Henry C. Mercer was born in Doylestown, Pennsylvania on June 24, 1856. Following his graduation from Harvard University in 1879, he enrolled in the University of Pennsylvania School of Law. Mercer studied law for one year and then "read law" with the firm of Freedley and Hollingsworth. While he was admitted to the bar in 1881, Mercer immediately left for Europe where he spent months traveling through Germany and France. Mercer embarked on a study and apprenticeship in the art of pottery making which he would pursue in later life.
Mercer served as curator of American and Prehistoric Archaeology at the Museum of the University of Pennsylvania from the early to the late 1890s.
The Henry C. Mercer papers fill one-half of an archival box and are divided into six series. The photographs are housed with the oversized materials.
Held at: University of Pennsylvania: Penn Museum Archives [Contact Us]