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Start Over People Gordon, G. B. (George Byron), 1870-1927

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American Section, 1898-1960 (bulk) 1826-1995 (inclusive)

Extent:
16.0 linear feet
Abstract:
The American Section was one of the first to evolve during the early development of the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. The University Archaeological Association established in 1887 and later, the American Exploration Society, established in 1892, exhibited several small collections in College Hall before the building campaign for the museum began. Charles Abbott was the first curator of the section succeeded by Henry C. Mercer and then Stewart Culin who was also named Director in 1899. Each succeeding curator was responsible for adding collections, many of them representing their own expeditions in the United States, Alaska, Mexico, Central America and South America. Records in the files are dated from 1826 through the 1980s. The transfer of materials to the Archives took place piecemeal and without a central organization. The current re-processing placed the files into three series, Deaccessions and Loans, Collectors and Collections and Exhibits.

Held at: University of Pennsylvania: Penn Museum Archives [Contact Us]

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Mary Owen Guatemalan folktales collection, 1915 (bulk) 1915-1991 (inclusive)

Extent:
0.05 linear foot
Abstract:
The Mary Owen Guatemalan Folktale collection consists of two folders of folktales gathered by Mary Owen at the request of her friend George Byron Gordon, Director of the Free Museum of Science and Art, later the Penn Museum. Mary Owens transcribed seventeen folktales with notes and explanations from her valuable years of experience living in the Alta Verapaz region. Mary Owen's folktales were published in 1938 as a children's book co-authored by Marie Hendrick Jessup and Leslie Bird Simpson. Her work is also recognized in the book, "Maya Folktales from the Alta Verapaz", edited by Elin C. Danien.

Held at: University of Pennsylvania: Penn Museum Archives [Contact Us]

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William C. Farabee expedition records, 1911-1923 (bulk) 1906-1924, 1926, 1955, 1983, undated (inclusive)

Extent:
5.3 linear feet
Abstract:
William C. Farabee (1865-1925) was a physical and cultural anthropologist, archaeologist, and cartographer who devoted most of his life’s work to documenting and interpreting the native cultures of South America, principally the Arawak and Carib peoples of the Amazon basin and the native peoples of the Andes. He also conducted archaeological studies at Marajo Island, Brazil, and at several other locations, including Peru and Ecuador. The collection consists of 5.3 linear feet of textual and photographic documentation related principally to the Amazon expedition of the University of Pennsylvania Museum, 1913-1916, and also to the Andean expedition of 1922-1923.

Held at: University of Pennsylvania: Penn Museum Archives [Contact Us]

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Ur, Iraq expedition records, 1922-1934 (bulk) 1920-1976 (inclusive)

Extent:
3.85 linear feet
Abstract:
Sir Leonard Woolley directed the excavations at Ur in southern Iraq from 1922 to 1934 for the Joint Expedition of the British Museum and the University of Pennsylvania Museum. As part of this involvement, the University of Pennsylvania Museum sent Leon Legrain, Curator of the Babylonian Section, during the 1924–1925 and 1925–1926 seasons. Most of the records of the Ur expedition are located at the British Museum. The Museum Archives hold only a few records. The records consist of general correspondence, indexes and catalogs, publications, and Legrain research. Where possible, a chronological order was imposed on the Near East records.

Held at: University of Pennsylvania: Penn Museum Archives [Contact Us]

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Clarence S. Fisher Memphis Expedition records, 1915-1923 (bulk) 1915-1969 (inclusive)

Extent:
7.0 linear foot
Abstract:
Clarence S. Fisher was born in Philadelphia in 1876 and attended the University of Pennsylvania, attaining a degree in architecture in 1897 but devoting his entire life to archaeology. His first archaeology field experience was as the architect for the initial Babylonian expedition to Nippur from 1898 to 1900. This was followed by a research fellowship in Babylonian archaeology at the University Museum. Fisher also gained experience as an assistant to Harvard Archaeologist, George Andrew Reisner in Egypt and Samaria. From Reisner, Fisher learned archaeological techniques and the methods of meticulous record keeping he would use in his later work. Fisher was appointed a curator of the Egyptian section of the University of Pennsylvania Museum by George B. Gordon in 1914. He spent the next nine years in the field collecting data in Dendereh, Giza, Memphis, and Dra Abu el-Naga. The Clarence S. Fisher Memphis excavation records consist of six archival boxes of correspondence, notes,...(see more)

Held at: University of Pennsylvania: Penn Museum Archives [Contact Us]

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J. Alden Mason American Section records, 1924-1964 (bulk) 1898-1968 (inclusive)

Extent:
1.2 linear feet
Abstract:
J. Alden Mason, noted archaeological anthropologist and linguist, was born in Orland, Indiana and attended school in Philadelphia attaining his A.B. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1907. He pursued his Ph.D. at the University of California, Berkeley completing his dissertation on the ethnography of the Salinan Indians of California. Mason was influenced by Alfred J. Kroeber while at Berkeley and Edward Sapir of the University of Pennsylvania. The J. Alden Mason curatorial years (1922-1967) produced three archival boxes of correspondence and in-house memos, along with Section reports, research notes and articles and notes for publication. This material, in addition to personal records of Dr. Mason and evidence of his scholarship were arranged into series and placed in chronological order.

Held at: University of Pennsylvania: Penn Museum Archives [Contact Us]

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George Byron Gordon Central America expedition records, 1893-1924 (bulk) 1893-1956 (inclusive)

Extent:
0.35 linear foot
Abstract:
George Byron Gordon led expeditions to Copan at the end of the nineteenth century and, with his brother MacLaren Gordon, to Alaska in 1905 and 1907. As Professor at the University of Pennsylvania and as Director of the Museum, Gordon was first to conduct regular lectures to undergraduate and graduate students in Anthropology and oversaw one of the the largest periods of Museum growth. The G.B. Gordon Central America collection includes diaries, surveying notes, reports and stories from the Copan Expeditions and the Yucatan Expedition in 1910, original stories, articles, and book reviews written by Dr. Gordon, communication with The British Museum about Maya site excavation, Gordon's introductions composed for speakers for the Saturday Afternoon Lecture Series, speeches to professional organizations, and class lectures.

Held at: University of Pennsylvania: Penn Museum Archives [Contact Us]

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M. Louise Baker papers, 1879-1955 (inclusive)

Extent:
5.0 linear feet
Abstract:
During her employment as museum artist at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology from 1908-1936, M. (Mary) Louise Baker established an international reputation as the preeminent archaeological artist of her time with unmatched technical skill in scientific illustration. Her work at the University Museum included paintings of Maya pottery for limited edition folio volumes; paintings and reconstructions of Ur of the Chaldees’ royal tombs findings for Sir C. Leonard Woolley and of the Palace of Merenptah at Memphis, and a reconstructed drawing of the Piedras Negras Lintel 3. She spent much of her career dividing her time between the positions of museum artist and as art teacher at the George School in Bucks County, PA. A life-long Quaker, M. Louise Baker was born in Alliance, Ohio, on August 4, 1872. At the age of 19, she came to Pennsylvania to complete her education. By 1900, she had decided to concentrate on art and enrolled at the Pennsylvania Museum...(see more)

Held at: University of Pennsylvania: Penn Museum Archives [Contact Us]

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Clarence S. Fisher Dendereh Expedition records, 1915-1918 (bulk) 1915-1949 (inclusive)

Extent:
7.7 linear foot
Abstract:
Clarence S. Fisher was born in Philadelphia in 1876 and attended the University of Pennsylvania, attaining a degree in architecture in 1897 but devoting his entire life to archaeology. His first archaeology field experience was as the architect for the initial Babylonian expedition to Nippur from 1898 to 1900. This was followed by a research fellowship in Babylonian archaeology at the University Museum. Fisher also worked as an assistant to Harvard Archaeologist, George Andrew Reisner in Egypt and Samaria. From Reisner, Fisher learned archaeological techniques and the methods of meticulous record keeping he would use in his later work. Fisher was appointed a curator of the Egyptian section of the University of Pennsylvania Museum by George B. Gordon in 1914. He spent the next nine years in the field collecting data in Dendereh, Giza, Memphis, and Dra Abu el-Naga. Fisher's expedition to the cemetery at Dendereh re-worked a site that had been explored by Charles S. Rosher and W.M....(see more)

Held at: University of Pennsylvania: Penn Museum Archives [Contact Us]

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Edith Hall Dohan Mediterranean Section records, 1912-1943 (inclusive)

Extent:
1.8 linear foot
Abstract:
Edith Hayward Hall Dohan (1877-1943) curated the Mediterranean collection from 1912 to 1915 and from 1920 to 1943. A classical archaeologist, she received her A.B. from Smith College in 1899 and her Ph.D. from Bryn Mawr in 1908. A classical archaeologist, she received her A.B. from Smith College in 1899 and her Ph.D. from Bryn Mawr in 1908. In 1904, she joined Harriet Boyd Hawes and Richard Seager in excavating Gournia in Crete, from which experience she developed her doctoral thesis, The Decorative Art of Crete in the Bronze Age, completed in 1907. Dohan returned to two other archaeological sites in Crete in 1910 and 1912, working under the auspices of the Penn Museum before becoming assistant curator of the Mediterranean Section in 1912. The records in the Edith Hall Dohan curatorial subgroup consist of four series: (1) correspondence; (2) collections; (3) administration; and (4) research. Records within each folder are arranged chronologically.

Held at: University of Pennsylvania: Penn Museum Archives [Contact Us]

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