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.

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 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.

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.

Dr. Robert H. Dyson, Jr., Director of the University of Pennsylvania Museum 1982-1994, directed excavations in 1966 and 1968 at Dinkha Tepe in the Ushnu Valley, west Azerbaijan, northwestern Iran. This expedition formed part of the Hasanlu Project. The papers documenting these excavations are for the most part primary reference materials and were deposited as a closed collection in The University of Pennsylvania Museum Archives for safekeeping until publication research begins within the next several years. Records were kept in their original order. The textual records of Dinkha Tepe consist of 2.66 linear feet of excavation notebooks, indexes and catalogues, photographic material, manuscripts, and drawings, maps and plans.

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.

James Pritchard, first Curator of Biblical Archaeology, Professor of Religious Thought, Associate Director (1967-1976), and Director (1976-1977) at the University of Pennsylvania Museum, conducted his primary fieldwork in three sites in the Near East. Of these, locating the site of Ancient Gibeon (El-Jib) in Jordan was perhaps Pritchard’s most notable accomplishment. He and his team conducted five seasons of fieldwork here, discovering three prominent architectural features: a tunnel, pool, and the city wall. The archival records for these excavations consist six linear feet of field notes, reports, a field diary, correspondence, object catalogues, drawings, photographs and a photographic catalogue, an annotated map, publication notes, and financial records.

This collection, the Gorgas Mill Complex records, includes documents from the Monastery archaeological site, on the Wissahickon Creek in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The excavation site was an 18th-century mill site which later became part of Fairmount Park. It was excavated in 1974 by the field school of the Penn Museum under the direction of Jeff Kenyon. This collection was divided into four series based on subject: administrative records, historical research, field notes and visual materials.

Excavation at Khafajah was initially directed by Henry Frankfurt and Pinhas Delougaz of the Oriental Institute; the Joint American Expedition, under the field direction of E. A. Speiser, continued excavation in conjunction with the work in progress since 1931 at Tepe Gawra (700 miles north of Khafajah). During the second season, 1937-1938, P. Delougaz was the field director. Excavation did not occur at Khafajah in 1938 because of political conditions. Karatepe is mentioned only briefly in the General Correspondence. The Penn Museum was involved with this site during the 1930s.

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.

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.

In 1887, the University of Pennsylvania agreed to sponsor an expedition to the Near East. The idea was conceived by Reverend John Punnett Peters, University of Pennsylvania Professor of Hebrew. Nippur was a pre-Biblical city-state located in the region between the Tigris and Euphrates, the area believed to be the "cradle of civilization." The museum conducted four expeditions between 1889 and 1898. The textual records for Nippur consist of 20 linear feet of files are arranged by Expedition (I, II, III, IV), as well as publications, maps and drawings. The documents for each expedition are separated according to type: Field Notes, Reports and Narratives, Correspondence, Financial Records.

The Harvard-Baghdad School Expedition (American Schools of Oriental Research, A.S.O.R) was sent to Excavate Nuzi near Kirkuk in Iraq. The expedition members consisted of staff from the Fogg Museum of Art, the Harvard Semitic Museum, and A.S.O.R., Baghad. Excavations commenced in 1927-1928. From 1929 to 1931, the University Museum extended financial aid and the services of a helper, C.Bache, in return for his field training. Very few records pertaining to this excavation are available in the Museum’s Archives, probably reflecting the Museum’s limited participation. Where possible, a chronological order was imposed on the Near East records.

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.

In July of 1970, in the straits of Messina about 100 meters from the village of Porticello, underwater excavation of a vessel subsequently determined to be 5th century B.C. Roman, commenced under the direction of David I. Owen, assistant curator of the Underwater Archaeology Section of the University of Pennsylvania Museum. The Porticello Shipwreck spans the period from 1969-1988 and primarily contains letters, field notes, object descriptions, drawings and photographs (prints, slides, and negatives) of objects and under water excavations relating to the project. The collection is divided into six series: Correspondence; Field Notes; Catalogues; Publications; Drawings; Photographs.

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.

Tell Billa is located eight miles east of Tepe Gawra and was excavated by the same staff. Because Tell Billa and Tepe Gawra were excavated simultaneosly, records from the excavations are somewhat mixed and should be used together. Although it is difficult to determine amounts of time spent at Tell Billa, emphasis shifted after the third season to the prehistoric layers at Tepe Gawra. When other order is lacking, a chronological order was imposed on the general correspondence according to field season. Related material may be found in correspondence from the Directors Office, Jayne (1929-1940) in the files for Dorothy Cross, George A. Barton, A.S.O.R., and Paul Beidler.

Tepe Gawra is an ancient Mesopotamian settlement in northern Iraq, near the ancient site of Nineveh and fifteen miles northeast of the modern city of Mosul. It was excavated by archaeologists from the University of Pennsylvania, led by E.A. Speiser, who first discovered the site in 1927, and later, C. Bache. The excavations showed that the Tepe Gawra site was occupied from approximately 5000 B.C. to 1500 B.C. The textual records from Tepe Gawra consist of 11.85 linear feet of General Correspondence, Field Notes, Indexes and Catalogues, Field Registers, and Publications, plus Maps and Drawings. Where possible, a chronological order was imposed on the Near East records.

Tureng Tepe, a site dating from approximately 3100-2900 B.C. through 1900 B.C. in northeast Iran was excavated by Frederick R. Wulsin during two short field seasons in 1931. Although the expedition was directed by Wulsin, a University of Pennsylvania Museum staff member who was a curator of Anthropology during 1930-1932, the expedition was sponsored by the Atkins Museum of Fine Arts in Kansas City, Missouri. Records relating to the excavation at Tureng Tepe are limited, and consist of 2.3 linear feet of correspondence, field notes, and indexes and catalogues.

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.

Vladimir Jaroslav Fewkes was born in Czechoslovakia on March 23, 1901. He arrived in Philadelphia in 1921. In 1926 the Wharton School awarded Fewkes a B.S. degree; he then went on to achieve a M.A. in 1928 and a Ph.D. in 1930. During most of his graduate study, he was an Instructor in the Anthropology department, and a research associate in the University Museum. He has conducted field work in Prague, the Danube Valley and Yugoslavia. The textual records from the personal papers of Vladimir J. Fewkes consist of 1.5 linear feet of correspondence, fieldwork and research notes and catalogues, published and unpublished writings, and school notes.

Watson Kintner, a University of Pennsylvania graduate and a man of means, traveled to more than 30 nations between 1933 until 1969. On his travels Kintner avoided tourist destinations, instead recording the daily life among the peoples visited, as well as sites of archaeological interest. Kintner took photography very seriously, and in the late 1960s and 1970s funded weekend seminars for University of Pennsylvania Museum graduate students. Upon his death, Kintner left an endowment towards various Museum activities and programs. Kintner’s travel records consist of three linear feet of journals, film notes, bills, correspondence, and preparatory notes on the culture, geography and history of the countries he visited (and some that he didn’t) between 1951 and 1969.

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.