Penn Museum 125th Anniversary of Official Founding |
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 “As a relative newcomer to Philadelphia, it is easy for me to see that Penn Museum is a one-of-a-kind international museum, infinitely enriched by being a part of this extraordinary University,” Penn Museum Director Julian Siggers recently noted. “That’s why I especially want to invite the Penn community—faculty, staff, and students—to make an expedition over to our Open House. Come during lunch hour, for an afternoon break, or after work—we have activities happening day into night. As part of this remarkable community, you are so much a part of our past, our present, and most certainly our future. Join us, please!”
On Thursday, December 6, 2012—125 years to the day that marks its founding—the Penn Museum (University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology) celebrates with a free community Open House from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Throughout the twelve-hour-long extravaganza, visitors are invited to meet the curators, collections keepers, conservators, archivists, archaeologists, anthropologists and researchers of the Penn Museum—and find out about their favorite artifacts or current research activities at the Museum and around the world. The day features conservators at work on Egyptian mummies and related artifacts at the “In the Artifact Lab” gallery project, educators offering interactive “cartifacts” exploring the Maya and ancient Egyptian and Mediterranean cultures, special “Reports from the Field” excavation talks by Kolb Junior Fellows, and behind-the-scenes tours of the Mainwaring Wing storage collections. Later at night, guests can experience the galleries in a distinctively different way, as Penn graduate students, counselors for the popular “40 Winks with the Sphinx” sleepover program, offer Flashlight Tours of the ancient Egyptian and Mediterranean galleries.
Penn Museum Members have special opportunities to view treasures from the Museum’s vault and share in a toast with Museum Director Julian Siggers prior to the “Reports from the Field” evening lectures.
All guests can warm up to the celebration with complimentary hot apple cider and cookies in the Museum Café throughout the day.
Founders Day: A Commitment to the Future
It was on December 6, 1887, that University of Pennsylvania officials approved a first “exploring expedition to Babylonia” and agreed to build a museum to house excavated artifacts—a commitment that set the course for what grew to be a great and unique museum in the world, with an extraordinary breadth and depth of research and collections (more than 400 research expeditions and nearly one million artifacts from all the inhabited continents).
Because of its extensive and ongoing international activity, beginning with the first excavations at Nippur in what is now Iraq, the Museum has an audience that includes scholars, students, and the interested public from around the world. In January 2012, Penn Museum commenced its 125th anniversary celebration (Almanac January 17, 2012) with the launching of its Online Collections Database—a unique research tool that began with 326,000 object records representing 660,000 objects, and 51,500 images illustrating 24,500 object records, from the Museum’s vast collection. The database continues to grow as Collections staff and volunteers continue to input data, images, and new information as it becomes available.
The Museum concludes its celebration year by launching a new Timeline of Archaeology and Anthropology Research (www.penn.museum/timeline). The Timeline, linked to the Online Collections Database, provides visitors with a data-rich interactive map and timeline featuring 125 of the Museum’s most famous expeditions from around the world. The Timeline highlights major historical events that give archaeological context to the Museum’s work—making it a useful resource for scholars, students, and anyone interested in the human story.
The winter issue of Expedition magazine—the official magazine of the Penn Museum—scheduled for release in December 2012, features a look at some of the people, expeditions, research, and artifacts that made, and continue to make, Penn Museum the unique institution it is.
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| Alessandro (Alex) Pezzati, (above) senior archivist at the Penn Museum, invites visitors into the Penn Museum Archives during the Museum’s 125th Anniversary celebration this Thursday. The Archives house the records of the Museum’s fieldwork around the world, including field notes, photographs, drawings and paintings of its artifact collections, as well as the administrative history of the institution. Author of a Penn Museum book, Adventures in Photography, which was also a Museum exhibition, he writes a regular feature, “From the Archives,” for the Museum’s Expedition magazine. |
Open House Schedule for
Thursday, December 6: (Extended hours)
Inside the Artifact Lab: Conserving Egyptian Mummies—meet project conservator Molly Gleeson and other conservators (10 a.m.–7 p.m.)
Cartifacts—explore and learn with Museum educators (12:30–6:30 p.m.)
Hot cider and cookies in the Museum Café (10 a.m.–7 p.m.)
10 a.m. Near East Collection Keeper Katherine Blanchard (Iraq’s Ancient Past)
10:30 a.m. Historical Archaeology Associate Curator Robert Schuyler (Pepper Gallery)
Mediterranean Association Curator Ann Brownlee (Roman Gallery)
11 a.m. Asian Collection Keeper Stephen Lang (Rotunda)
*Members Only: Artifacts from the Vault/American Associate Curator Clark Erickson (Collections Study Room)
11:30 a.m. Near East Assistant Curator Lauren Risvet (Pepper Gallery)
Behind-the-scenes Mainwaring Collection Storage Tour/American Associate Keeper William Wierzbowski
Noon Mediterranean Collection Keeper Lynn Makowsky (Greek Gallery)
12:30 p.m. Deputy Director, Babylonian Associate Curator Stephen Tinney and Associate Curator Grant Frame (Pepper Gallery)
Egyptian Associate Curator Jennifer Wegner (Egypt-Mummies)
Near East Curator Brian Spooner (Pepper Gallery)
1 p.m. Archivist Alessandro Pezzati, Open House and Tour (Archives)
2 p.m. African Collections Keeper Dwuane Latimer (Africa Gallery)
Oceanian Collections Keeper Adria Katz (Pepper Gallery)
Demonstration: Online Collections Database/Database Manager Scott Williams
2:30 p.m. Asian Art Assistant Curator Adam Smith (Rotunda)
European (Early Human) Curator Harold Dibble (Pepper Gallery)
3–7 p.m. Education Open House, featuring Penn Museum collection-inspired artwork by area students (Community Engagement Classroom)
3:30 p.m. Mediterranean Curator C. Brian Rose (Roman Gallery)
4 p.m. Asian Collection Keeper Stephen Lang (Rotunda)
*Members Only: Artifacts from the Vault/American Associate Curator Clark Erickson (Collections Study Room)
4:30 p.m. Behind-the-scenes Mainwaring Collection Storage Tour/American Associate Keeper William Wierzbowski
5 p.m. Near East Collection Keeper Katherine Blanchard (Iraq’s Ancient Past)
American Associate Keeper William Wierzbowski (Southwest Gallery)
*Members Only: Pre-lecture reception and toast with Director Julian Siggers
5:30 p.m. Egyptian Curator David Silverman (Egypt-Mummies)
Near East Curator Holly Pittman (Iraq’s Ancient Past)
Cultural Heritage Center Director Richard Leventhal (Pepper Gallery)
6 p.m. Douglas G. Lovell, Jr. Annual “Reports from the Field”
Kolb Junior Fellows share current research:
Jordan Pickett, “Temples, Churches, and Cisterns: Late Antique Water Management at Jarash, Jordan”
Daira Nocera, “Excavations at the Villa of Emperor Maxentius in Rome”
Steve Renette, “Kani-Chaie and the Bazian Valley Archaeological Project: New Field work in the Unexplored Region of Iraqi Kurdistan”
7 p.m. Physical Anthropology Curator Janet Monge (Human Evolution)
Mediterranean Collections Keeper Lynn Makowsky (Roman Gallery)
7:30 p.m. Flashlight Tour of Egypt and Mummies Galleries*
8 p.m. Archives Tour with Archivist Alessandro Pezzati
8:30 p.m. Flashlight Tour of Egypt and Mummies Galleries*
9 p.m. Flashlight Tour of Mediterranean Galleries*
9:30 p.m. Flashlight Tour of Egypt and Mummies Galleries*
*All Flashlight Tours led by Penn graduate students, “40 Winks with the Sphinx” sleepover program guides. |
