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

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Froelich Rainey Director's Office records, 1947-1977 (inclusive)

Extent:
25.6 linear feet
Abstract:
Rainey was appointed Director of the University Museum in 1947 and maintained the position until his retirement in 1976. He also served as a Professor of Anthropology at the University. Among his many accomplishments as Director, Rainey is responsible for the institution of Expedition Magazine. He developed and hosted the television show "What in the World?" which ran either locally or nationally for a total of fifteen years. In 1964, he served as a contributor to the show "Sunday" on NBC reporting the "archaeology news." The Froelich Rainey Administrative records consist of sixty-four archival boxes of correspondence divided into two series; alphabetical and chronological. The majority of the letters are in the alphabetical files with the chronological files reflecting the time from February 1968 to November 1969.

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

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Robert H. Dyson Director's Office records, 1982-1994 (inclusive)

Extent:
15.2 linear feet
Abstract:
Robert H. Dyson, a native of York, PA waa educated in the public schools of Forrest Hills, N.Y. and the Collegiate Institute in Ontario, Canada before enrolling at Harvard University. He graduated from Harvard Magna cum laude with a B.A. in 1950 and completed his Ph.D. there in 1966, specializing in Near Eastern Archaeology. Dyson came to the University of Pennsylvania in 1954 as an Associate in the Anthropology Department and an Assistant in the Near East Section of the University Museum. In 1982, Dyson succeeded Martin Biddle as Director of the Penn Museum. He maintained this position until 1994. The Robert H. Dyson Administrative Records consist of thirty-eight archival boxes of material organized into four series, Alphabetical Correspondence, Chronological Records, Personnel Records and Allocation Records.

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

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Nippur, Iraq expedition records, 1881-1900 (inclusive)

Extent:
20.0 linear feet
Abstract:
In 1887, the University of Pennsylvania agreed to sponsor an expedition to the Near East. The idea was conceived by Reverend John Punnett Peters, University of Pennsylvania Professor of Hebrew. Nippur was a pre-Biblical city-state located in the region between the Tigris and Euphrates, the area believed to be the "cradle of civilization." The museum conducted four expeditions between 1889 and 1898. The textual records for Nippur consist of 20 linear feet of files are arranged by Expedition (I, II, III, IV), as well as publications, maps and drawings. The documents for each expedition are separated according to type: Field Notes, Reports and Narratives, Correspondence, Financial Records.

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

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Gibeon expedition records, 1956-1964 (inclusive)

Extent:
6.0 linear feet
Abstract:
James Pritchard, first Curator of Biblical Archaeology, Professor of Religious Thought, Associate Director (1967-1976), and Director (1976-1977) at the University of Pennsylvania Museum, conducted his primary fieldwork in three sites in the Near East. Of these, locating the site of Ancient Gibeon (El-Jib) in Jordan was perhaps Pritchard’s most notable accomplishment. He and his team conducted five seasons of fieldwork here, discovering three prominent architectural features: a tunnel, pool, and the city wall. The archival records for these excavations consist six linear feet of field notes, reports, a field diary, correspondence, object catalogues, drawings, photographs and a photographic catalogue, an annotated map, publication notes, and financial records.

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

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University Museum Expedition to Afghanistan, 1952-1955 (inclusive)

Extent:
0.4 linear feet
Abstract:
The University Museum Expedition to Afghanistan spent six months in 1953 excavating the Bactrian sites of Balkh and Kunduz. The expedition was helmed by Rodney S. Young (Curator of the Mediterranean Section), Schuyler Cammann (Associate Curator in the Oriental Section), and Dorothy Hannah Cox, with additional scouting and surveying work performed by Carlton Coon. Uncovering evidence of the area's pre-Buddhist historical record was this expedition's primary focus. The textual records of the expeditions to Balkh and Kunduz consist of .4 linear feet of correspondence, inventories, preliminary reports, published reports, excavation agreements, field notes, and images. The records have been compiled from two sources: the papers of Dr. Schuyler Cammann (contributed in 1992) and the records of the Asian Section Office at the Museum of the University of Pennsylvania, an ongoing contribution of records to the Archives over time. Because very similar records were found in both sets of source...(see more)

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

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Henry L. Smith collection of Augustus Le Plongeon correspondence, 1906-1907 (bulk) 1906-1945 (inclusive)

Extent:
0.05 linear foot (the collection consists of one folder of material with thirteen letters, an article, a program, and the signature of henry l. smith.)
Abstract:
The Henry L. Smith collection of Augustus Le Plongeon correspondence documents the letters received by Henry L. Smith from the photographer, antiquarian, and amateur archaeologist, Augustus Le Plongeon in 1906 and 1907. Le Plongeon is most noted for his photographs in the Northern Yucatan during travels with his wife, Alice Dixon Le Plongeon, during a thirteen year period from 1873 to 1885. These photographs depict ancient ruins and inscriptions some of which were later damaged or destroyed. The collection consists of one folder of thirteen letters from Le Plongeon, and two additional pieces of information sent to Henry L. Smith, an article from Appleton's Booklovers Magazine and a brochure from the Lowell Institute. H. L. Smith's signature is found on a label for the letters.

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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Hiram M. Hiller Personal Papers, 1895-1907 (inclusive)

Extent:
0.4 linear foot
Abstract:
Hiram Milliken Hiller, Jr. was born in 1867 in Kahoka, Missouri to Colonel Hiram Milliken Hiller and Sarah Bell Hiller. He graduated from Parson’s College, Iowa, in 1887 and from the University of Pennsylvania Medical School in 1891. In 1895, he made the first of a series of voyages to the East with Furness and Harrison. From 1895-1901, Hiller visited Borneo, Japan, Sri Lanka, Siberia, and other locations in Asia. Hiller conducted ethnographical studies of the Dayaks of Borneo, the Nagas of Assam, India, and the Ainu of Japan. These letters span the period from October 1895 to May 1907, with the years 1896-1902 the most significantly represented. Most of them are from Hiram Hiller, Jr. to family members in Kahoka, particularly his mother Sarah and his sister Lida Hiller (Lapsley).

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

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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]

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