Collections
Dec. 20, 2024
By Stephen Lang
Sphere and Now
Stephen Lang, Lyons Keeper of Collections in the Asian Section, shows us where the Penn Museum's crystal ball ranks among the top 10 largest crystal balls in the world.
Nov. 01, 2024
By Conservation Department
What Does a Penn Museum Conservator Do?
Ask a Conservator Day is an annual chance to shed light on the critical—but often invisible—work of conservation professionals. Penn Museum Head Conservator Molly Gleeson shares answers to some frequently asked questions about the profession.
Jul. 30, 2024
By Sarah Linn
Carrying the Olympic Torch
Penn Museum archaeologist Sarah Linn shares the long history behind today's Olympic games with elite Penn athletes Aliya Garuzzo and recently named Olympian Isabella Whittaker.
Apr. 30, 2024
By Sarah Lavin
Preserving Buddhist Murals
It's been nearly a decade since visitors could see the Penn Museum's Buddhist Murals. Conservators are working to bring them back into view.
Mar. 20, 2023
By Sean Billups
Ancient Glow-in-the-Dark Artifacts
“Technical analysis” is a term frequently used in the conservation field to describe the use of specialized techniques to examine objects. Those techniques can include using scientific instruments, special cameras, and lots of other equipment. Maybe that term sounds boring, but in addition to telling you a lot about an object, you can also sometimes find fun surprises.
Dec. 12, 2022
By Cameron Findlay
The Process of Processing
Step 1: Acquiring the Objects Step 2: Bagging, Tagging, Measuring Step 3: Hand-Numbering Step 4: Creating Digital Records Step 5: Photography Written by Cameron Findlay, Penn Museum Intern (Summer 2022) Cameron Findlay is a senior at Smith College majoring in Anthropology and minoring in Art History, with a concentration in Museum Studies. She was one […]
Jul. 22, 2021
By Christy Ching
Special Photography for Larger Objects
Photogrammetry is a technology that gathers spatial and color information of an object from multiple photographs to form a geometrically corrected, highly detailed, stitched image called an orthomosaic. Essentially, photogrammetry creates a distortion-free, three-dimensional model of an object based on two-dimensional photos of every surface photographed in sections.