Search

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

Main content

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]

Main content

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]

Main content

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]

Main content

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]

Main content

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]

Main content

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]

Main content

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]

Main content

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]

Main content

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]

Main content

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]

Main content

Robert Burkitt expedition records, 1913-1930 (bulk) 1903-1939 (inclusive)

Extent:
1.4 linear feet
Abstract:
Robert Burkitt lived and worked in Guatemala for most of his life. A graduate of Harvard University, he first traveled to Central America in 1894 with George Gordon as Gordon's assistant on the Fourth Coban Expedition. Burkitt became enamored with the culture and language of the Maya and never returned to North America. He traveled the countryside, corresponding with Gordon, and collecting items for the Museum under a loosely binding agreement with Gordon and later Horace Jayne. Burkitt's letters and catalogues are rich documents depicting the cultural, linguistic, topological, and historical features of the Guatemala Highlands. Burkitt wrote and worked from the areas of Chama, Chipal, Coban, Senahu, Chiantla, Chocola, and other areas of the Alta Verapaz region. He produced a detailed catalogue of his discoveries accompanied by photgraphs and drawings. Among Burkitt's discoveries is the Ratinixul Vase unearthed in 1923. His work was published in the Museum Journal in 1924 and 1930....(see more)

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

Main content

William N. Bates Mediterranean Section records, 1904-1938 (inclusive)

Extent:
1.6 linear foot
Abstract:
William N. Bates (1867-1949) was born and educated in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Bates curated the Mediterranean Section of the Penn Museum from 1904 to 1911. In 1940, the University of Pennsylvania awarded him an honorary doctorate. The William N. Bates curatorial subgroup consists of two folders of general correspondence from 1904 to 1915.

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

Main content

Helen E. Fernald papers, 1921-1935 (bulk) 1921-1937 (inclusive)

Extent:
0.8 linear feet
Abstract:
Helen E. Fernald was employed at The University Museum from 1921-1935 as the head of the Educational Department from 1921-25, was the Assistant Curator of Far Eastern Art from 1925-30, and the Curator from 1930-35. Fernald’s first trip abroad for the museum was in the summer of 1928 to study in the museums and private collections of Far Eastern art in Paris and at the British Museum in London. Her second trip was from June – December of 1929 to Japan, Korea, and China to study collections or conduct scientific researches. Her trips were a success, having brought back many artifacts from the Far East such as bronzes, sculptures, porcelains, etc. The Helen E. Fernald papers consist of eleven folders in two archival boxes of correspondence.

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

Main content

Louis Shotridge Collection, 1905-1937 (inclusive)

Extent:
1.0 linear foot
Abstract:
The papers of Louis Shotridge are one of the most extensive groups in the Arctic research collections of the University of Pennsylvania Museum Archives. Shotridge, a Tlingit Indian, was intermittently employed by the museum to make ethnographic collections of Northwest Coast materials between 1903 and 1912. The archives has papers concerning his original research, arranged topically, manuscripts for articles published in The Museum Journal, oral histories, Tlingit language notes, and general ethnographic notes on the Tlingit and other Northwest Coast groups.

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

Main content

William C. Farabee American Section records, 1912-1925 (bulk) 1912-1936 (inclusive)

Extent:
0.2 linear foot
Abstract:
William Curtis Farabee was a Harvard educated geneticist and ethnologist who served the Penn Museum as a researcher and curator. During his expeditions to South America, he detailed the cultural diversity of the Arawak and Carib peoples. Farabee's time as curator of the American Section of the museum resulted in five folders of correspondence and notes dating mostly from 1915 to 1925.

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

Main content

J. F. G. Umlauff, 1912-1933 (inclusive)

Extent:
1.5 linear feet
Abstract:
J.F.G. Umlauff of Germany sold this collection to Gordon of the Penn Museum in the 1910s and 1920s. Gordon expressed interest in this collection as he sought African and Oceanian specimens for the Penn Museum, artifacts from a location they previously possessed very few. J.F.G. Umlauff lived from 1833-1889 and owned a German ethnographic and artifact firm that was established in 1868 and flourished for more than a century, closing not until 1974. The firm was managed by J.F.G. Umlauff until his death, at which time the firm was taken over by his son Johannes Umlauff. The firm was still operated by J.F.G. Umlauff when he sold several African and Oceanian specimens to Gordon. The collection can still be found in the Penn Museum and is now organized into 3 separate series – correspondence, catalogues, and albums. The correspondence section consists of letters between Umlauff and Gordon, the catalogues section is comprised of many lists of the specimens Umlauff sold to Gordon and,...(see more)

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

Main content

George B. Gordon Director's Office Records, 1910-1928 (bulk) 1907-1930 (inclusive)

Extent:
12.5 linear feet
Abstract:
George Byron Gordon, explorer in Central America and Alaska, and first to teach undergraduate and graduate courses in Anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania, was born in New Perth, Prince Edward Island, Canada on August 4,1870. Gordon attended the University of South Carolina for one year in 1888 then completed his degree at Harvard University. Selected as an assistant to John G. Owens in 1892, Gordon accompanied Owens on the Harvard-sponsored excavation at Copan, Honduras. When Owens died in the field, Gordon was given the leadership to close down that portion of the work and then continued as Director of the next six sessions in Copan, until 1900. While performing these duties, Gordon attained his Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1894. Gordon joined the Free Museum of Science and Art(later the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Anthropology and Archaeology)in 1903 as Assistant Curator in the Section of General Ethnology. He led two expeditions to Alaska, in 1905 and 1907...(see more)

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

Main content

George Byron Gordon Personal Papers, 1907-1927

Extent:
0.5 linear feet
Abstract:
George Byron Gordon (1870-1927) served on the staff of the University of Pennsylvania Museum from 1903 to 1927, first as a curator, and later as director. Under his leadership, three wings were added to the Museum, and the collections were expanded extensively, most notably the Chinese Collection. Gordon also led two expeditions for the Museum to Alaska and initiated the regular offering of anthropology courses at the University of Pennsylvania. The George Byron Gordon Papers Collection consists of 12 folders in one archival box, consisting of correspondence, certificates, and personal materials.

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]

Main content

Carl W. Bishop papers, 1914-1918 (bulk) 1914-1922 (inclusive)

Extent:
0.8 linear foot
Abstract:
Carl W. Bishop, the first assistant curator of Oriental Art at the University Museum, was a vital force in the advanced knowledge of the Far East for the University Museum. Before Bishops excavations to the Far East, the Chinese collection started modestly in 1913, with acquisition of small bronzes and some porcelain pieces. Bishop set out to explore other museum’s exhibits on China as well as acquire artifacts from Ancient China. Due to the political turmoil in China during Bishop’s active years and a lack of funds, the expeditions were not always successful. During the second of the two trips Bishop took to the Far East from 1917-1918, he did conduct archeological reconnaissance, but no excavation was undertaken. The Carl W. Bishop papers consist of ten folders in two archival boxes of correspondence mostly to George Byron Gordan, journals, and photographs.

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

Main content

Stephen B. Luce Mediterranean Section records, 1915-1920 (inclusive)

Extent:
0.04 linear foot
Abstract:
Stephen B. Luce was a graduate of Harvard College, class of 1909. He completed his Ph.D. in 1913 also at Harvard. In addition to his curatorship at Penn, Luce was an Assistant Director at the American School of Classical Studies in Athens in 1928 and 1930. He was affiliated with the Fogg Museum at Harvard in the 1930s and served as Editor in charge of the American Journal of Archaeology from 1938 to 1941. The Luce folders comprise two series. Series 1 includes general correspondence related to the museum and to his research and Series 2 includes correspondence with art dealers related to specific collections

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

Main content

Theodoor de Booy Sierra de Perija expedition records, 1916-1919 (inclusive)

Extent:
0.13 linear foot (the collection consists of two folders of correspondence and linguistic material and two folders of photographs in an archival box. the lantern slide collection from the expedition is in the photographic section.)
Abstract:
Theodoor deBooy, a native of the Netherlands, immigrated to the United States in 1906, becoming a citizen in 1916. Trained neither as an archaeologist nor anthropologist, he nevertheless traveled independently to the Bahamas in 1911 to study the Caicos group of islands and, in 1912, published his "Lucayan Remains on the Caicos Islands." From that time on, de Booy dedicated himself to the field of archaeology. The collection includes correspondence with George Byron Gordon, Director of the Penn Museum, a catalog of artifacts, photographs, a bibliography of the region, and lists of his lantern slides, how they should be colored, and how used in publication by the Museum.

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

Main content

Stephen Langdon Babylonian Section records, 1911-1918 (inclusive)

Extent:
0.01 linear foot
Abstract:
Stephen Langdon, noted Sumerian scholar, was an American-born British citizen who briefly curated the Near East section at the University of Pennsylvania Museum. The Stephen Langdon Near East section records consist of three folders of material mostly correspondence with George B. Gordon the Director of the Museum.

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

Main content

George B. Gordon General Ethnology Section Records, 1903-1913 (inclusive)

Extent:
2.75 linear feet
Abstract:
George Byron Gordon, explorer in Central America and Alaska, and first to teach undergraduate and graduate courses in Anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania, was born in New Perth, Prince Edward Island, Canada on August 4,1870. Gordon joined the Free Museum of Science and Art(later the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Anthropology and Archaeology)in 1903 as Assistant Curator in the Section of General Ethnology. Gordon was appointed Director of the Free Museum of Science and Art in 1910 and oversaw one of the largest periods of growth in its collection and prestige. The records of the General Ethnology Section fill three archival boxes of alphabetical correspondence. Five bound letter books also record correspondence from 1902 to 1910.

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

Main content

Hermann V. Hilprecht Near East Section records, 1892-1913 (inclusive)

Extent:
2.7 linear feet
Abstract:
Hermann Volrath Hilprecht, eminent Assyriologist, arrived in the United States in 1886, summoned by the Sunday School Times to edit their oriental section. He was also appointed Professor of Assyriology at the University of Pennsylvania. The following year, Hilprecht assumned the duties of Curator of the Babylonian and General Semitic section of the Museum of Archaeology at Penn. Hilprecht was the scientific director for the Babylonian expedition to Nippur. In all, he worked on four expeditions, specializing in the interpretation of the cuneiform tablets. The Hermann V. Hilprecht Near East section records consist of five boxes of data. The folders had been previously organized into correspondence, collections, publications and controversy divisions. During processing, the correspondence was placed more appropriately in general, curatorial and publishing subdivisions. The collection folders as well as the majority of the publication data required only placement in chronological order.

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

Main content

Leonard Woolley expedition to Italy, 1908-1910 (inclusive)

Extent:
0.2 linear foot
Abstract:
The expedition to Teano, Italy was proposed to the Penn Museum by C. Leonard Woolley in 1908. Woolley was sure that he could obtain the necessary permits from the Italian government. Woolley remained in Italy until 1909 uncovering a fine statue of Cupid and a lesser statue of Venus and a mask. Although the museum was to receive the best pieces found there, the Italian government reserved the Cupid for its museum and would only issue export papers for the lesser finds. On the trip, Woolley purchased the Pozzuoli marble from Lamont Young of Naples, a piece found during the construction of a house in Pozzuoli. Apparently, this purchase resulted in concerns about the use of the moneys provided by patron Mrs. Drexel for the expedition.

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

Limit your search

more »

more »

more »

more »

more »

Current results range from 1826 to 1995

View larger »