Subject: Physical anthropology - Philadelphia Area Archives Search Results

Extent:: 2.5 linear feet
Abstract:: During the Great Depression President Franklin D. Roosevelt developed New Deal programs to return the country to work through relief projects. The most popular of these was the Works Progress Administration because it provided work for so many Americans. Large numbers were put to work building bridges, roads, public buildings, public parks and airports with nominal salaries subsidized by the federal government. In addition, tens of thousands of artists were funded to create murals and sculpture for public buildings, write plays and music and perform their work for an arts-hungry public. Between 1935 and 1942, the University Museum co-sponsored(with institutions such as the Fairmount Park Commission and the Pennsylvania Commission for the Fine Arts) at least eight Works Progress Administration projects as part of the State-wide Museum Assistance Program. Employee salaries for the WPA/University Museum projects were paid by the WPA; equipment, space, supplies, technical aid, and...(see more)

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

Extent:: 20.0 linear foot
Abstract:: MASCA, or the Museum Applied Science Center for Archaeology, was established in 1961 by a grant from the National Science Foundation. MASCA was modeled after the Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art in Oxford. From the time of its inception in 1961, MASCA, along with the Radiocarbon Laboratory, made a number of contributions to radiocarbon dating and other dating and materials analysis techniques including thermoluminescence, xeroradiography, Proton Induced X-ray Emission (PIXE) analysis of metals, analysis of faunal and plant remains and other projects either within the museum or remotely at archaeological sites. MASCA was disassembled in 2009.

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

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]

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]

Extent:: 5.0 linear feet
Abstract:: Fleming was appointed as Scientific Director of MASCA starting in 1978. Under his direction MASCA broadened its analytical techniques from a focus on Carbon 14 dating, to the inclusion of many other specialized scientific approaches to answering anthropological/archaeological questions, including other dating techniques such as Thermoluminescence and materials analysis techniques such as Proton Induced X-ray Emission (PIXE).

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

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