Director of AUC records management and interim associate dean of the Rare Books and Special Collections Library, Steve Urgola, reflects on his career.
Stephen Urgola is AUC’s University archivist, director of AUC records management and interim associate dean of the Rare Books and Special Collections Library. He began his archival career as a work-study student and later earned a master’s degree in history and a certificate in archives from New York University. AUC’s archives have been his home for 25 years. He enjoys street photography and going on walks through historic areas of Cairo.
What drives you?
There's a saying: You die twice. You die when you physically die, and you die the last time your name is uttered. Working in archives and oral history keeps people’s memories alive and prevents that second death. It’s very painful when someone passes away before we’ve had the chance to interview them. That’s a tough part of the job.
What do you find yourself thinking about the most?
I often think about the challenges we face in preserving heritage, from archives to historical buildings, in Egypt and worldwide. Heritage is under financial, environmental and technological pressure. Plus there is so much digital content to deal with and imperfect means of capturing it.
What is the biggest decision you have made?
Coming to Egypt and AUC — it made such a difference in terms of the people I've had the chance to interact with (Cairo is the biggest small town in the world; everybody’s connected), the places I have seen and the historical collections I've worked with. It also led to meeting my wife, Helen Rizzo [associate professor of sociology and director of the Cynthia Nelson Institute for Gender and Women’s Studies at AUC]!
What advice would you give your younger self?
I'd tell my college self to spend a year studying abroad — maybe even at AUC.
How do you want to be remembered?
As someone who played a part in preserving and promoting the heritage of places that matter to me: Egypt, Cairo and AUC.