University of Pennsylvania Finding Aids

A.(Alice) Frances Eyman, Assistant Curator and Keeper of the American section of the Penn Museum was educated at Oberlin College and the University of Pennsylvania (B.A.) and did graduate work at Columbia and the University of New Mexico. While at the University of New Mexico, Eyman participated in archaeological field work with the Navajo. Eyman taught as a part of the education departments of both the American Museum of Natural History and the Penn Museum. Her special interest involved American Indian objects and how they fill the gap in the ethnology of the native people. The American Section records of A. Frances Eyman consist of three boxes of information. The collection is divided into three series; correspondence, notes and writings/manuscripts.

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.

Born on August 2, 1911 on Nantucket Island, Alfred Kidder II was named after his grandfather, Alfred Kidder. The eldest child of famous archaeologist Alfred Vincent Kidder, he was the only one of his four siblings to follow in his father’s footsteps. Kidder attended Harvard University where he earned his B.A. in 1933, M.A. in 1935, and Ph.D. in 1937. After graduating, he taught at Harvard until 1950, when he was appointed Associate Director of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Anthropology and Archaeology. The records of Alfred Kidder II Chiripa, Bolivia records measure 2 linear feet and contain professional correspondence, field notes, plans and drawings, reports, artifact analyses, catalogs, and travel diaries.

Algot Lange (1884- ) was a Swedish/Danish adventurer and amateur anthropologist who visited the Amazon River basin in 1910 and 1913. During the 1910 expedition Lange documented the rubber trade and the native peoples of eastern Peru. During the 1913 expedition he undertook the initial preparation for the University of Pennsylvania’s South American (Amazon) expedition. Lange was replaced as leader of this expedition by William C. Farabee, who continued the project from 1913 to 1916. The Algot Lange records consist of one series of three notebooks concerning the Tupi (Nheengatu) language and culture of the Amazon basin compiled by Lange while at the University of Pennsylvania sometime between 1912 and 1914.

Alison Frantz, born in 1903, was a classicist and photographer. She attended Smith College and Columbia University. She first went to Greece in 1929 as a member of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens. In 1934 she joined the staff of the newly begun excavations of the Athenian agora. Frantz became the official photographer for the excavations there in 1939 and remained in that position until 1964. During her time as official photographer, Frantz also served as a Cultural Attaché for the U.S. Embassy in Athens from 1946 to 1949.

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.

From 1929 to 1936, Howard conducted field expeditions in Texas and New Mexico in the quest of finding links to early man. His investigations included Burnet cave in the Guadelupe Mountains and sites along the Blackwater Draw between Clovis and Portales in eastern New Mexico. His discoveries added to the knowledge of the "Folsom Complex" and included the Folsom flints, mammoth and sloth bones and early fauna. The Early Man Project records consist of five folders of correspondence, some financial records and the original research proposal.

Alexander Scott was born in 1854 in Camberwell, Surrey, the son of the famed British portrait painter for the Illustrated London News, Thomas Dewel Scott. He became known as a world traveler, landscape painter and collector of Asian antiquities. This collection was donated to the Penn Museum in 2011 by Anne Bowbeer, the wife of Alexander Scott's nephew, following the death of Mabel Scott Hall, Alexander Scott's widow

The Antigua Guatemala expeditions were conducted in 1969 and 1970 by Dr. Ruben Reina. Originally from Argentina, Dr. Reina received his B.A. at the University of Michigan and his M.A. at Michigan State University. He completed his Ph.D. at the University of North Carolina followed by a Research Assistantship at the Institute for Research in the Social Sciences, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Dr. Reina began his career at the University of Pennsylvania after teaching at the University of Puerto Rico. He became a Professor in the Anthropology Department in 1967 and assumed the position of Curator of Latin American Ethnology, American Section of the Penn Museum. Dr. Reina spent 34 years at the University, becoming Professor Emeritus in 1990. The expeditions to Guatemala yielded three boxes of field notes and drawings, a catalogue of findings, extensive information on native ceramic pottery, and photographs. In addition, Dr. Reina's trips produced a file of five-by-eight catalogue and excavation unit cards and an additional photograph catalogue file of three-by-five cards. Both of the card files are housed separately in smaller archival boxes.

Although classical, including Etruscan, collections had been donated to the University of Pennsylvania Museum since the early 1890s it was in 1896 that the Museum formally authorized excavations in Italy and the acquisition of Etruscan tomb groups, as well as individual objects, for the Museum. Professor Arthur L. Frothingham of Princeton, then Secretary of the American School of Classical Studies in Rome, was commissioned to represent the Museum in Italy. Most of the tomb groups which Frothingham obtained are from Narce and Vulci, although there are objects from many other sites including Cerveteri, Orvieto, and Civita Castellana. The textual records from the excavations in Italy consist of one linear foot of correspondence, notes, financial accounts, and photographs related to the excavation of Etruscan tombs through which the Museum obtained the majority of its Etruscan collections.

The Asian Section collection includes correspondence and receipts all dealing with the donation or sale of artifacts to the Penn Museum from 1890 to 1969. Artifacts are mostly from China, Korea, and Japan. Notable donors include Stewart Culin, William Pepper, Phoebe Hearst, and Worch of Paris, C.T. Loo, and Yamanaka and Co.

The Asian Section collection includes correspondence and receipts all dealing with the donation or sale of artifacts to the Penn Museum from 1890 to 1969. Artifacts are mostly from China, Korea, and Japan. Notable donors include Stewart Culin, William Pepper, Phoebe Hearst, and Worch of Paris, C.T. Loo, and Yamanaka and Co.

Gunn moved to the University of Pennsylvaniz Museum in 1931 as curator of the Egyptian section. His time there was short. In 1934, Gunn was given an honorary M.A. degree from the University of Oxford, opening the way for an appointment as Professor of Egyptology there, a position he held until his death in 1950. The Battiscombe Gunn Egyptian Section records consist of one folder of correspondence dating from 1931 to 1934.

The Benque Viejo (Xunantunich), Cahal Pech expedition, conducted by Dr. Linton Satterthwaite, was an extension of his expedition to Caracol, British Honduras (Belize). It was conceived as a "Housemound Project" and continued for two seasons from 1950 to 1953. The area of Benque Viejo, Cahal Pech contained seventeen structures and five stelae for investigation. Much of the collection relates to the Ball Court and East Plaza sites, as well as Structure A6 first and A6 second. The expedition produced objects and numerous photographs of the area. The Benque Viejo, Cahal Pech expedition records consist of twenty-nine folders in three archival boxes. Materials relate to the proposal for the expedition, preliminary data, budget and financial records, maps, notebooks, field notes, diaries, bag study sheets, progress and summary reports, press and publication materials, and photographs.

Bernard Wailes was born April 2, 1934 in St. Mawgan, Cornwall, England. He attended St. Catharine's College, Cambridge, and graduated with a B.A. (with honors) in 1957. He did research in archaeology between 1957 and 1961 and earned a M.A. in 1961. Wailes instructed in Anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania and became an assistant for the Mediterranean Section of the University Museum beginning in 1961, and a Research Associate for the Applied Science Center of Archaeology beginning in 1962. The collection consists of 276 post cards of places and objects from Wailes personal files.

William Pepper, originally a Provost of the University of Pennsylvania, was the visionary behind the establishment of the University Archaeological Association in 1889, and the Department of Archaeology and Paleontology in 1891, the precursors to the University Museum. The groups were composed of wealthy Philadelphians, interested in the ancient world, and capable of soliciting subscriptions to the Associations from their friends and colleagues. The University's sponsorship of an expedition to Nippur, Babylonia in 1887, financed by private funds was the impetus for Pepper to work toward the establishment of organizations to support exploration and house artifacts from the ancient world. With the need for a fire-proof building to house the finds, supported by the Trustees, College Hall was designated as the first repository in response to a request from William Pepper. By 1892, the Department of Archaeology and Paleontology, affiliated with the University of Pennsylvania, was operating under an independent Board of Managers whose first President was Joseph Leidy. Pepper himself became President of the Department in 1894, working tirelessly along with Sara Yorke Stevenson, toward the funding and building of the Free Museum of Science and Art. Toward this goal, the American Exploration Society was created as an independent funding organization for the recovery of artifacts and the establishment of a museum of archaeology. The Board of Managers records consists of seven boxes of correspondence and financial records spanning the creation of the University Archaeological Association, the Department of Archaeology and Paleontology, the American Exploration Society and the Museum. The records are organized first by the entities that preceeded the museum and contributed to its creation. The next group of records are organized by the tenure of the Presidents of the Board of Managers.

The Cape Nome expedition collection was donated to the University Museum by the author himself, John Bockstoce. The collection documents Bockstoce’s records and analysis of his archeological findings in Cape Nome fom 1969-1974. It consists of five series: field notes, drawings, photographs, reports and publications, and oversized documents. The expedition was conducted by Bockstoce for the purpose writing a dissertation on the cultures of the Arctic and obtaining a Doctor of Philosophy degree from the University of Oxford, which he achieved in 1974. This expedition was advised by Dr. Froelich Rainey of the University Museum, University of Pennsylvania, Dr. Douglas Anderson of the Haffenreffer Museum of Brown University, and Dr. Derek Roe of Oxford University.

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.

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.

Carleton Stevens Coon was born on June 23, 1904, in Wakefield, Massachusetts. He graduated from the Phillips Academy in 1921, and then went on to graduate Magna Cum Laude from Harvard University in 1925. Coon then received both his Masters degree and Doctorate degree from Harvard University in 1928. Coon's field work was extensive, including the excavations of five cave sites in Iran (1949-1955), Afghanistan (1954), Syria and Central Africa (1955), and Chad and Libya (1966-1967). Contained in this collection are mostly records that pertain to Coon’s survey and archaeological excavations during 1949-1955 of five cave sites in Iran: Bisitun in Luristan; Tamtama in Azerbaijan; the Khunik rock shelter in Southern Khorassan; and Belt and Hotu in Gorgan.

The Casting Department of the Penn Museum was begun in the 1890s and continued until 2010. The museum staff was initially in charge of making the casts. Those involved in the early days included Paul Casci, the first museum restorer, and M. Louise Baker, the official museum artist. The Casting Department papers consist of 0.5 linear feet of annual reports, list of available casts and prices, and labels from the Museum casting department. The material has been divided into three series: Annual Reports, Labels, and List of Available Casts.

Dr. Cecil L. Striker was born in Cincinnati, Ohio and attended Oberlin College for his undergraduate degree. While working on his M.A. and Ph.D. at The Institute of Fine Arts at New York University, Striker supplemented his studies in programs at Harvard University, the University of Marburg, and Technische Hochschule Munich. Dr. Striker came to the University of Pennsylvania in 1968 as an Associate Professor in the Department of the History of Art. Full professorship was bestowed in 1978. Striker represented Dumbarton Oaks during restoration and investigative field work at Kalenderhane Camii in Istanbul. The materials relate to Striker's major area of work, the archaeology and architectural history of the Late Antique, Early Christian, Byzantine and Medieval periods (fourth through 15th centuries A.D.). Its geographic focus is on the lands of the former Byzantine Empire (modern Turkey, Greece, ex-Yugoslavia and Albania). There is also some material from Latin West.

The Ceylon (Sri Lanka) Proto-History Project Collection includes budgets and proposals, reports and publications, financial records, artifact loans, field notes, artifact analysis, radiocarbon analysis, photographic prints and negatives, site plans and sections, and fourty-one pottery drawings. It is housed in 1 box and 2 oversized folders in Map Case M-20.