The present volume grew out of the Second Missouri Egyptological Symposium held at Missouri State University in October 2019. This meeting followed in the footsteps of the tremendous efforts of the organizers of the inaugural Missouri Egyptological Symposium, held the year prior at Truman State University in Kirksville, MO. Principal among those organizers was Sara Orel. The theme of the second symposium was "Unwrapping Ancient Egypt" -- that is, laying bare the study of ancient Egypt in its numerous contexts. The primary heuristic driving this "unwrapping" was the location and demonstration of the various connections between Egyptology and other fields and intellectual practices, broadly defined.

As represented in this volume, the scholars at the symposium drew these interconnecting lines between Egypt and other cultures in antiquity, Egypt and the history of the United States, and ancient Egypt and the museum. The symposium involved an additional important point of connection: academic research and pre-college education. The organizers of the symposium reached out to K-12 educators in Missouri to invite them to participate in workshops that addressed the unique challenges of teaching about antiquity (particularly ancient Egypt) and allowed for the exchange of resources and curricula.