Fragment of a biography of Homer
Even in its first few years, the excavation of Karanis produced a wide variety of objects from everyday life in Graeco-Roman Egypt, including glassware, pottery, shoes, toys, and a number of rare coins. The site was particularly important for its abundance of papyri, which consisted mainly of taxation records but also included several fragments of literary works, personal letters, and business contracts. In addition to uncovering a large number of these documents over the course of the dig, while travelling in Egypt Kelsey often took it upon himself to purchase hoards of papyri from local collectors. These consisted of years worth of Karanis papyri found before the excavation had even started, unearthed by local farmers harvesting the rich topsoil of Kom Aushim.
Journal entry detailing early finds
Although Kelsey was not able to participate in the dig at Kom Aushim for long, he set the stage for the extensive work that was to be done there in the following years. The University of Michigan's archaeological work continued at Kom Aushim after Kelsey's death in 1927, finally concluding in 1935. All in all, the eleven-year excavation of Karanis yielded nearly 45,000 objects detailing daily life in Graeco-Roman Egypt, a collection of artifacts surpassed only by the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. These materials, especially the large assortment of papyri, became the focal point of the University of Michigan's Kelsey Museum of Archaeology, named after Francis W. Kelsey.