The Aziz Suryal Atiya papers (1927-1993) contain curriculum vitae, honorary documents, membership cards, contracts, royalty information, personal and academic correspondence, memos, reports, class schedules and materials, notebooks, lecture notes, book reviews, programs, memorial materials, biographies, and maps. Some of the subjects included in the material are studies Atiya did for the Coptic Encyclopedia, an expedition he took to Mount Sinai, and Arab-Israeli relations. Also included are papers related to Joseph Smith's Egyptian papyri and Atiya's role in making them public. While searching for Coptic and Arabic papyri in the Metropolitan Museum of Art storeroom in New York City, it was brought to Atiya's attention that the Joseph Smith Egyptian papyri, which is significant because they are the original documents used for research to write Facsimile No. 1 of the Book of Abraham, a scripture of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). Since the Egyptian language could not be read in the 1830s and 1840s when the papyri were supposedly translated, this discovery provided the first chance to check Joseph Smith's ability to translate the Egyptian papyri. Atiya functioned as the mediator between the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the First Presidency of the LDS Church.

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