KABUL — Nancy Hatch Dupree, who spent decades in Afghanistan working to preserve the heritage of the war-torn country, died Sept. 10 in Kabul. She was 89.

Ms. Dupree amassed a vast collection of books, maps, photographs, and even rare recordings of folk music, all now housed at a center she founded at Kabul University. She also wrote five guidebooks and with her husband, Louis, authored the definitive book on Afghanistan, an encyclopedic look at the country they had adopted as their own.

Ms. Dupree lamented the fact that young people in Afghanistan, many of whom had grown up as refugees in neighboring countries, knew little about their history.

‘‘So many young Afghans know more about the histories of the countries where they lived as refugees than their own country’s history,’’ she said. ‘‘It makes me sad because their own history is so rich.’’

She created an extensive library at Kabul University that could be accessed electronically from other universities.