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Daniel Garrison Brinton Collection, 1868-1956 (inclusive)

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

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

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Robert Burkitt expedition records, 1913-1930 (bulk) 1903-1939 (inclusive)

Extent:
1.4 linear feet
Abstract:
Robert Burkitt lived and worked in Guatemala for most of his life. A graduate of Harvard University, he first traveled to Central America in 1894 with George Gordon as Gordon's assistant on the Fourth Coban Expedition. Burkitt became enamored with the culture and language of the Maya and never returned to North America. He traveled the countryside, corresponding with Gordon, and collecting items for the Museum under a loosely binding agreement with Gordon and later Horace Jayne. Burkitt's letters and catalogues are rich documents depicting the cultural, linguistic, topological, and historical features of the Guatemala Highlands. Burkitt wrote and worked from the areas of Chama, Chipal, Coban, Senahu, Chiantla, Chocola, and other areas of the Alta Verapaz region. He produced a detailed catalogue of his discoveries accompanied by photgraphs and drawings. Among Burkitt's discoveries is the Ratinixul Vase unearthed in 1923. His work was published in the Museum Journal in 1924 and 1930....(see more)

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

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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]

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Elin Danien collection of Robert Burkitt papers, 1903-1913 (inclusive)

Extent:
0.3 linear foot
Abstract:
The Elin Danien Collection of Robert Burkitt Papers was discovered by Danien on her trip to Guatemala in 1985. Consisting of notebooks on the languages of the native Indians in the Guatemalan Highlands, the collection was found on the property of a family with whom Robert Burkitt stayed while working for the Penn Museum in Guatemala. Previously thought to be destroyed, the works are from the early portion of Burkitt's time in Central America, 1903 to 1913, before he formally began to collect and catalogue artifacts for the Museum. The collection consists of four linguistic notebooks, a comparative chart of the languages with a word list, a Spanish-Kekchi dictionary created by Burkitt, a portion of Burkitt's Dresden Manuscript, an Index to a linguistic notebook that is not a part of the collection, and loose papers from other notebooks. A purchased Espanol-Quecchi dictionary from Coban, 1890, is also a part of the collection.

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