While many are familiar with the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Antrhopology as an archaeological treasure house, few know about its role in Philadelphia culture, the story of its growth as a public museum, or its architectural history.
Philadelphia began to expand westward after the Civil War, a growth facilitated by the construction of great bridges across the Schuylkill River at Market, Chestnut, Walnut, and South streets. The University of Pennsylvania participated in that expansion by relocating from Center City to the other side of the Schuylkill River during the 1870s. A museum built on the Schuylkill's west bank, located between the University and the City, served as a metaphorical bridge between the two.
This museum celebrated the centennial of its first building in 1999. Photographs enable us to look back at the Museum's foundation, and forward to its future. Using such frozen moments in time as if they were artifacts, we can conduct an archaeological investigation of this archaeological museum, seeing how changing architectural taste has brought it full circle, during a century of construction, from the Victorian revivalism and eclecticism of its first architects to the post-Modern present.
