Coping with the Loss of Dr. Cope, Again
Edward Drinker Cope is Missing Again: This time it is the 271/4" x 22", 1897 portrait of Edward Drinker Cope, that was removed sometime during the weekend of March 25 from where it hung in the first floor staircase of Leidy Laboratories. Dr. Cope was a professor of Zoology and Comparative Anatomy at Penn, 1888-1897, and part of the Penn-based explosion of knowledge about the physical world and the human form. He was also known for his studies of fossils from Frederick Hayden's famous survey in Wyoming, and for his head-on scientific collisions with his one-time mentor in biology, Joseph Leidy.
The bronze bust of Dr. Cope was taken from Leidy Labs in 1996 and was subsequently retreived from Penn State last year.
The Edward Drinker Cope Society is now offering a $100 reward for the safe, voluntary return of the portrait, with no questions asked. The Biology Department would greatly appreciate the safe return of Dr. Cope's portrait. If you have any information concerning the whereabouts of it, please contact: Rodney Webb, building administrator, department of biology, University of Pennsylvania, Phila, PA 19104, (215) 898-7120 or e-mail rwebb@sas.upenn.edu.
Almanac, Vol. 46, No. 28, April 11, 2000