The effects of the Great Depression and World War II were devastating for the Museum, especially in terms of administrative activities, but expansion of the collections and research abroad also suffered. Needless to say, the building program was interrupted following the stock market crash; and both postwar income tax and competition with the Philadelphia Museum of Art made it harder to attract wealthy patrons.
Following the War, energetic new Director Froelich Rainey (1907-92) reinvigorated the Museum's reputation as a research institution during his three-decade administration. Rainey's emphasis was on spectacular field projects, however, and the buildings and collections experienced a period of neglect, a legacy which his successors had to bear. It was no longer feasible to complete the 1896 master plan as originally envisioned, due to the prohibitive costs of materials, skilled labor, and maintenance in the modern world. Several more modest proposals for unifying the existing buildings were submitted. The Mitchell and Giurgola plan accepted in 1968 was for an ultra-Modern structure, in striking contrast to the original buildings. The Academic Wing became a concretization of Rainey's administration: the establishment of a modern, university anthropology department fused with a traditional archaeology museum.
