Was that wondrous decorated coffin the one that held the mummy of Usermontu or the one of Ta'awa?

What is that cat goddess?

What was that popular Egyptian board game?

Keeping it all straight has become much easier with the publication of Treasures of the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum.

If you're confused about Usermontu and Ta'awa, flip to the pages with mummy coffins and you'll see the definite differences and also learn they were probably cousins.

It's also easy to find that Bastet, who resembles a cat, is the protector of the home and that Senet was such a popular board game that its outline was even found scratched into the floor of a temple.

Treasures is the culmination of more than nine months of weekly collaboration between Lisa Schwappach-Shirriff, curator of the museum, and James Dewrance, a photographer specializing in black and white photographs of the Northern California coastline and capturing fine arts and artifacts on film for museums and art galleries.

"For a long time, unless you came here you didn't know the beautiful collection we have," said Schwappach-Shirriff. "Now the catalog enables us to show people around the world what's here in San Jose."

Yet, the catalog is not aimed solely at those unable to visit the museum.

"Once they come here and see what's here, visitors want to take a piece of it home with them, that's what the catalog is for," she adds.

While there are 400 different artifacts spotlighted in the catalog, Schwappach-Shirriff points out that these are "only the top 10 percent of the collection. We have more than 4,000 artifacts."

What pleased Schwappach-Shirriff the most about the process, was the opportunity to do additional research.

"We'd never done a catalog, ever. A lot of the artifacts that came out of the collection had never been translated or fully researched," she said. "I was able to concentrate on specific objects and do things like translations that helped me identify some of our objects. We know so much more than we did when the collection began in 1920 and I did re-date a few artifacts based on my research."

One of the things Schwappach-Shirriff's translations accomplished was the definite identification of the coffins of Usermontu and Ta'awa. Usermontu was Lord of Thebes, a priest of Montu and part of a very powerful family during the Saite Period (664­525 BC). Ta'awa's titles include "Noble Lady" and "Lady of the House," and both her father and her brother were also priests of Montu.

"Even though we didn't purchase them together, the two coffins are family members and obviously they were meant to be together," Schwappach-Shirriff said.

"My favorite artifact in the catalog ended up being Ta'awa," she said. "She has the most beautiful face with a little smile on the face of the coffin. She's beautiful."

Ta'awa is also the catalog cover girl.

Photographer Dewrance's favorite artifact is much less exotic—three bevel-rimmed bowls from the Urik Period (3200 to 3100 BC).

"You can see the fingerprints of the person who made them thousands of years ago," he said. "I like the day-to-day items where you just feel this connection with the maker."

Less appealing to Dewrance are the funerary artifacts, which he said he finds "a little bit remote. They were buried with somebody and you tend to keep a little bit of distance."

Dewrance feels very much at home within the museum.

"I lived on Chapman Street next to the son of the founder of Rosicrucian Park," he said. "As a kid I hung around the museum and I worked there when I went to college. They had a shop where we'd fix things.

"I was also interested in drawing and illustrations, so I did some drawings for their publications. I've stayed in touch with the editor, who is head of publications, and he recommended me for the photo shoot."

Dewrance still lives within walking distance of the museum.

In addition to illustrating the cream of the collection, the catalog also offers insightful text.

"We figured this was a good opportunity to write the story of the people of Egypt," Schwappach-Shirriff said. "The book is divided into different chapters with an introductory essay on that aspect of life."

The introduction is also the history of the collection, which was the personal dream of Dr. H. Spencer Lewis, leader of the Rosicrucian Order.

The collection started with a single artifact, a small bronze votive of the Egyptian lion-headed goddess Sekhmet—a "goddess of warfare, the hot desert wind and healing."

Initially the collection was housed in a wing of the Rosicrucian's administration building. In 1966 the current museum opened and today it remains in a building authentic to ancient Egyptian style. As many as 40,000 school children visit it each year.

In addition to the catalog, there is now a postcard book of Dewrance's photos that is aimed specifically at the children who visit and want a souvenir.

"It's priced at $9.24, so with tax it's $10," Schwappach-Shirriff said. "Children do not understand 'with tax,' until they get their first job."

The catalog itself contains essays on Afterlife, Daily Life, Religion, Government, Egypt After the Pharaohs and Other Cultures.

"A lot of people don't realize that Egypt is still there," Schwappach-Shirriff said. "It's nice to say it's still there. It's changed, but the basic roots of that culture continue on in the lives of people there today. If you're interested in Egypt back then, it's still there."

Schwappach-Shirriff credits Julie Scott, president of the Rosicrucian Order, with making the catalog happen. It had been discussed for years, but never moved beyond the discussion stage.

"We've been very excited about this project for a long time," Scott said.

"It provides a good scholarly resource for academics and researchers. This gives researchers a chance to see items they knew we had in the museum as wall as some very rare items we realize a lot of scholars didn't know we had."

However, Scott said the catalog isn't just for scholars.

"So many people come to the museum and buy handfuls of post cards or take photographs," she said. "This puts it all together and they can just purchase the catalog. It's good for casual visitors as well as scholars and researchers."

"Treasures of the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum" by Lisa Schwappach-Shirriff with photographs by James Dewrance is $24.95 and a postcard book is $9.24. Both are available in the museum's gift shop, 1342 Naglee Ave., which is open from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Tue-Fri and 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Sat-Sun. For additional information, visit www.egyptianmuseum.org or call 408.947.3636.

James Dewrance's work can be seen on his web site www.jamesdewrance.com.