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.
Conserving ENIAC (aka Project CLEANIAC)
By: Lynn Grant
One of the responsibilities of the conservation department is to provide advice and consultation on conservation matters for colleagues, the university community and the general public. The University Community often produces some interesting queries, like the time the ICA wanted to know how to prevent pest problems when exhibiting artworks made of chocolate. Most recently, […]
Women Can Also Play Sports. (Some Sports.)
By: Gabrielle Niu
The Villa del Casale of Piazza Armerina is the 4th-5th century Roman villa that is the subject of an article of the same name by Patrizio Pensabene and Enrico Gallocchio in the 2011 summer edition of the Penn Museum’s Expedition magazine. A UNESCO World Heritage site, the villa boasts architectural remains, archaeological remains, and, most […]
Imagining Africa
By: Amy Ellsworth
Our Exhibits team has been busy for the past few months working on the Imagine Africa project. Every time I pass by the Exhibits Department, I see a tableau of creativity. The entire team is often huddled around the conference table like a modern interpretation of Davinci’s Last Supper. Aaron is fiddling with an iPad […]
Trans-Atlantic, Virtual Archaeology
By: Gabrielle Niu
When considering of the study of the ancient world, we often think of monumental architecture, impeccably preserved urban centers or extravagant tombs, celebrated literary or religious texts. These types of sources, however, offer only a limited, and often polished, window into the lives of the social elite. It is often necessary to dig further to […]