Search

Start Over Repository University of Pennsylvania: Penn Museum Archives Language English Year 1850 to 1899

Main content

Museum Building Records, 1892-2007 (inclusive)

Extent:
4.8 linear foot
Abstract:
The first section of the University of Pennsylvania Museum building, designed to exhibit the large archaeological and ethnological collections amassed in the preceding twelve years, was opened in 1899. The architects, Wilson Eyre, Jr., Cope and Stewardson, and Frank Miles Day and Brother, envisioned this first section as the westernmost wing of an immense building, at least three times the size of the present museum. The second section, the Harrison Rotunda, consisting of the exhibit hall and auditorium, was added in 1915. It featured a dome constructed by Rafael Guastavino. In 1926 the Eckley B. Coxe, Jr. Egyptian Wing opened, followed by the Administrative Wing (nowadays called the "Sharpe" Wing after the third floor gallery bearing that name) in 1929. Building activity stopped after 1929 until construction began on the Academic Wing in 1969. This section, designed by Mitchell/Giurgola Associates is the only part of the building that deviates from the original plan by Wilson Eyre....(see more)

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

Main content

Exhibits Department records, 1893-1984 (inclusive)

Extent:
2.8 linear foot
Abstract:
The Museum collections, initially displayed in the University Library in the Furness Building, were transferred to the new building in 1898. In the years that followed, the collections and the space available continued to grow and the Museum prepared both permanent and loan exhibits. The earliest Museum exhibits can be found in the records of the individual sections. An exhibit staff member was appointed in 1940; the staff remaining relatively small. Although exhibit catalogs date from 1892, few files were kept, and the photographic collections are often helpful in documenting past exhibitions. The files are arranged chronologically. Exhibit catalogs are filed separately (see Special Collections— Publications).

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

Main content

Asian Section, 1890-1969 (inclusive)

Extent:
1.6 linear feet
Abstract:
The Asian Section collection includes correspondence and receipts all dealing with the donation or sale of artifacts to the Penn Museum from 1890 to 1969. Artifacts are mostly from China, Korea, and Japan. Notable donors include Stewart Culin, William Pepper, Phoebe Hearst, and Worch of Paris, C.T. Loo, and Yamanaka and Co.

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

Main content

M. Henry Kerr Cameroon expedition papers, 1895-1899 (bulk) 1892-1968 (inclusive)

Extent:
1.1 linear feet (one manuscript box and one scrapbook box.)
Abstract:
Henry Kerr (1869-1935), a Presbyterian minister, worked in several villiages in Cameroon, West Africa from 1892-1899. The Presbyterian Mission League tasked him with expanding the mission locations, translating hymns and the four Gospels, teaching, and promoting industry. Contained in the collection are his own photos and correspondence, both letters sent and replies. The bulk of the collection is in the format of a scrapbook compiled by Kerr.

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

Main content

Arthur L. Frothingham records from the Etruscan tomb groups excavation, 1893-1903 (bulk) 1890-1930 (inclusive)

Extent:
1.0 linear foot
Abstract:
Although classical, including Etruscan, collections had been donated to the University of Pennsylvania Museum since the early 1890s it was in 1896 that the Museum formally authorized excavations in Italy and the acquisition of Etruscan tomb groups, as well as individual objects, for the Museum. Professor Arthur L. Frothingham of Princeton, then Secretary of the American School of Classical Studies in Rome, was commissioned to represent the Museum in Italy. Most of the tomb groups which Frothingham obtained are from Narce and Vulci, although there are objects from many other sites including Cerveteri, Orvieto, and Civita Castellana. The textual records from the excavations in Italy consist of one linear foot of correspondence, notes, financial accounts, and photographs related to the excavation of Etruscan tombs through which the Museum obtained the majority of its Etruscan collections.

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

Main content

Furness, Harrison and Hiller expedition records, 1895-1904 (inclusive)

Extent:
4.4 linear feet
Abstract:
Between 1895 and 1901, William Furness, III., Alfred C. Harrison, Jr., and Hiram M. Hiller made a series of extended trips to Oceania, South and Southeast Asia, and East Asia. Furness, Harrison, and Hiller all donated or sold substantial collections of ethnographic, archaeological, and skeletal material acquired on the voyages to the Penn Museum. The Furness, Harrison, and Hiller collections, particularly those from Oceania, are extensive and reasonably well-documented for their time.

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

Main content

Anne Bowbeer Alexander Scott Collection, 1920-1936 (bulk) 1883-2014 (inclusive)

Extent:
0.2 linear foot
Abstract:
Alexander Scott was born in 1854 in Camberwell, Surrey, the son of the famed British portrait painter for the Illustrated London News, Thomas Dewel Scott. He became known as a world traveler, landscape painter and collector of Asian antiquities. This collection was donated to the Penn Museum in 2011 by Anne Bowbeer, the wife of Alexander Scott's nephew, following the death of Mabel Scott Hall, Alexander Scott's widow

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

Main content

Edward Avery McIlhenny Alaska Expedition records, 1897-1899 (inclusive)

Extent:
0.1 linear foot
Abstract:
In 1897, Edward Avery McIlhenny pursued an agreement with Dr. William Pepper, President of the Museum of Anthropology and Archeaology at the University of Pennsylvania to gain the museum's support for his own expedition to Point Barrow, Alaska. In return. he agreed to give the museum all of the specimens recovered. McIlhenny worked in Alaska from 1897 to 1899. The Point Barrow Collection consists of three folders of correspondence and catalogues and two boxes of mounted photographs.

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

Main content

Board of Managers, 1891-1906 (bulk) 1887-1910 (inclusive)

Extent:
2.8 linear foot (the board of managers records fill seven archival boxes plus a few oversize pieces.)
Abstract:
William Pepper, originally a Provost of the University of Pennsylvania, was the visionary behind the establishment of the University Archaeological Association in 1889, and the Department of Archaeology and Paleontology in 1891, the precursors to the University Museum. The groups were composed of wealthy Philadelphians, interested in the ancient world, and capable of soliciting subscriptions to the Associations from their friends and colleagues. The University's sponsorship of an expedition to Nippur, Babylonia in 1887, financed by private funds was the impetus for Pepper to work toward the establishment of organizations to support exploration and house artifacts from the ancient world. With the need for a fire-proof building to house the finds, supported by the Trustees, College Hall was designated as the first repository in response to a request from William Pepper. By 1892, the Department of Archaeology and Paleontology, affiliated with the University of Pennsylvania, was...(see more)

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

Main content

Egypt Exploration Fund, 1888-1926 (inclusive)

Extent:
0.4 linear foot (the records of the egypt exploration fund fill one archival box of correspondence and financial records.)
Abstract:
Amelia B. Edwards, a novelist and travel writer, traveled in Egypt from 1873 to 1874 to escape bad weather in her native England. Her stay in Egypt inspired the book, A Thousand Miles Up the Nile. A best seller at the time, Edwards story presented a view of nineteenth century Egypt along with descriptions of the previously unknown antiquities of the ancient civilization. After returning to England, Edwards and Reginald Stuart Poole of the Department of Coins and Metals of the British Museum co-founded the Egypt Exploration Fund. Its 1882 mission was to "explore, survey and excavate ancient sites in Egypt and Sudan and publish the results of this work." The work of W.M. Flinders Petrie was of great interest to the amateur Egyptologist Edwards, and she supported Flinders Petrie's appointment as successor to Edouard Naville in Egypt. Petrie arrived in Egypt in 1884 with funds from University College, London. He later became the first Edwards professor of Egyptology at...(see more)

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

Limit your search

  • University of Pennsylvania: Penn Museum Archives30

more »

more »

more »

more »

more »

Current results range from 1826 to 2014

View larger »