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 Story Behind the Painted Buffalo Robes
By: Bill Wierzbowski
One hundred years ago this year (when the Penn Museum was just celebrating the 25th anniversary of its founding) a letter arrived on the desk of then Director, George Byron Gordon. The post was from James H. McGlaughlin, who ran a trading post on Standing Rock Reservation, in North Dakota. In it, McGlaughlin replied to […]
Ainu Robe from Japan [Object of the Day #31]
By: Stephen Lang
This Ainu robe was collected by Hiram M. Hiller (1867-1921) a physician and amateur ethnologist during a trip to Hokkaido, the northern most island of Japan. The trip itself lasted only a month but covered an area stretching from the southern coastal villages of Hokkaido, near Shiraoi (where this piece comes from), to a circuit around […]