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In this Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2014 photo, Nancy Hatch Dupree, 87, listens during an interview with The Associated Press at the Afghanistan Center at Kabul University. Dupree fell in love with Afghanistan on her first visit in 1962, and embarked on a lifelong mission to preserve the rich cultural heritage of an ancient land scarred by modern wars. (AP Photo/Massoud Hossaini)(The Associated Press)

In this Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2014 photo, Nancy Hatch Dupree, 87, talks during an interview with The Associated Press at the Afghanistan Center at Kabul University. Dupree heads one of the foremost research centers on Afghanistan's cultural heritage, which stretches back thousands of years - well before the Silk Road - when Alexander the Great and the religious prophet Zoroastra passed through. (AP Photo/Massoud Hossaini)(The Associated Press)

In this Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2014 photo, Nancy Hatch Dupree, 87, talks during an interview with The Associated Press at the Afghanistan Center at Kabul University. Afghans regard Dupree as one of their own, with some even calling her "grandmother of the nation." President Ashraf Ghani found room at the university when he was chancellor in 2005 to store the tens of thousands of documents in the Dupree collection, and former President Hamid Karzai found the funds to build the center. Both men are old friends of hers. (AP Photo/Massoud Hossaini)(The Associated Press)

In this Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2014 photo, Nancy Hatch Dupree, 87, talks about a photo taken by National Geographic photographer Steve McCurry during an interview with The Associated Press at the Afghanistan Center at Kabul University. Dupree fell in love with Afghanistan on her first visit in 1962, and embarked on a lifelong mission to preserve the rich cultural heritage of an ancient land scarred by modern wars. (AP Photo/Massoud Hossaini)(The Associated Press)

In this Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2014 photo, Nancy Hatch Dupree, 87, and her colleague show an archived paper of the Taliban regime during an interview with The Associated Press at the Afghanistan Center in Kabul University. Dupree heads one of the foremost research centers on Afghanistan's cultural heritage, which stretches back thousands of years - well before the Silk Road - when Alexander the Great and the religious prophet Zoroastra passed through. (AP Photo/Massoud Hossaini)(The Associated Press)

KABUL, Afghanistan Nancy Hatch Dupree fell in love with Afghanistan on her first visit in 1962, and embarked on a lifelong mission to preserve the rich cultural heritage of an ancient land scarred by modern wars.

In happier times she traversed the country with the other love of her life archaeologist Louis Dupree, a fellow American studying its history, writing travelogues and collecting books, maps, photographs and even rare recordings of folk music. The couple continued their efforts, often from abroad, during the tumultuous decades that followed, and their vast collection, now housed at Kabul University's sunlit Afghanistan Center, provides a rare journey through the country's past.

Small and bird-like with grey curls wound into a bun, the 87-year-old Dupree cuts a colorful figure in a bright green salwar kameez, blue cardigan and scarf as she walks through the halls, stopping now and then to point out her favorites among 90 photographs by Steve McCurry, best known for his 1985 National Geographic cover picture of a green-eyed Afghan refugee girl.

The collection includes copies of a glossy monthly magazine, called "The Islamic Emirate," published in English by the Taliban during its 1996-2001 rule, as well as thousands of slides taken by Louis during his work on archaeological digs. There are newspapers dating back to the 1920s and books so rare that Dupree has the only known copies.

Afghans regard Dupree as one of their own, with some even calling her "grandmother of the nation." President Ashraf Ghani found room at the university when he was chancellor in 2005 to store the tens of thousands of documents in the Dupree collection, and former President Hamid Karzai found the funds to build the center. Both men are old friends of hers.

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American woman, 87, has made conserving Afghanistan's heritage a lifelong passion