On the Wampum Trail: Balancing Traditional and Museological Care of Wampum
By: Stephanie Mach
My name is Stephanie Mach and I am the Student Engagement Coordinator at the Penn Museum. I work closely with Penn Museum’s collections, University classes, and student researchers. My position acts as a bridge between the Museum and the Penn community, therefore, I am often asked about issues of cultural heritage, repatriation, museum best practices, […]
Entering a New Phase of Life: 2012 New Acquisitions
By: Stephanie Mach
This is the third entry in a series of posts on Collecting and Acquisitions. For over fifty years, the Penn Museum was home to renowned anthropologist Igor Kopytoff (1930-2013), Consulting Curator in the Museum’s African Section. I was never personally acquainted with Igor, however, I, like many other young anthropologists, came to know him by […]
If You Build it, They Will Come
By: Stephanie Mach
The Penn Museum sometimes feels like a world away from the rest of campus. And yet the building is sandwiched between Franklin Field, HUP, and Penn Park. Is there a mental wall keeping the Museum at a distance? Or, could it be the brick and mortar wall in front of our building? Whatever the issue, […]
Registrars in Action: Rock, Paper, Scissors, Sledgehammer
By: Stephanie Mach
If you have been to our Museum, odds are you’ve seen people carting around objects or rolling large crates through galleries and mysteriously disappearing behind locked doors. Most likely, those people were Registrars. When I’m asked what Museum Registrars do, I usually say we deal with record keeping and moving objects in, out, and around […]