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.
Illustrating History: An Interview with John Pearson
By: Julianna Whalen
As I walk down the street, I pass donkeys carrying food in saddlebags and children making their way home. They weave through tight streets and around dogs laying in the middle of the path. Birds flit through the sky. As I make my way toward the ziggurat, a crescent moon begins to rise over the […]
Flight into the Museum Archives
By: Julianna Whalen
“This will confirm your assignment as Flight Operator to the NC146M, which is being chartered by the Matto Grosso Expedition for service in the interior of Brasil [sic] for a period of at least four months. Its base will be Desclavados [sic, Descalvados], Matto Grosso, which is about one thousand miles from Rio de Janeiro.” […]
Catfish, Waffles, and Coffee: Historic Food in Philadelphia
By: Julianna Whalen
In addition to being back-to-school time, August is National Catfish Month. Catfish might not be a part of your daily life, but the fish once played an important role in the lives of Philadelphians. In a way, it’s like cheesesteak is today; when tourists came to Philadelphia in the 19th century, they would ask their […]
An Ancient Typo
By: Julianna Whalen
While it’s easy to be captivated by pyramids and mummies, the depth of ancient Egyptian history can be difficult to process. Dr. Stephen Phillips, Curatorial Research Coordinator in the Penn Museum’s Egyptian Section, stresses this: When you are in Egypt today, something that sinks in very quickly, especially while you are out on the Nile […]