Welcome to the Penn Museum blog. First launched in January 2009, the Museum blog now has over 800 posts covering a range of topics in the categories of Museum, Collection, Exhibitions, Research, and By Location. Here you’ll hear directly from our staff and Penn students about their work, research, experiences, and discoveries. To explore the Museum's other digital content, visit The Digital Penn Museum.
The Mysterious Beaded Collar
By: Margaret Bruchac and Leana Reich
The provenance story of this “American Indian beaded collar” (object # 2000-16-1) begins with a mystery: it was made by an unknown artisan for an unknown purpose at an unknown time, likely in the 19th century. In 1972, Robert W. Preucel received it as a gift from his high school friend, Tucker Hentz. Hentz noted, […]
Eastern Turkey Feather Headdress
By: Margaret Bruchac
This object analysis was conducted for the Spring 2016 course Ethnohistory of the Native Northeast. Students are studying Native American objects in the Penn Museum collections by combining close material analyses (elements, construction, design, condition, etc.) with other forms of evidence: textual, photographic, historical, and ethnographic. In many cases, the objects we’re studying have little to no provenance data. So, we are […]
Fun Friday Image of the Week
By: Amy Ellsworth
Sneakers (92-20-1A,B), Made by Mrs. Ollie Hawk, Brule Lakota (Sioux), Rosebud Reservation, South Dakota The Lakota people have been known for their fine beadwork since the late 19th century. In addition to items such as pipe bags and moccasins which were the traditional surfaces for beading, beadwork began to be used to decorate other objects […]