University of Pennsylvania Finding Aids

The Akhenaten Temple Project was the first computer project assumed by the University of Pennsylvania Museum. It was proposed in 1965 by Ray Winfield Smith, and in 1966 he began the project with the aid of IBM’s nascent computer technology. The IBM computer was abandoned in 1976. This collection spans Ray Winfield Smith’s entire involvement as director of the project 1968-1971, and begins the career of Dr. Donald B. Redford who acted as a consultant in 1971 and has been director since 1972. The records contain papers and photographs relating to the foundation of the Akhenaten Temple Project, and are divided into seven series: Financial; Correspondence and Reports; Publications and Publicity; Project Negatives; Photographs; Drawings; Misc.

Linton Satterthwaite, a professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania and Curator of the American Section of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, conducted three trips to Caracol, Belize in the 1950s to investigate a previously unknown site of Maya culture. While his primary interest was in Maya inscriptions and chronology, his journeys to Caracol yielded artifacts for the Museum, including twenty-six vessels of the early classic period, nine vessels of the late period, Stela 11, a new "giant glyph" altar, and the bottom portion of Stela 3. The Caracol expedition collection consists of 16 boxes of correspondence, field notes and notes on individual stela, altars, and stones, glyph decipherment and chronology data, information for publication, and photographs and drawings including contact sheets and photographs from Caracol, Benque Viejo, and Cayo X. Satterthwaite organized and catalogued the photographs according to the type of film used, field numbers, and monument number. The collection also contains three file boxes of card notes to the photographs and a few pieces of oversized material. Satterthwaite's "The Monuments and Inscriptions of Caracol, Belize" with co-author Carl Beetz, was published after his death. The publication materials relate to his instructions and notes for publication and Beetz' collection of Satterthwaite's monument notes for the book.

The records of the excavations at Chalchuapa, El Salvador include correspondence, administrative records, field notes, photographs, manuscripts and reports. The bulk of these materials originate from the 1954 excavation by William R. Coe and the 1966 analysis by Robert J. Sharer, as well as the 1969-1970 re-excavations.

The Dun Ailinne, Ireland Excavation Records are housed in 5 boxes, plus oversized material in Print Cabinet P-11 and Map Case M-10. It includes correspondence, financial records, field notes, maps and drawings, artifact drawings, information regarding artifact analysis, progress reports and publications, artifact inventories, photographic prints and negatives and 35 mm slides from years ranging from 1968 to 2005 (Bulk 1968-1975).

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.

Excavation at Fara, initiated by German excavators between 1902 and 1903, was resumed in 1931 by Erich Schmidt, an archaeologist working under the aegis of the University Museum. Since the Museum’s participation was limited to one season which took place between February 15 and May 19, the records pertaining to this excavation are not numerous. The textual records at Fara include general correspondence, field notes, indexes and catalogues, and publications. Where possible, a chronological order was imposed on the records.

Froelich G. Rainey was born in Black River Falls, Wisconsin in 1907 and raised on a cattle ranch in Montana. He spent time as a cowboy in his youth and attended the local schools. For his college experience he chose the University of Chicago, graduating in 1929 with a B.A. in English. Rainey spent the next year at the American School in France studying Pre-Historic Archaeology. He completed his graduate wotk at Yale University attaining a Ph.D. in Anthropology in 1935. Rainey taught for a year at the University of Puerto Rico and in 1935 began a six year teaching stay at University of Alaska. While in Alaska, he conducted research which resulted in evidence that humans had migrated from Russia to Alaska centuries ago. Rainey gained museum experience as an Assistant in Archaeology at the Peabody Museum at Harvard and as a representative for Financial Grants in Archaeology at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. 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 G. Rainey Egypt records reflect his close association with the expeditions sponsored by the University in Egypt. They consist of correspondence related to the Yale-Penn Expedition, the relocation of the Abu Sindel/Nubian sites at the time of the Aswan Dam construction and the American Research Center in Egypt (A.R.C.E.).

George Franklin Dales was born in Akron, Ohio in 1927. He received his Ph.D. at Penn in 1960 studying the history, art and archaeology of the Middle East. Dales lectured at the University of Toronto from 1961 to 1963. He returned to Penn and was appointed both assistant and then Associate Curator of the South Asian Collection at the Penn Museum and moved from Assistant to Associate Professor in the Department of South Asian Regional Studies. Dales left Penn in 1972 to work at the University of California, Berkeley. The George F. Dales Papers consist of seven archival boxes of data and one card file box. The records are arranged by site-Pakistan, Afghanistan, Ceylon, Thailand and Indonesia.

The Gordion Project collection documents the University of Pennsylvania survey and excavation of the ancient site of Gordion in central Turkey from 1947 until 2008. Collection series include excavation and conservation records under the authority of project directors Rodney S. Young (1950-1974), Keith R. DeVries (1975-1987) and G. Kenneth Sams (1988-2008) as well as fundraising and publication records during this period. Significant gaps and omissions in documentation occur after about 1990. The textual records are followed by photographs from the excavation site taken mostly between 1950 and 1975. Additional graphic material and field notebooks remain to be added to this collection.

Gregory L. Possehl, known for his discoveries in India and Pakistan, was born in Tacoma, Washington in 1941 and studied at the University of Washington and the University of Chicago attaining his Ph.D.in anthropology from the latter in 1974. Possehl's field work in Pakistan and India explored the Harappan civilization who populated the Gujarat region of India including the sites of Rojdi, Oriyo Timbo, and Babar Kot from 2500 BC to 2000 BC. Possehl was funded for his work from the late 1970s to the mid 1990s by the Smithsonian Institution and the National Science Foundation. Dr. Possehl is also a noted professor at Penn in the Departments of Anthropology and Oriental Studies and a curator in the Asian section of the Penn Museum. He published award-winning books on the Harappan civilization and trained many future scholars in the field. The Gregory L. Possehl Indus Civilization papers are composed of twelve boxes of correspondence, a seven box visual archive of negatives, slides, photographs and drawings and twenty-three boxes of field data, notebooks, field cards, analysis, professional and publication material and correspondence related to the individual sites and years of the expeditions. There are two small file boxes of notes and a bibliography. Oversize maps, drawings and photographs are placed in eight drawers in the map case.

John Lambert Cotter is widely considered to have been a pioneer in American historical archaeology in a career. He began his career, that spanned some sixty-five years, studying and working in traditional prehistoric archaeology, earnestly beginning his explorations in historical archaeology in the 1950s. The textual records from Dr. John L. Cotter consist of 26 boxes of correspondence, teaching materials, archaeological field notes, reports, and publications.

Marian Angell Godfrey Boyer (1892-1989) was actively engaged with the University Museum, holding various positions within the organization throughout her life. In Sept. 1941, she served as the Museum’s secretary and then as administrative officer from March 1943-July 1944. Following Dr. George C. Vaillant’s untimely death on May 13, 1945, she served as acting director until July 1947, when Dr. Froelich Rainey was appointed to the position. Boyer then returned to her role as secretary until Dec. 1949, when she resigned. She also supported the Museum by serving as a member of its Women’s Committee for a number of years. The Marian Angell Godfrey Boyer Personal Papers Collection consists of nine folders in one archival box, mostly of correspondence relating to her involvement with the Penn Museum.

The curatorial files encompass the period from the Section's inauguration by Museum President William Pepper in 1894 to the 1970s. While the material in the Mediterranean curatorial files dates from 1895 to 1979, the bulk of the collection dates to the earlier years (1895-1949) and within that period, the majority relate to Edith Hall Dohan.

Piedras Negras is a Maya site in Guatemala particularly noted for the beautifully sculpted stelae and hieroglyphic inscriptions it has yielded. Between 1931 and 1939 the University of Pennsylvania Museum conducted extensive excavations at this site. John Allen Mason led the first two seasons of work at the site (1931–1932), and Linton Satterthwaite directed the remaining six seasons (1933–1939, excluding 1938). Most of the monuments at the Museum borrowed from Guatemala were returned in 1947; only Stela 14 and one leg from Altar 4 remain on display in the Museum today. The textual records from the excavations of Piedras Negras consist of 11 linear feet of correspondence, financial records, field notes and diaries, catalogs, and reports and publication materials. The arrangement of the records reflects the original order insofar as could be detected, and portions that had been separated over time were re-integrated into this scheme.

The collection of Schuyler Van Rensselaer Cammann’s papers, member of the Department of Oriental Studies at the University of Pennsylvania 1948-1982 and Associate Curator of the East Asian Collections 1948-1955, consist of 13 linear feet of correspondence; published and unpublished papers and book reviews; lectures; research notes; unpublished fiction; photographs; drawings; employment history at the University of Pennsylvania; teaching materials; and travels and tours. Professor Cammann wrote, lectured, taught, and consulted in several geographic areas (including China, Tibet, Mongolia, Japan) on such topics as textiles, carpets, art, ivory, snuff bottles, Magic Squares, and symbolism. He authored four books and hundreds of articles and reviews, and presented considerable number of lectures to various meetings, organizations and conferences.

At the turn of the century, the Río Grande de Coclé changed course, revealing the site of a pre-Columbian cemetery when pottery and gold ornaments were washed out of the river banks. In 1940 the University of Pennsylvania Museum began to excavate Sitio Conte, which belonged to a private landowner, located in the province of Coclé. A very small portion of the pre-Columbian cemetery, estimated to cover four or five acres in its entirety, was selected for excavation. The expedition yielded 6,600 pounds of pottery and stone. The textual records consist of 1.5 linear feet of field notes, diaries, and object cards; correspondence; administrative records concerning contracts, expenses, transportation, and equipment; and unpublished and published reports and articles concerning findings. The arrangement of the records became apparent after some research, for the original order had been lost. Most of the original folder titles, however, have been maintained.

Sir Leonard Woolley directed the excavations at Ur in southern Iraq from 1922 to 1934 for the Joint Expedition of the British Museum and the University of Pennsylvania Museum. As part of this involvement, the University of Pennsylvania Museum sent Leon Legrain, Curator of the Babylonian Section, during the 1924–1925 and 1925–1926 seasons. Most of the records of the Ur expedition are located at the British Museum. The Museum Archives hold only a few records. The records consist of general correspondence, indexes and catalogs, publications, and Legrain research. Where possible, a chronological order was imposed on the Near East records.

Vincenzo M. Petrullo was born in Italy in 1906, entered the United States in 1913, and eventually became a citizen in 1930. Petrullo represented the Penn Museum as the anthropologist for the Matto Grosso Expedition from late 1930 until 1931. Petrullo did archaeological excavations at the expedition headquarters at Descalvados, while waiting five months for governmental permission to conduct research in the Brazilian interior. In 1933 Petrullo returned to South America, his purpose to establish a Latin American Research Institute in Venezuela, with support from that government and the University of Pennsylvania Museum. Petrullo visited South America once again in 1935 in a joint Columbia University-University of Pennsylvania Museum expedition.

The William H. Davenport collection includes records from field research in the Santa Cruz Islands, Guadalcanal and San Cristobal Islands, and other Solomon Islands; the Moluccas and Sulawesi in Indonesia; and Sarawak in Malaysia, among other locations. Materials span the period from 1952-2002 and contain records primarily related to Davenport's field research, professional activities, student mentoring, and articles and publications.