Philadelphia Area Archives

Start Over Year 1947

Blair Birdsall Papers, inclusive dates (inclusive)

Extent:: 105.0 linear feet (180 boxes, 105 linear feet)
Abstract:

Held at: Lehigh University Special Collections [Contact Us]

Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat records, 1969-2000 (bulk) 1946-2003 (inclusive)

Extent:: 137.0 boxes (137 boxes, 137 linear feet)
Abstract:: The collection is composed of records created and organized by Dr. Lynn S. Beedle, during his time as director of the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat. It contains primarily subject files, correspondence, and audio and visual materials generated by the organization during the period of time it was headquartered at Lehigh University, as well as some of Beedle's personal files.

Held at: Lehigh University Special Collections [Contact Us]

Birkinbine Engineering Company records, 1840-1963 (inclusive)

Extent:: 75.0 linear feet (75 linear feet (79 box of records + photographs + maps and drawings + pamphlets + patents and realia))
Abstract:: The Birkinbine Engineering Company got its start through Henry P. M. Birkinbine. His son, John, gained early engineering experience through various water supply projects in and around Philadelphia; this experience later helped direct the Birkinbine Engineering Company’s involvement in many water-related projects around the country in the late 19th century as part of the improved public sanitation initiatives. The Birkinbine firm also specialized in mining engineering, both in the United States and Mexico. John also had a firm grounding in mechanical engineering through his work in the Weimer Machine Works in Lebanon, Pennsylvania. John’s interest in manufacturing pig iron from charcoal, combined with his knowledge of hydraulics, catalyzed his concern for the condition of forests in Pennsylvania and he became one of the founders of the Pennsylvania Forestry Association. He also was president of the American Institute of Mining Engineers, founding member and secretary of the United...(see more)

Held at: Lehigh University Special Collections [Contact Us]

Abraham A. Neuman Papers, 1910-1966 (inclusive) 1940-1960 (bulk)

Extent:: 90 linear feet (91 boxes)
Abstract:

Held at: University of Pennsylvania: Archives at the Library of the Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies [Contact Us]

Samuel Tobias Lachs Collection, 1900-2000 (inclusive)

Extent:: 2.5 linear feet (5 boxes)
Abstract:

Held at: University of Pennsylvania: Archives at the Library of the Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies [Contact Us]

Judah Goldin Collection, 1914-1985 (inclusive)

Extent:: 23.5 linear feet (14 file boxes and 5 manuscript boxes)
Abstract:

Held at: University of Pennsylvania: Archives at the Library of the Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies [Contact Us]

George C. Vaillant Director's Office Records, 1928-1947 (inclusive)

Extent:: 2.0 linear feet
Abstract:: George Clapp Vaillant was born in Boston, Massachusetts and educated at Noble and Greenough School and Phillips Academy. Vaillant attended Harvard University where he was a lackluster student until he discovered archaeology. Vaillant worked on the cliff-houses in northeastern Arizona and dug at Pecos, New Mexico while an undergraduate. In graduate school, Vaillant worked with George A. Reisner in Egypt. Under the direction of the Carnegie Foundation and Sylvanus Morley, he dug at Chichen Itza in 1926. Following his time in Mexico with Morley, Vaillant was appointed assistant curator at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, in charge of archaeological activities in Mexico. This employment lasted until 1941 when he was appointed Director of the University of Pennsylvania Museum. The George C. Vaillant Administrative records are contained in five archival boxes and consist mostly of correspondence with some administrative records and personal files.

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

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]

Education Department records, University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, 1919-2002 (inclusive)

Extent:: 23.0 cubic feet (20 records cartons, 8 index card boxes, 4 archival boxes, 10 oversize folders)
Abstract:: The Education Department was responsible for organizing and administering many of the Penn Museum's public outreach and educational programs between 1921 and 2010. The department was also responsible for maintaining the Penn Museum's film collection from the 1920s to 1987 and for administering the sale of books and objects for children between 1930 and 1972. Holdings span from 1919 to 2002 and include a wide variety of materials created by the department's staff including, but not limited to: administrative reports, correspondence, inventories, press clippings, press releases, information packets, teaching aids, and radio scripts.

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

Records of the Registrar's Office, 1893-1981 (inclusive)

Extent:: 4.2 linear feet
Abstract:: From the earliest days the Museum of the University of Pennsylvania kept records of the artifacts donated and acquired through expeditions. This was originally the responsibility of the curator in each section and resulted in huge, hand-written registers of the collections. In 1929, the system was transferred to a centralized numerical card catalogue under the supervision of Geraldine M. Bruckner the Museum's first Registrar. The responsibilities of the Registrar included insurance, shipping and loans as well as numbering and describing collections. The records of the Office of the Registrar fill seven archival boxes and one card file. The materials did not have an innate order when processed but like documents were filed together in processing and the series describe the major duties of the office. The condition of the materials is fair to good with some flaking of paper due to age and storage problems. Series for the Office of the Registrar include correspondence, insurance,...(see more)

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

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]

Harriet Newell Wardle American Section records, 1929-1955 (inclusive)

Extent:: 1.2 linear feet
Abstract:: Harriet Newell Wardle came to the University Museum as a volunteer after resigning her position at the Academy of Natural Sciences. She was named assistant curator in the American Section in 1931. Wardle’s work at the Museum centered on the material culture of the South American Indian tribes particularly the double cloth weaving technique and square pile hats of Peru and textiles from the Uhle expedition. The Wardle curatorial papers consist of three boxes of records. Much of the collection is devoted to correspondence, filed in several categories, alphabetically, by area of the American Section, specific object related and those letters pertaining to textiles. Numerous notes taken as a part of her extensive research on Peruvian textiles are a large portion of the research section along with general research notes. Wardle's research notes include texts for 1940s era radio broadcasts on American Indian tribes. Several of Wardle's research papers, mostly unpublished outside of the...(see more)

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

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]

Margaret Matches Newman papers, 1927-1930 (bulk) 1919-1959 (inclusive)

Extent:: 1.25 linear feet
Abstract:: The Margaret Matches Newman collection documents Newman's travels to Papua New Guinea and her subsequent career as an author, most notably of the book . Materials include some correspondence, a diary, personal snapshots, and memorabilia.

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

Charles H. Stephens Papers, 1891-1916 (bulk) 1876-1964 (inclusive)

Extent:: 2.8 linear feet
Abstract:: Charles Hallowell Stephens (1855-1931), followed several careers; illustrator, art teacher, collector of American Indian artifacts, and amateur anthropologist. Born and raised in Philadelphia he attended the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts studying under the tutelage of Thomas Eakins. The importance of Stephens for the Penn Museum resides in his extensive collection of Native American artifacts that was estimated to have about 2000 items, about 1700 of which were acquired by the Penn Museum in 1945. The collection is divided into eight series: Correspondence, Blackfoot, Sioux, Collection Materials, Correspondence on Data, Visual Material, American Pageant Association, and Photographs.

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

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]

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]

Tatiana Proskouriakoff Papers, 1944-1958 (inclusive)

Extent:: 0.75 linear feet
Abstract:: Born in Russia in 1909, Tatiana Proskouriakoff came to the United States in 1916. She received a BS degree in Architecture from Penn State University in 1930. Because of the lack of architecture jobs during the Depression, she enrolled in graduate studies in anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania. Through her volunteer archaeological drawings at the University Museum, she was invited by Linton Satterthwaite to participate in two seasons of field work at the Maya site of Piedras Negras, starting what became a brilliant career in Maya scholarship. Proskouriakoff produced a series of reconstructive drawings depicting ancient Mayan cities, which were published as “An Album of Maya Architecture.” She secured positions at the Carnegie Institute of Washington under Sylvanus Morley and at the Peabody Museum of Harvard University. Her painstakingly detailed studies of Mayan glyphs became a turning point in the decipherment of Maya hieroglyphic writing. She died in 1985 as one of a...(see more)

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

Solomon H. Katz Alaska papers, 1969-1973 (bulk) 1940-1973 (inclusive)

Extent:: 3.1 linear feet
Abstract:: The Solomon H. Katz Alaska papers consist of documents related to a series of studies and surveys that Dr. Katz and his colleagues conducted in Barrow and Norton Sound, Alaska between 1969 and 1973. The research was intended to examine the effects of rapid cultural and socio-economic change on the native population, specifically in the areas of physical and mental health. Many of the surveys were not conducted by Katz, but were subsequently used in his research. In the Norton Sound projects, Katz served as a consultant.

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

Henry C. Mercer papers, 1891-1956 (inclusive)

Extent:: 0.3 linear feet
Abstract:: Henry C. Mercer was born in Doylestown, Pennsylvania on June 24, 1856. Following his graduation from Harvard University in 1879, he enrolled in the University of Pennsylvania School of Law. Mercer studied law for one year and then "read law" with the firm of Freedley and Hollingsworth. While he was admitted to the bar in 1881, Mercer immediately left for Europe where he spent months traveling through Germany and France. Mercer embarked on a study and apprenticeship in the art of pottery making which he would pursue in later life. Mercer served as curator of American and Prehistoric Archaeology at the Museum of the University of Pennsylvania from the early to the late 1890s. The Henry C. Mercer papers fill one-half of an archival box and are divided into six series. The photographs are housed with the oversized materials.

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

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