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Start Over Repository University of Pennsylvania: Penn Museum Archives Record Source University of Pennsylvania Subject Archaeology--History Year 1925 to 1929

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Mediterranean Section Curatorial records, 1895-1975 (inclusive)

Extent:
2.0 linear feet
Abstract:
The curatorial files encompass the period from the Section's inauguration by Museum President William Pepper in 1894 to the 1970s. While the material in the Mediterranean curatorial files dates from 1895 to 1979, the bulk of the collection dates to the earlier years (1895-1949) and within that period, the majority relate to Edith Hall Dohan.

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

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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]

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Daniel Garrison Brinton Collection, 1868-1956 (inclusive)

Extent:
1.2 linear foot (the collection consists of thirteen folders housed in two archival boxes.)
Abstract:
Daniel Garrison Brinton is considered one of the founders of modern American Anthropology. He was also the first to hold a professorship in Archaeology in the United States. His library, which includes the Carl Hermann Berendt collection of manuscripts in the indigenous languages of Mexico and Central America, is considered the core of the University of Pennsylvania Anthropology Library. Among the collection are 4515 items; rare illustrations, contemporary photographs, portraits of individual authors, and texts in Spanish, French, Italian, and German. Brinton gathered his information from archival and library studies and did not participate in any archaeological expeditions. This small collection, attributed to Brinton by J. Alden Mason of the University Museum, consists of thirteen folders. Two contain linguistic notes on the Maya languages and another two contain drawings of pottery, objects, sites, and maps of Maya regions, primarily in Mexico. Some of the drawings are believed...(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 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]

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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]

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Current results range from 1868 to 1984

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