Main content
Education Department records, University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology
Notifications
Held at: University of Pennsylvania: Penn Museum Archives [Contact Us]3260 South Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 19104-6324
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the University of Pennsylvania: Penn Museum Archives. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.
Overview and metadata sections
The Education Department was not formally established with a staff and program of its own until 1921. However, regular public lectures were given as early as 1897, and the first lectures for school groups were given in 1910. These early educational activities were planned and carried out by the curators and the Museum Director. After the opening of the Harrison Auditorium in 1915, the lecture programs grew in frequency and attendance, and film events were added.
In 1918 the Board of Managers appointed two docents, but the department was not formally established until 1921 with the appointment of Helen Fernald as Chief Docent. Miss Fernald remained in this post until 1925. Under her leadership, the Educational Department continued to give lectures for school groups, led gallery tours for museum members, and started a Saturday Story Hour program for the children of museum members. Also, docents were available to supply information and tours to museum visitors and to provide assistance to art schools, industrial schools, businesses, clubs, and organizations. The department continued to offer lectures and gallery tours to visiting groups throughout its history.
Cornelia Dam served as head of the Education Department from 1923 to 1942, first as Head Docent and after 1936 as the department's curator. During her tenure as head of the department, Dam supervised the opening of various educational facilities in the museum's newly-constructed Administrative Wing. By 1946, these facilities had expanded to include a special registration and admissions desk for school groups, classrooms for presentations and crafts workshops, and spaces to exhibit student work.
In addition to the facilities listed above, the Education Department established a sales desk during the 1930s. The sales desk handled the sale of teacher aids, post cards, children's books, and children's activities. The Education Department would administer the sales of children's books and objects until 1972. At that time, responsibility for these sales was transferred to the Women's Committee's Pyramid Shop.
The Education Department, under the leadership of Cornelia Dam, also helped establish the School Museum Program and the Museum Extension Service. In 1931, the Penn Museum and the Commercial Museum received a joint grant from the Carnegie Foundation. The Penn Museum and Commercial Museum used the grant to develop educational units centered on specific themes. Then they helped participating schools and colleges establish small museums related to these units using objects from the collections in the Penn Museum and Commercial Museum. During the mid-1930s, some of the funds from the Carnegie Grant were used to support the creation of the Museum Extension Service. Under this program, the Penn Museum, the Commercial Museum, and the Academy of Natural Sciences hired lecturers to give presentations at Philadelphia-area schools. Both the School Museum Program and the Museum Extension Service ended shortly after the Carnegie Grant expired in the late 1930s.
During the 1930s, the Education Department undertook other programs besides the sales desk, School Museum Program, and Museum Extension Service. In 1930, the department developed services for junior members. Children who became junior members, could attend special events, film programs, and crafts workshops. Junior members also received copies of the Junior Bulletin and the Spade. Two years later, the Education Department created the How-To-Make-It Club. Members of this club paid a small fee to receive instructions in the mail for various crafts projects. The museum ended the How-To-Make-It Club before 1938, but continued to sell project instructions from this program at the Education Department sales desk.
During Cornelia Dam's tenure as head of the Education Department, the department was responsible for maintaining the Penn Museum's library of motion pictures. The film library consisted of a collection of motion pictures showing anthropological and archaeological subjects. It also contained a collection of educational films. During the 1920s and 1930s, department staff organized special events where these and other films were shown to members of the public. The department continued to be responsible for the film collection until it was transferred to the control of the Penn Museum Archives in 1987.
In the early 1940s, World War II placed unusual demands upon the department; the staff was often called upon to provide support to the museum wherever it was needed. The Education Department answered inquiries from the U.S. government and accommodated servicemen who received military training inside museum classrooms. During this time, Eleanor Moore became head of the department and served the museum in this capacity with the title of Assistant Curator from 1942 to 1952. Under her leadership, the department continued to give illustrated lectures and gallery tours for museum visitors, administered a sales desk, and answered information requests from the public. On Saturdays, the department administered activities for children including games, films, and crafts classes. On Sundays, the department supervised movie and concert programs for adults.
The Education Department expanded the museum's involvement with radio programs during the 1940s. As early as 1924, members of the Education Department had helped produce children's radio programs and between 1930 and 1931 Cornelia Dam hosted radio programs about various archaeological and anthropological subjects. However, during the 1940s the department's involvement became more consistent. From 1942 to 1952, the Education Department collaborated with other museum staff, professional actors, local children, and the Philadelphia Board of Education to produce the "Once Upon a Time" radio program. The program produced fifteen minute performances of myths, stories, and legends and distributed teaching aids related to the performances. At the height of the program's popularity in 1944 and 1945, ratings services estimated that the program had a total listening audience of over 750,000 people.
During the 1940s and early 1950s, the Education Department also became involved with the production of television shows. In 1946, the department's staff took part in a live television show called, Houses Around the World. In 1947 and 1948, the museum participated in a series of programs involving anthropological and archaeological subjects. Finally, in 1950 the Education Department became involved with the long-running, What in the World, television series.
After the School Museum Program was disbanded in 1942, the Education Department began to lend museum objects to schools and organizations for an annual fee. The Education Department would continue to lend objects to outside institutions through a variety of different programs until 2011.
The staff of the Education Department continued to maintain the Penn Museum's film collection. Throughout the 1940s, Eleanor Moore led the museum's initiative to convert the collection's 35mm films into a 16mm format. She took inventories and made descriptions of the 35mm films in the collection and then selected some for conversion into the 16mm format. After these films were converted, museum staff discarded most of the 35mm films.
During her tenure as head of the Education Department, Eleanor Moore also was actively involved in academic research and professional organizations related to education and museums. During the early 1940s, she wrote and published the book, Youth in Museums. Several years later she became actively involved with the UNESCO International Committee of Museums and the American Association of Museums. Throughout the 1940s, Moore also taught museum studies courses, wrote academic articles, and gave lectures about museum education to outside groups.
Ken Matthews served as head of the Education Department between 1953 and 1972. His title in 1953 was, Assistant Curator; the title was changed to Associate Curator in 1962 and later it was changed to Director. Under his leadership, the department continued to give lectures and gallery tours, host film and concert events, maintain the museum's film collection, provide extension services, and teach crafts workshops.
During the 1950s, the Education Department undertook several new programs. The department collaborated with school officials to provide in-service courses for school teachers and hold Latin festivals for Philadelphia-area students. The department also expanded its services for children. In 1958, Kenneth Matthews disbanded the Game Club and revived Junior Membership. The Junior Members of the museum were organized into separate clubs based on their interests in different fields of archaeology (e.g. Egyptian and Roman) and were allowed to attend special events and parties at the museum. Junior Members also published their own newsletter titled, History Hunter. Later the name of the newsletter was changed to The Tablet.
The Education Department continued its participation with broadcast programs during the 1950s. In 1954, Kenneth Matthews began to host a long-running weekly radio program that covered archaeological and anthropological subjects. Also, during the 1950s he served as a panelist on the What in the World television program. For his work with educational television programs Matthews received the first Armstrong Award for Educational Television.
In 1962, the Women's Committee helped establish the Volunteer Guides Organization. At first, the members of this organization only gave weekend gallery tours for museum visitors. However, over time, these volunteer guides gradually supplemented and replaced paid docents who had been responsible for gallery tours during weekdays. In addition to their work as gallery guides, volunteers held meetings, organized fundraisers, hosted parties, and produced their own newsletter. Following the opening of the museum's Kress Wing in 1971, the Volunteer Guides were attached to the Education Department and the department hired a liaison to the organization.
In 1965, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania began to grant annual funding to the Penn Museum. The Commonwealth appropriated this money so that the museum could extend its educational services to Pennsylvania communities outside of the Philadelphia area. Between 1965 and 1971, the museum used this money to organize and administer travelling exhibitions of museum objects at various Pennsylvania libraries. The museum also used this funding to produce educational films, sets of photographic slides, information packets, and copies of the museum's Expedition magazine. In 1971, the museum began to develop small suitcase-sized exhibits for libraries that did not have the space for the larger travelling exhibitions. At this time the museum also established the Commonwealth Lecture Program. Through this program, archaeologists and anthropologists were hired to give lectures at Pennsylvania libraries. Finally, during the early 1970s, the museum began to use the state grant to fund artistic performances and the museum's object loan services.
The longevity of the Pennsylvania grant programs varied from program to program. The museum's large-scale travelling exhibits ended during the early 1970s. During the mid-1970s, the museum stopped producing educational films. A decade later, the museum stopped producing and distributing slide sets and suitcase exhibits. The Education Department continued to administer the Commonwealth Lecture Program with only a few lapses in funding until 2010.
In 1971 the Education Department moved to the newly-constructed Kress Wing. Also at this time, the department received funding from the National Endowment of the Humanities, for the Project Practicum program. Through this program, the museum invited artisans from other cultures to live in Philadelphia for several months. During their stay in the city, the artisans would participate in cultural programs at the museum and share their culture's unique technical and artistic knowledge with Philadelphia-area high school students. The Project Practicum program ended in 1973 when its grant from the National Endowment of the Humanities expired.
From 1972 to 1975, Jeff Kenyon served as the head of the Education Department. During his tenure, the Women's Committee helped established the Museum on the Go program (also called the Mobile Guides program). The program's volunteer members, called mobile guides, travelled to Philadelphia area schools and taught classes about archaeological and anthropological subjects using objects from the museum. During the 1970s, the mobile guides developed educational units for use in the classroom that were centered on general themes like Egypt or Woodland American Indians. In addition to this work, the mobile guides established their own by-laws, held their own meetings, and produced their own newsletters.
In 1975, the Education Department was reorganized into two sections with a Coordinator of National Cultures (which became a separate department a year later) and a Coordinator of Education. Joseph Minott served as the first and only Coordinator of National Cultures. The program he headed was created in 1972 and was called the Performing Arts Program (it was also called the Ethnic Arts Program). This program was a part of a larger initiative led by the museum's director, Froehlich Rainey, to make the Penn Museum become a more "living" museum. Through the Performing Arts Program, the museum hosted and sponsored artistic performances by diverse cultural groups. The museum also funded the restoration of its musical instrument collection with the hope that some of the instruments would be used at the museum's concert events. By 1975, the mission of the Performing Arts Program experienced major changes and its name was formally changed to the National Cultures Program. At this time the museum could no longer afford to pay for the cultural performances. So, through the National Cultures Program, the museum attempted to create relationships with ethnic and cultural organizations in the Philadelphia area and allow these groups to use museum space for their own programs and performances. In 1976, the museum provided space to many different cultural groups for various programs related to Philadelphia's bicentennial celebrations. The museum dissolved the National Cultures Department shortly after Rainey's departure from the museum in 1977.
Gillian Wakely became the Coordinator of Education in 1975 and later, in 1994, became Associate Director of the department. She would serve as the head of the Education Department from 1978 to 2010. During her tenure, the department continued to give gallery tours and lectures, administered state grant programs, conducted in-service workshops for teachers, supervised the Volunteer Guides Organization, administered the Museum on the Go program, conducted crafts workshops and storytelling sessions, hosted artistic performances, and leant museum objects to schools.
Between 1987 and 2010, the International Classroom program was attached to the Education Department. The program was created in 1961 at a junior high school in suburban Philadelphia as the "Ogontz Plan for Mutual International Education." The founders of this program, Evelyn and Norman Palmer, viewed the many international students attending colleges and universities in the Philadelphia area as an untapped reservoir of knowledge about the cultures of their home countries. Concerned that young Americans knew very little about the rest of the world, the Palmers developed a program that promoted international understanding between residents of the Delaware Valley and people from all over the world. They envisioned this program as a two-way street: it would also give international students the opportunity to learn more about the United States of America and its diverse communities. Throughout its history the International Classroom speakers used a variety of programs to promote this mission including: classroom presentations, artistic performances, and museum gallery tours. In addition to these functions, the International Classroom hosted annual welcome receptions for hundreds of international students from Philadelphia area colleges and universities.
In 1987, the Education Department established the Volunteer Information Program. Volunteer members of this program provided a wide variety of services to museum visitors on weekends. These services included: welcoming guests and answering their questions at information desks, giving gallery tours, and taking artifact carts into the galleries to engage museum visitors directly.
Under Gillian Wakely's leadership, the Education Department provided new programs for children. Starting in the late 1990s, the department established a summer camp at the museum. By 2010, the department had also organized sleepovers at the museum and the Summer Wonder series of cultural programs.
Between 1975 and 2010, the Education Department participated in a wide range of special exhibits and events at the Penn Museum. For example, during the late 1980s and early 1990s, the department helped develop manuals, tours, gallery activities, and brochures for the following special exhibits: The Dayaks: Peoples of the Borneo Rainforest, The Gift of Birds, and Ancient Nubia: Egypt's Rival in Africa. Several years later during the mid-1990s, the department organized Philadelphia-area screenings of the American Museum of Natural History's travelling Margaret Mead Film Festival.
In 2010, the Penn Museum dissolved the Education Department and shifted most of its functions and programs to the museum's Office of Community Engagement.
The Education Department Records reflect the organization and activities of the department between 1919 and 2002. These records include correspondence, reports, press releases, press clippings, biographical files, teaching aids, information and instruction packets, photographs, photograph albums, drawings, photographic slides, publications, handwritten notes, brochures, reference resources, grant proposals, posters, inventories, scripts, program schedules, academic articles, lectures, and newsletters.
The Education Department undertook a wide range of functions and led several major museum initiatives. Department staff often filed different kinds of materials (e.g. correspondence, reports, and press clippings) within the same folders according to their relation to distinct functions and initiatives. The overall framework and arrangement of the Education Department collection reflects this organization.
Some gaps in the collection's documentation may reflect the flexible organization of the Penn Museum. During the institution's early years, there was little concern for clear distinctions of personnel functions. Several departments would often handle the same function simultaneously. There were also frequent shifts of responsibilities. In the 1920s and 1930s for example, the public Saturday lectures were the concern of the Museum Director, although other tours and lectures were handled by the Education Department. Also, during the 1970s, the Women's Committee arranged lectures for adults. Thus, material on educational activities for adults may be found in the records of the Director and of the Women's Committee as well as in the Education Department records.
The activities of the Education Department and Membership Department similarly overlap. By 1929 Eleanor Moore was named membership docent, thus placing membership activities under the administration of the Education Department. When Moore became head of the Educational Department in 1942, a separate Membership Department was created. However, there continued to be very close cooperation between the Education Department, the Director's Office, the Membership Department, and later, the Women's Committee; thus materials related to educational activities may be found in the record collections of all of these departments.
Researchers should consult the Directors' files or the Museum Publicity collection for information about educational activities at the Penn Museum before 1919.
The records in the series titled, Administrative, contain records that span from 1921 to 1996. The folders are arranged into the following six subseries: Reports and Appropriations, Personnel, Professional Organizations, Correspondence, Information Requests, and Compliments and Complaints. The records filed in these subseries reflect the general administrative functions of the Education Department and its staff. Administrative records that concern only special Education Department programs and initiatives (e.g. the Pennsylvania State Grant Program) are filed under the particular series for those programs and initiatives.
Some administrative activities are better documented than others. Throughout its history, the Education Department regularly filed statistical reports concerning attendance to department programs. From 1930 to the 1990s, the Education Department also regularly created and maintained general correspondence files. General written reports were filed more sporadically. Written reports from the 1930s and 1940s were produced on a monthly and annual basis and provide detailed descriptions of the department's activities, challenges, and plans. During other periods of the department's history, detailed written reports were filed much less regularly. Similar to the general written reports, personnel information, information requests, and compliments and complaints during some eras were filed more regularly than during other eras.
The records in the series called, Activities, span from 1919 to 1990. These materials consist of a wide range of printed matter that document the activities of the Education Department (e.g. flyers, press clippings, posters, mailing notices, public notices, and program schedules). The bulk of the materials in this collection was created between 1919 and 1980 and is arranged chronologically. Folders containing materials from 1919 to 1971 seem to document most if not all of the Education Department's programs. Folders containing materials from the 1920s may be of particular use to researchers studying the history of the department. There are few other records of the department's activities during this era in this collection.
The records in the series called, Special Exhibitions, span from 1922 to 1997 and document the Education Department's involvement with temporary, travelling, and long-term exhibitions. For example, this series contains a wide range of materials related to the Gift of Birds exhibit and the Nevil Gallery. The amount of material available for the exhibitions in this series varies from exhibition to exhibition. The varying extent of materials in this collection may indicate that some records of the department's involvement in exhibitions have been lost. However, it seems more likely that the variances reflect how the extent of the department's involvement in exhibitions differed from project to project. For more information about particular museum exhibits, researchers should consult the archives' Exhibits collection.
The records in the series called, Film Collection, span from 1929 to 1988 and are arranged chronologically. These records primarily concern the Education Department's acquisition and production of educational films and filmstrips and the department's management of the Penn Museum film collection. The folder, Film Descriptions and Teacher's Aids, contains detailed descriptions and teachers' aids for films rented or acquired by the Education Department. One set of folders dating from between 1939 and 1954 contain correspondence and notes concerning the storage of the museum film collection, collaborations between Ted Nemeth and the museum to convert 35mm films into a 16mm format, and the disposal of the museum's 35mm films. Another set of folders dating from 1953 to 1972 contains the inventories, descriptions, and maintenance records for 16mm films in the museum's film collection. Two folders contain documents related to Caspar Hacker's and Watson Kitner's donations of films to the museum and another folder contains documents concerning the Education Department's involvement in the production of original films. Some folders in the collection document the payment of film royalties and the rental of films owned by the museum and other institutions. Finally, although the Education Department was responsible for the museum's film collection until 1987, records documenting the department's involvement with the films from 1972 to 1987 are largely missing from the collection.
The records in the series called, Broadcast Programs, span from 1930 to 1984 and document the Education Department's involvement with the museum's radio and television programs. Researchers who are particularly interested in the history of the Penn Museum's early broadcast programs should consult the folder entitled, Histories of the Penn Museum's Broadcast Programs 1951. This folder contains a short and comprehensive history about these programs.
The Records documenting the museum's radio programs chiefly concern the production of the Once Upon a Time radio series between 1943 and 1952. Scripts, teaching manuals, and story suggestions for this program are filed under the subseries, Once Upon a Time. While correspondence, ratings, and publicity for the Once Upon a Time program are filed under the general radio program folders.
Records concerning other museum radio programs are largely missing from the Education Department collection with the exception of scripts and schedules from Cornelia Dam's 1930-1931 radio program and scripts for the museum's 1984 radio advertisements.
Records concerning the Education Department's involvement with the museum's television programs are more limited in scope than the radio program records. One folder contains documents concerning the museum's television programs from 1948 to 1951. Another folder contains scripts and broadcast schedules for the How it Happened program and the remaining folders contain documents concerning efforts to revive the What in the World program during the late 1970s and early 1980s. Documents from the 1950s and 1960s concerning the production of the What in the World program are filed under the Museum Archives' collection called, "What in the World" Television Program.
The series called, Sales Desk, contains records that span from 1930 to 1964. These records include lists and catalogs for objects sold at the Education Department sales desk during this period. The series also consists of orders for a plaster Nefertiti bust. Sales records and statistics for the sales desk are filed with the department sales reports in the Administrative series of this collection. Lists and examples of teachers' aids sold at the children sales desk are filed in the Education Department collection's series, Children's Clubs and Teaching Aids. Albums of photographs that were sold at the sales desk are located in the series called, Visual Materials. After 1972 the children's sales desk (later called the Pyramid Shop) kept its own records separate from those of the Education Department.
The series called, The School Museum Program, contains records that span from 1930 to 1948. These records document the activities of the School Museum Program and the related Museum Extension Service. Correspondence between Education Department staff and the colleges and school systems that participated in the School Museum Program are filed in alphabetical order in the subseries, Correspondence with Schools. Other correspondence, reports, and materials related to the school museum program are filed in chronological order. Materials relating specifically to the Museum Extension Service are filed under the folder entitled, Museum Extension Service: Reports, Public Notices, and Correspondence 1934-1938. The series called, Children's Clubs and Teaching Aids, contains records that span from 1933 to 1972. These records are arranged into the following subseries: House Model Kits, How-To-Make-It Club, Teachers' Aids, Game Club, and Junior Membership.
The first subseries, House Model Kits, contains correspondence and publicity concerning house model kits that were first produced and sold by the museum during the 1930s. This subseries also contains directions for some of these kits.
The second subseries, How-To-Make-It club includes correspondence and publicity related to the club as well as the instructions for club crafts projects.
The third subseries, Game Club, chiefly consists of some examples of the club's game activities during the 1950s. Materials related to the Game Club from before 1953 are largely missing from this collection. Kenneth Matthews' description and evaluation of the Game Club is filed under the series, Publications, in the folder called, Articles drafted by Kenneth Matthews 1953-1962.
The fourth subseries, Junior Membership, contains correspondence, activities, membership lists, and event notices related to the Junior Membership program between 1960 and 1972.
The fifth subseries, Teacher's Aids, includes lists of teaching aids sold at the Education Department sales desk and some examples of these resources.
The series called, Workshops and Special Events, contains records that span from 1934 to 1998. These records document a wide range of workshops and special events that were administered by the Education Department, but are not closely related to any of the department's other major functions or initiatives. The workshops and special events covered by the materials in this series include: crafts workshops, children's contests, in-service workshops for teachers, special lectures, storytelling sessions, symposiums, summer camps, puppet shows, and community outreach programs. Materials related to the museum's summer crafts workshops are filed chronologically within their own subseries.
The series called, Object Loans, contains records that span from 1942 to 1985. The bulk of these records consists of lists documenting loans of museum objects to schools and colleges and correspondence between the Education Department and borrowing institutions. The Object Loans series also contains records concerning loan request procedures and object handling instructions for borrowing institutions.
The series called, Group Visits, Tours, and Gallery Activities, contains records that span from 1943 to 1991. These records include correspondence related to group tours, gallery guides, gallery activity worksheets, and the Education Department's information packets for visitors. Throughout its history at the museum, one of the central functions of the Education Department was the administration and organization of museum gallery tours. The limited extent of material found in this series in relation to other series in the collection does not reflect this fact. Researchers, who are interested in the history of the museum's gallery tours, should consult records in the Administrative series for statistical information about tour attendance and written reports concerning docent activities. These researchers should also consult the Volunteer Guides series for more information about volunteers who conducted museum tours after 1962.
The series called, University Courses, contains records that span from 1946 to 1991. These records contain information related to university courses taught at the Penn Museum or taught by the museum's staff. The bulk of the records are arranged chronologically in the subseries, College of General Studies, and concern courses that were a part of the University of Pennsylvania's College of General Studies program.
The series called, Film and Concert Programs, contains records that span from 1957 to 1997. These records are divided among three subseries. The first subseries, Concert Programs, contains records related solely to the museum's concert programs. The second subseries, Public Notices and Schedules, contains public notices and schedules related to both the museum's concert programs and its film programs. The third subseries consists of documents related to the Penn Museum's hosting of the American Museum of Natural History's travelling Margaret Mead Film Festival during the 1990s. Although the Education Department was involved with many of the museum's film and concert programs before 1957, these materials are missing from this series. Researchers who are interested in these programs before 1957 should consult the Activities series of the Education Department collection for printed notices and brochures related to the museum's film and concert programs.
The series called, International Classroom, contains records that span from 1961 to 2002. The bulk of the materials in the series is filed under the subseries, Speaker Biographical Files. This subseries consists of index cards spanning from the 1960s to the 1990s that contain biographical information about International Classroom speakers (e.g. name, address, religious background, short biographical resumes, and photographs). The index cards are filed in boxes separate from the rest of the series and arranged according to the continent and the country of origin of each speaker. Oversized index cards were pulled from the rest of the materials in the subseries and filed in a separate oversize box. Copies were made of the oversized cards and filed with the rest of the biographical files according to the continent and country of origin of each speaker.
Grant reports and proposals related to International Classroom programs are filed under their own subseries in the International Classroom series. Other records related to the International Classroom are filed under the subseries, Other Program Records, and are arranged in chronological order.
The series called, Volunteer Guides, contains records that span from 1962 to 1997. The records in this series document the activities of the Volunteer Guides Organization and include the following materials: meeting minutes and agendas, general correspondence, guide training materials, party planning notes, and event notices. Materials from the 1970s and 1980s are more extensive than materials from other periods covered by this series.
The series called, Pennsylvania State Grant Programs, contains records that span from 1963 to 1999. These records are divided among the following subseries: State Grant Reports, Requests, and Appropriations, General Correspondence, Films, Slide Sets, Circulating Exhibitions, Commonwealth Lecture Program, and Miscellaneous Program Documents.
The first subseries contains the museum's requests for appropriations from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, legislation granting appropriations those appropriations to the museum, and reports on how the museum used those appropriations. The Education Department regularly filed these materials between 1965 and 1999.
The second subseries, General Correspondence, contains general collections of correspondence related to the administration of the Pennsylvania State Grant Programs.
The third subseries, Films, contains materials that concern the production and distribution of educational films the Penn Museum produced with funding it received from the Pennsylvania government. The bulk of the material in this series, is related to the film titled, The Book and the Spade . Materials related to other films produced with state funding are largely missing from the collection.
The fourth subseries, Slide Sets, contains materials related to collections of film slides the Penn Museum produced and distributed to Pennsylvania libraries using funding from the state government. Dozens of copies of each of the slide sets were delivered to the archives during the 1990s. One copy of each slide set was kept and each of the sets are filed in this subseries.
The fifth subseries, Circulating Exhibitions, contains records related to travelling exhibitions and suitcase-sized exhibitions of Penn Museum objects in public libraries throughout the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Inventories and correspondence containing information about specific loans are filed under the General Correspondence subseries of the Pennsylvania State Grant Programs series and the series entitled, Object Loans.
The sixth subseries, Commonwealth Lecture Program, contains a wide range of materials related to the museum lectures funded by state appropriations. The extent of the materials in this subseries reflects the longevity of this program in relation to the other educational programs funded by the state government.
The seventh subseries, Miscellaneous Program Documents, contains an informational pamphlet that was produced using funding from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the copy of a lecture promoting the museum's state grant programs.
The series called, Project Practicum, contains materials that span from 1970 and 1973. These materials concern the Project Practicum program that was funded through a grant from the National Endowment of the Humanities during the early 1970s. The collection of materials related to the Project Practicum's Inuit programs are less extensive than its other programs.
The series called, Performing Arts, Ethnic Arts, and National Cultures Programs, contains materials related to these programs that span from 1960 to 1990. The bulk of the records in this series date from the time these programs existed between 1972 and 1976. Records dating from before 1972 and after 1976 are chiefly concerned with the preservation and deaccessioning of the Penn Museum's collection of musical instruments.
All of the materials in the Performing Arts, Ethnic Arts, and National Cultures Programs series are divided among four subseries. The first subseries, General Activities and Press Clippings, contains general documents related to a wide range of activities administered by the Performing Arts, Ethnic Arts, and National Cultures programs including dance performances, the preservation of musical instruments, and bicentennial events. The second subseries, Grant Applications, contains materials related to grant applications for the three programs. The third subseries, Programs by Nation or Ethnic Group, consists of materials related to specific ethnic programs. The final subseries, General Correspondence, contains general correspondence related to these programs and their personnel.
The series called, Museum on the Go, contains materials that span from 1973 to 2000. These materials are divided among the following subseries: Administrative, Course Materials, and development. The first subseries, Administrative, includes records that are related to the administration of the Museum on the Go program. This series also consists of press clippings and press releases about the program's events. The second subseries, Course Materials, contains records concerning the mobile guides' Classical, Egyptian, and Woodland Indian educational units. The third subseries, Development, contains materials related to the solicitation of funding for the program.
The series called, Visitor Information Program (V.I.P.), contains materials that span from 1987 to 1994. These materials document the development and administration of the V.I.P. initiative. This series also contains an information book for V.I.P volunteers and lists of questions and concerns raised by museum visitors.
The series called, Publications, contains materials that span from 1941 to 1993. The first subseries in this series, Newsletters, contains copies of various newsletters published by the Education Department. The materials in this subseries were found separate from the rest of the Education Department collection and are found either in oversize drawers or are stored with the Miscellaneous Publications collection. The second subseries, Other Publications, includes publications about the Education Department and a series of articles drafted by the department's staff. This series also consists of correspondence and critical reviews concerning Eleanor Moore's book, Youth in Museums.
The series called, Visual Materials, consists of photographs and original ink drawings spanning from the 1920s to the 1980s that are related to the Education Department programs. These materials have been divided among two subseries called Photographs and Drawings. Photographs are stored with the archives' photograph collection and the drawings are stored in the archives' oversize drawers. The drawings in the oversize drawers are listed individually in the collection inventory section of the Education Department collection's finding aid.
The folders in the series called, Reference Files, are largely undated and divided between two subseries. The first subseries, Gallery Guides, contains materials that were found by archival processors in clearly labeled notebooks. The second subseries, Other Reference Files, contains materials that were found loose or in archival folders. The Education Department compiled the materials in both of these subseries as reference materials for tours, lectures, and other educational programs. They were chiefly arranged according to galleries, cultural groups, or special programs. Although some of the materials (e.g. lectures, articles) in the reference files are dated, it is unclear when the Education Department copied most of these materials and gathered them into informational notebooks.
The Education Department delivered the bulk of the materials filed under the Reference Files series during the 1990s. During processing, material that was not created by museum staff or were not directly related museum activities was removed from the Education Department Collection and discarded. These materials included pamphlets from other museums, popular magazine articles, government studies, and mass mailings from private corporations.
In 1997, archival staff discarded the collection of reference files that they had processed in 1981. These materials consisted of publications, reprints, photographs, and magazine illustrations. Archival staff retained and housed museum publications and photographs with Special Collections. One folder entitled, Sample of Reference Files from 1918-1976 Records, contains examples of the materials that were discarded and is filed under the subseries, Other Reference Files.
The final series in the collection is called, Miscellaneous, and contains materials that span from 1936 to 1998. These materials do not appear to have any direct relation to any of the major functions or activities of the Education Department. Folders document a wide range of activities including meetings with the Philadelphia Board of Education (1947-1952), the construction of the museum's Kress Wing (1966-1967), and Kenneth Matthews' involvement with trips organized by the Women's Committee (1965 and 1972).
During the 1970s, museum staff delivered to the Penn Museum Archives a collection of Education Department records that spanned from 1919 to 1977. At the same time, three folders of Education Department records were found in the Directors' files and one foot of the department's materials were found in the Museum Activities files. In 1979, all of these materials were arranged and described with the rest of the accessioned Education Department materials.
During the late 1970s and early 1980s the Education Department delivered to the archives a collection of reference files and department publications. The department also delivered a collection of folders containing materials that concern the Performing Arts and National Cultures programs, the Once Upon a Time radio program, and department activities during the 1940s. These materials were incorporated into the rest of the Education Department collection in 1981.
Also during this time period, museum staff delivered to the archives a collection of the Volunteer Guides Organization's records that spanned from 1962 to 1981. In 1983, archivists arranged these materials and filed them in the museum archives' Volunteers collection under the subseries titled, Volunteer Guides.
The bulk of the records that were created between 1972 and 2000 and a collection of records spanning from 1930 to 1972 were delivered to the museum archives at different times in 1994 and 2009. Some of these materials were loose while other materials were filed in mislabeled or unlabeled folders. It was later determined that there was significant overlap between these materials, the collection of Education Department records that was processed in 1979 and 1981, and the Volunteer Guides subseries of the Volunteers collection.
In 2010, records from all three of the above collections were processed and arranged into a unified Education Department collection. Also, in 2010, museum staff delivered to the archives a collection of the International Classroom's records. This collection included the bulk of the records created by International Classroom staff between 1995 and 2002 and the program's collection of speaker biographical files spanning from the 1960s to the 1990s. These records were processed and incorporated into the rest of the Education Department collection in 2010.
During the last period of processing between 2009 to 2010, archives staff removed several kinds of materials from the Education Department collection. These materials included: Publications by museum's other than the Penn Museum (e.g. copies of National Geographic Magazine and brochures from other museums), receipts, contact information for organizations outside of the museum, unsolicited job applications, invoices, personnel forms social security numbers, and forms for scheduling group visits and class tours.
Photographs have been separated from the rest of the Education Department collection and are stored with the Penn Museum Archives' Photograph collection.
Newsletters, excepting copies of The Spade, have been separated from the rest of the Education Department collection and are stored with the Penn Museum Archives' collection of Miscellaneous Publications.
Copies of The Spade and oversized original drawings have been separated from the rest of the Education Department collection and are stored in the oversize drawers of the Penn Museum Archives.
- Publisher
- University of Pennsylvania: Penn Museum Archives
- Finding Aid Author
- Finding aid prepared by Andrea Guzzeti and Daniel M. Cavanaugh
- Use Restrictions
-
Although many items from the archives are in the public domain, copyright may be retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law. The user is fully responsible for compliance with relevant copyright law.
Collection Inventory
This series consists of the following subseries: Reports and Appropriations, Personnel, Professional Organizations, Correspondence, Information Requests, and Compliments and Complaints. Folders within each subseries are arranged in chronological order.
The first subseries, Reports and Appropriations, primarily contains statistical and written reports about general Education Department activities. The remainder of this subseries consists of museum budgets, special reports to and from internal committees and outside organizations, and general questionnaires and surveys.
The second subseries, Personnel, contains statistical reports about Education department employees hired under the Federal Emergency Relief Act, applications for education department positions, correspondence concerning department employees and personnel disputes, training and instruction for department personnel, and an ode to one of the department's directors, Cornelia Dam. The bulk of the personnel records were created between 1943 and 1966.
The third subseries, Professional Organizations, contains documents concerning the relationships between Education Department staff and professional organizations, chiefly the UNESCO International Committee of Museums and the American Association of Museums.
The fourth subseries, Correspondence, features general collections of letters and memoranda written to and from Education Department staff.
The fifth subseries, Information Requests, contains correspondence concerning requests for information about archaeological and archaeological subjects or museum staff, services, and resources. Requests for information came from a wide range of organizations and individuals including the Office of Strategic Services and the RKO Radio Pictures Company.
The sixth subseries, Compliments and Complaints, are written compliments and complaints about the museum and museum programs from members of the public.
This series primarily consists of public notices, brochures, mailings, event programs, press clippings, press releases, posters, and flyers for Education Department activities. The bulk of these materials was created between 1919 and 1980. All of the folders in this series are divided between two subseries. The first subseries, General Activities, consists of general collections of materials relating to Education Department activities. The second subseries, Specialized Activities and Event Notices, contains more specialized collections such as lecture posters and public notices (1919-1940), materials related to musical activities (1950-1972), public notices for Saturday morning children's programs (1950-1974), and activity and event brochures (1979-1986). The folders in both subseries are arranged in chronological order.
This series contains correspondence, plans, publicity, and teacher's aids for travelling, temporary, and long-term exhibitions associated with the Education Department from 1922 to 1997. Folders are arranged in chronological order. Exhibitions with multiple folders have been assigned their own subseries. These subseries are: The Nevil Gallery, The Dayaks: Peoples of the Borneo Rainforest (1989-1990), The Gift of Birds (1991-1994), and Ancient Nubia: Egypt's Rival in Africa (1992-1993). The final subseries, Other Exhibitions, contains folders with materials related to exhibitions other than the ones listed above.
Photographs of special exhibitions involving the Education Department are located in the series of this collection called, Visual Materials, under the subseries called, Photographs.
This series contains correspondence, schedules, publicity, scripts, ratings reports, teaching aids, and screen tests related to the production of broadcast programs by the Penn Museum. Folders containing materials that strictly concern the radio program, Once Upon a Time, are arranged chronologically and filed under the subseries titled, Once Upon a Time Radio Program. The rest of the folders in the series are also arranged in chronological order.
Photographs related to the Education Department's invlovement with radio and television programs are located in the series called, Visual Materials, under the subseries called, Photographs.
This series contains correspondence, film descriptions, notes, teaching aids, inventories and grant applications. These records are related to the Education Department's management of the Penn Museum film collection and the acquisition and production of educational films and filmstrips. Records concerning the production and distribution of films using funds from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania are filed in the subseries, Films, under the series entitled, Pennsylvania State Grant Programs. Folders are arranged in chronological order.
This series contains documents that are related to the School Museum Program and the Museum Extension Service. One subseries consists of correspondence between the Education Department and schools participating in the School Museum Program. Folders in this subseries are arranged in alphabetical order. The rest of the folders in this series are arranged chronologically and contain reports, publicity, course contents, correspondence, and lists and descriptions of teachers' aids.
Photographs relatted to the School Museum Program are located in the series called, Visual Materials, under the subseries called, Photographs.
This series consists of lists and descriptions of items sold by the Education Department's sales desk. It also contains orders for a reproduction Nefertiti bust and an undated sales catalogue for plaster casts. Folders are arranged chronologically.
Sales reports and statistics for the sales desk are filed under the Administrative series of this collection in the subseries entitled, Reports and Appropriations.
Photograph albums containing examples of photographs sold at the sales desk are located in the series called, Visual Materials, under the subseries called, Photographs.
This series contains the following subseries of records that concern the museum's children's clubs and teaching aids produced by the museum House Model Kits, How-To-Make-It Club, Game Club, Junior Membership, and Teachers Aids. The subseries are arranged in chronological order and the materials in each subseries are also arranged in this way.
The first subseries, House Model Kits, consists of correspondence and publicity related to the house model kits that were first produced and sold by the museum during the 1930s. It also contains plans for some of the house model kits. Additional blueprints and drawings of the Babylonian and Roman house models are filed under the series entitled, Visual Materials, and are stored in the archives' oversize drawers. The second subseries, How-To-Make-It Club, includes instructions for crafts projects, publicity about the club, club membership forms, and correspondence related to the How-To-Make-It-Club. Folders are arranged in chronological order.
The third subseries, Game Club, consists of games and activities for Game Club members that chiefly date from 1955 to 1958. Folders are arranged in chronological order.
The fourth subseries, Junior Membership, contains correspondence, activities, membership lists, and event notices related to the Junior Membership program between 1960 and 1972.
The fifth subseries, Teacher's Aids, includes lists of teaching aids sold at the Education Department sales desk and some examples of these resources. The lists of aids are located at the beginning of the subseries.
Photographs of the house models, Game Club activities, and Junior Membership activities are located in the series called, Visual Materials, under the subseries called, Photographs.
Junior Membership publications ( The Spade, History Hunter, and The Tablet) are located in the series called, Publications, under the subseries called, Newsletters.
This series contains correspondence, event notices, publicity, notes, and activity worksheets related to workshops and special events at the museum. The Education Department was involved with a wide range of special programs at the museum including crafts workshops, teacher in-service workshops, holiday parties, adult outreach programs, professional symposia, storytelling sessions, and summer camps. Folders are arranged in chronological order.
The subseries called, Summer Crafts Workshops, contains public notices, planning notes, and correspondence related to the series of Summer Crafts Workshops held at the museum for children.
Photographs showing crafts workshops and special events at the museum are located in the series called, Visual Materials, under the subseries called, Photographs.
This series contains documents from 1942 to 1989 that are related to the Education Department's object lending program. These documents include: correspondence with borrowing institutions, instructions and procedures for borrowing objects, standardized object loan forms, inventories of museum objects available for loan, and records of object loans. Folders are arranged in chronological order.
This series contains correspondence, information packets, instructions, activities, and guides related to group visits and tours of the museum galleries. Folders are arranged in chronological order.
Attendance statistics for group visits and tours are filed in the series called, Administrative, under the subseries called, Reports and Appropriations.
Photographs of groups visiting the museum are located in the series called, Visual Materials, under the subseries called, Photographs.
The folders in this series are arranged chronologically and contain documents related to courses taught at the University of Pennsylvania. The bulk of the folders in this series are filed under the subseries, College of General Studies. This subseries contains correspondence and public notices related to College of General Studies courses taught at the museum or by museum personnel from 1971 to 1992. The remainder of the folders in this series are located in the subseries called, Other University Courses and Seminars. This subseries contains notes, lectures, and public notices for University of Pennsylvania courses and seminars affiliated with museum staff other than the College of General Studies courses.
This series contains three subseries. The first subseries, Concert Programs, consists of correspondence, program schedules, press releases, and press clippings related to the museum's concert programs between 1957 and 1983. The second subseries, Public Notices and Schedules, contains public notices and schedules for weekend film programs and concert programs between 1957 and 1992. The third subseries, Margaret Mead Film Festivals, contains, correspondence, schedules, publicity, and grant proposals related to the American Museum of Natural History's travelling Margaret Mead Film Festivals shown at the Penn Museum.
This series contains press clippings, correspondence, grant reports, public notices, meeting minutes, notes, biographical files, and an instructional handbook related to the International Classroom.
The bulk of the materials in the series are filed under the subseries, Speaker Biographical Files. This subseries consists of index cards that contain biographical information (e.g. name, address, religious background, short biographical resumes, and photographs) about International Classroom speakers. The index cards are filed according to the continent and the country of origin of each speaker. Oversized index cards were pulled from the rest of the materials in the subseries and filed in a separate oversize box. Copies were made of the oversized cards and these copies were filed with the rest of the biographical files according to the continent and country of origin of each speaker.
Materials related to grants supporting International Classroom Programs are filed in chronological order within the subseries entitled, Grant Reports and Proposals. The remainder of the materials in the series is arranged in chronological order in the subseries entitled, Other Program Records.
The materials in this series concern the Volunteer Guides Organization and are divided among five subseries. The first subseries, Meetings and Reports, contains minutes, agendas, discussions for Volunteer Guides meetings and a policy review report. The second subseries, Training and Orientation, consists of information packets, training guidelines, workshop activities, and presentations related to the training and orientation of volunteer guides. The third subseries, Correspondence, contains the general correspondence of the Organization, a letter from Hasanlu, and general printed matter produced by the Volunteer Guides Organization. The fourth subseries, Parties and Events, contains games, planning notes, publicity, correspondence, and invitations related to parties, trips, and events organized by the volunteer guides. The final subseries, Volunteer Members, includes lists of members and articles about individual guides. The subseries and the folders within each of the subseries are arranged in chronological order.
This series contains records of programs financed through the annual grant given to the University of Pennsylvania Museum by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania since 1966. These records are divided among the following subseries: State Grant Reports, Requests, and Appropriations; General Correspondence; Films; Slide Sets; Circulating Exhibitions; Commonwealth Lecture Series; and Miscellaneous Program Documents.
The first subseries, State Grant Reports, Requests, and Appropriations, consists of grant request applications and grant reports to the Pennsylvania State government. It also contains program appropriations budgets and copies of Pennsylvania legislation that grants funding to the museum.
The second subseries, General Correspondence, contains correspondence concerning the general administration and development of the state grant programs.
The third subseries, Films, contains correspondence, reports, and notes related to the production and distribution of educational movies that were funded by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
The fourth subseries, Slide Sets, primarily consists of collections of 35mm slides and printed descriptions of these collections created by the museum with funding from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. This subseries also includes correspondence, notes, and reports related to the creation of the slide sets.
The fifth subseries, Circulating Exhibitions, includes publicity, exhibit preparation instructions, reports, and correspondence related to travelling exhibits and suitcase exhibits funded by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. This subseries also contains the descriptions and plans for various travelling exhibits.
The sixth subseries, Commonwealth Lecture Program, contains correspondence, memoranda, press clippings, program catalogs, reports, and lecture topic lists related to the Commonwealth Lecture Program.
The seventh subseries, Miscellaneous Program Documents, includes a lecture promoting state grant programs and a pamphlet produced by the museum with funding from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
This series contains correspondence, grant proposals, reports, class schedules, notes, press releases, and unit resources related to the Project Practicum program. Folders are arranged in chronological order.
This series consists of materials related to the Performing Arts, Ethnic Arts, and National Cultures programs. These materials are divided among four subseries. The first subseries, Activities and Press Clippings consists of correspondence, planning notes, publicity, invitations, schedules,and memoranda related to the general activities of the Performing Arts, Ethnic Arts, and National Cultures programs. These materials are arranged in chronological order. These materials are arranged in chronological order. The second subseries, Grant Applications, consists of applications for grants from various organizations and associated correspondence. The materials in this subseries are arranged in chronological order. The third subseries, Programs by Nation or Ethnic Group, contains correspondence, publicity, and notes related to particular national cultures and ethnic programs. The final subseries, General Correspondence, contains general department correspondence and the correspondence of individuals related to the three programs.
This series consists of the following three subseries of folders that relate to the Museum on the Go program (also called the Mobile Guides program): Administrative, Course Materials, and Development.
The first subseries, Administrative, contains correspondence, by-laws, press releases, press clippings, meeting minutes, reports, and membership lists for the Museum on the Go program. Folders in this subseries are arranged in chronological order.
The second subseries, Course Materials, contains correspondence, lectures, classroom activities, teaching aids, and artifact lists related to the mobile guides' Classical, Egypt, and Woodland Indian educational courses. Folders in this subseries are arranged in alphabetical order.
The third subseries, Development, contains correspondence, reference resources, and grant applications related to the mobile guides' efforts to obtain funding for the Museum on the Go program. Folders in this subseries are arranged in chronological order.
This series contains meeting minutes and agendas, notes, program proposals, and membership lists related to the Volunteer Information Program (V.I.P.). This series also contains the V.I.P. volunteer information book and lists of museum visitors' questions and concerns for V.I.P. volunteers. Folders are arranged in chronological order.
This series contains the publications of the Education Department and Education Department personnel. Materials in this series are divided between two subseries and the folders within each subseries are arranged in chronological order.
The first subseries, Newsletters, contains copies of newsletters published by the Education Department. Copies of The Spade newsletter are stored in the Penn Museum Archives' oversize drawers. Copies of History Hunter, The Tablet, Guidelines, and the Mobile Guides' Newsletters are stored with the Museum Archives' collection of Miscellaneous Publications.
The second subseries, Other Publication Materials, contains academic articles drafted by Education Department personnel and correspondence concerning the publications of the Education Department and its personnel. The materials in this subseries are stored with the rest of the Education Department collection.
Some of the original ink drawings used in the Education Department's publications are filed under the series called, Visual Materials, under the subseries called, Drawings.
The materials in this series are divided among the following two subseries: Photographs and Drawings The materials in these subseries are separated from the rest of the Education Department Collection. The folders within each subseries are arranged in chronological order.
The first subseries, Photographs, contains photographs and photograph albums related to a wide range of Education Department programs. The bulk of the materials in this subseries is stored with the Penn Museum Archives' photographs collection.
The second subseries, Drawings, contains original ink drawings that were used for or related to Education Department programs. In the Education Department finding aid, are grouped into thematic folders and listed individually. The drawings are stored separately from the rest of the collection in the archives' oversize drawers.
This series contains collections of reference materials concerning subjects taught by the Education Department. Materials in this collection include mounted photos, drawings, printed illustrations, lecture notes, activity sheets, and lectures. Folders are separated into two subseries and are arranged alphabetically within each subseries.
The first subseries, Gallery Guides, contains materials that were found by archival processors in three ring binders and belonged to clearly labeled collections of reference sources.
The second subseries, Other Reference Files, contains reference materials that were found loose by archival processors or were filed in folders.
This series contains documents that seem unrelated to any of the major functions and activities of the Education Department between 1919 and 2002. Folders are arranged in chronological order.