refurbish their web presence, through the use of multiple websites: one for news, events and special member content, and another for publications only. These websites are being created under the direction of Dr. Wernick, who has professional qualifications to design and create websites. He has already created a special website for the Society's Annual General Meeting at http://symposium.thessea.org and is working to create both a publications website for accessing the Journal and Newsletter, and a new main website for the Society. These updated websites, which are already well under way, will permit hundreds of scholars, students, educational institutions and non-specialists to access the Society's publications in whole or in part.

By helping us reach our goal, donors will help not only our members and those scholars and students worldwide who use the Journal of the SSEA and our other web resources, but also greatly assist the growth of Egyptology in Canada, and help to maintain the presence of a venerable, but small, not-for-profit in world scholarship.