Search

Start Over Repository University of Pennsylvania: Penn Museum Archives Record Source University of Pennsylvania Subject Anthropology

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

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

John L. Cotter papers, 1934-1997 (inclusive)

Extent:
10.4 linear feet
Abstract:
John Lambert Cotter is widely considered to have been a pioneer in American historical archaeology in a career. He began his career, that spanned some sixty-five years, studying and working in traditional prehistoric archaeology, earnestly beginning his explorations in historical archaeology in the 1950s. The textual records from Dr. John L. Cotter consist of 26 boxes of correspondence, teaching materials, archaeological field notes, reports, and publications.

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

Main content

Carleton Coon Papers, 1949-1967 (inclusive)

Extent:
1.25 linear feet
Abstract:
Carleton Stevens Coon was born on June 23, 1904, in Wakefield, Massachusetts. He graduated from the Phillips Academy in 1921, and then went on to graduate Magna Cum Laude from Harvard University in 1925. Coon then received both his Masters degree and Doctorate degree from Harvard University in 1928. Coon's field work was extensive, including the excavations of five cave sites in Iran (1949-1955), Afghanistan (1954), Syria and Central Africa (1955), and Chad and Libya (1966-1967). Contained in this collection are mostly records that pertain to Coon’s survey and archaeological excavations during 1949-1955 of five cave sites in Iran: Bisitun in Luristan; Tamtama in Azerbaijan; the Khunik rock shelter in Southern Khorassan; and Belt and Hotu in Gorgan.

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

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

Henry N. Michael papers, 1938-2004 (inclusive)

Extent:
6.0 cubic feet (4 records storage cartons of papers, 1 records storage carton of index cards and 1 records storage carton of visual materials)
Abstract:
Henry N. Michael was an anthropologist and geographer whose research on growth rings in ancient bristlecone pine trees allowed him to develop Carbon 14 calibration, or “correcting scale.” This scale helped to resolve problems in radiocarbon dating in archaeology. Dr. Michael also published a number of works translated from Russian on various aspects of Arctic archaeology and ethnography, along with folklore of Arctic people. Holdings include research and field notes on his trips to the White Mountains in California to collect bristlecone pine samples, testing of wood samples at the Penn Museum Radiocarbon Lab, and notes and drafts of publications and translations.

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

Main content

Ceylon (Sri Lanka) Proto-History Project Collection, 1966-1984 (inclusive)

Extent:
0.5 linear feet
Abstract:
The Ceylon (Sri Lanka) Proto-History Project Collection includes budgets and proposals, reports and publications, financial records, artifact loans, field notes, artifact analysis, radiocarbon analysis, photographic prints and negatives, site plans and sections, and fourty-one pottery drawings. It is housed in 1 box and 2 oversized folders in Map Case M-20.

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

Limit your search

  • University of Pennsylvania: Penn Museum Archives19

more »

more »

more »

more »

more »

Current results range from 1876 to 2005

View larger »