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Start Over People Gordon, G. B. (George Byron), 1870-1927

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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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Helen E. Fernald papers, 1921-1935 (bulk) 1921-1937 (inclusive)

Extent:
0.8 linear feet
Abstract:
Helen E. Fernald was employed at The University Museum from 1921-1935 as the head of the Educational Department from 1921-25, was the Assistant Curator of Far Eastern Art from 1925-30, and the Curator from 1930-35. Fernald’s first trip abroad for the museum was in the summer of 1928 to study in the museums and private collections of Far Eastern art in Paris and at the British Museum in London. Her second trip was from June – December of 1929 to Japan, Korea, and China to study collections or conduct scientific researches. Her trips were a success, having brought back many artifacts from the Far East such as bronzes, sculptures, porcelains, etc. The Helen E. Fernald papers consist of eleven folders in two archival boxes of correspondence.

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

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Egypt Exploration Fund, 1888-1926 (inclusive)

Extent:
0.4 linear foot (the records of the egypt exploration fund fill one archival box of correspondence and financial records.)
Abstract:
Amelia B. Edwards, a novelist and travel writer, traveled in Egypt from 1873 to 1874 to escape bad weather in her native England. Her stay in Egypt inspired the book, A Thousand Miles Up the Nile. A best seller at the time, Edwards story presented a view of nineteenth century Egypt along with descriptions of the previously unknown antiquities of the ancient civilization. After returning to England, Edwards and Reginald Stuart Poole of the Department of Coins and Metals of the British Museum co-founded the Egypt Exploration Fund. Its 1882 mission was to "explore, survey and excavate ancient sites in Egypt and Sudan and publish the results of this work." The work of W.M. Flinders Petrie was of great interest to the amateur Egyptologist Edwards, and she supported Flinders Petrie's appointment as successor to Edouard Naville in Egypt. Petrie arrived in Egypt in 1884 with funds from University College, London. He later became the first Edwards professor of Egyptology at...(see more)

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

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Stephen Langdon Babylonian Section records, 1911-1918 (inclusive)

Extent:
0.01 linear foot
Abstract:
Stephen Langdon, noted Sumerian scholar, was an American-born British citizen who briefly curated the Near East section at the University of Pennsylvania Museum. The Stephen Langdon Near East section records consist of three folders of material mostly correspondence with George B. Gordon the Director of the Museum.

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

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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]

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Louis Shotridge Collection, 1905-1937 (inclusive)

Extent:
1.0 linear foot
Abstract:
The papers of Louis Shotridge are one of the most extensive groups in the Arctic research collections of the University of Pennsylvania Museum Archives. Shotridge, a Tlingit Indian, was intermittently employed by the museum to make ethnographic collections of Northwest Coast materials between 1903 and 1912. The archives has papers concerning his original research, arranged topically, manuscripts for articles published in The Museum Journal, oral histories, Tlingit language notes, and general ethnographic notes on the Tlingit and other Northwest Coast groups.

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

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J. Alden Mason American Section records, 1924-1964 (bulk) 1898-1968 (inclusive)

Extent:
1.2 linear feet
Abstract:
J. Alden Mason, noted archaeological anthropologist and linguist, was born in Orland, Indiana and attended school in Philadelphia attaining his A.B. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1907. He pursued his Ph.D. at the University of California, Berkeley completing his dissertation on the ethnography of the Salinan Indians of California. Mason was influenced by Alfred J. Kroeber while at Berkeley and Edward Sapir of the University of Pennsylvania. The J. Alden Mason curatorial years (1922-1967) produced three archival boxes of correspondence and in-house memos, along with Section reports, research notes and articles and notes for publication. This material, in addition to personal records of Dr. Mason and evidence of his scholarship were arranged into series and placed in chronological order.

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

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Carl W. Bishop papers, 1914-1918 (bulk) 1914-1922 (inclusive)

Extent:
0.8 linear foot
Abstract:
Carl W. Bishop, the first assistant curator of Oriental Art at the University Museum, was a vital force in the advanced knowledge of the Far East for the University Museum. Before Bishops excavations to the Far East, the Chinese collection started modestly in 1913, with acquisition of small bronzes and some porcelain pieces. Bishop set out to explore other museum’s exhibits on China as well as acquire artifacts from Ancient China. Due to the political turmoil in China during Bishop’s active years and a lack of funds, the expeditions were not always successful. During the second of the two trips Bishop took to the Far East from 1917-1918, he did conduct archeological reconnaissance, but no excavation was undertaken. The Carl W. Bishop papers consist of ten folders in two archival boxes of correspondence mostly to George Byron Gordan, journals, and photographs.

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

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Hermann V. Hilprecht Near East Section records, 1892-1913 (inclusive)

Extent:
2.7 linear feet
Abstract:
Hermann Volrath Hilprecht, eminent Assyriologist, arrived in the United States in 1886, summoned by the Sunday School Times to edit their oriental section. He was also appointed Professor of Assyriology at the University of Pennsylvania. The following year, Hilprecht assumned the duties of Curator of the Babylonian and General Semitic section of the Museum of Archaeology at Penn. Hilprecht was the scientific director for the Babylonian expedition to Nippur. In all, he worked on four expeditions, specializing in the interpretation of the cuneiform tablets. The Hermann V. Hilprecht Near East section records consist of five boxes of data. The folders had been previously organized into correspondence, collections, publications and controversy divisions. During processing, the correspondence was placed more appropriately in general, curatorial and publishing subdivisions. The collection folders as well as the majority of the publication data required only placement in chronological order.

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

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George B. Gordon General Ethnology Section Records, 1903-1913 (inclusive)

Extent:
2.75 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 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. Gordon was appointed Director of the Free Museum of Science and Art in 1910 and oversaw one of the largest periods of growth in its collection and prestige. The records of the General Ethnology Section fill three archival boxes of alphabetical correspondence. Five bound letter books also record correspondence from 1902 to 1910.

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

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