Category:Museum

By: Stephen Lang

On Friday the 29th of October starting at 6:00 PM,  the Penn Museum will officially be frozen out of our collections database ARGUS.  For two months we will be unable to update locations for objects or input new information about the collection.  This is because we are finally transitioning to our new database KE Emu! That […]

By: Amy Ellsworth

On October 22, 2010, the Penn Museum hosted a reception for international students and scholars from across the Philadelphia region. Among the 1,300 attendees was Mayor Nutter, a Penn grad himself who patiently posed for snap shots with a long parade of beaming students and scholars. Many people have a hand in organizing this major […]

By: Amy Ellsworth

Okay, so it hit the tiny youtube screen, but we like that even better. Dr. Patrick McGovern, has the tongue-tying title of Scientific Director of the Biomolecular Archaeology Laboratory for Cuisine, Fermented Beverages, and Health at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. (It’s just nice to see “fermented beverages” and “health” all […]

By: Pam Kosty

On October 4, 2010, the Penn Museum officially announced the start of construction on the first phase of an exciting renovation project: a major renovation of the West Wing of its original 1899 building. On the agenda: refurbished galleries, including climate control (that means air conditioning!), and the creation of a ceramic petrography teaching laboratory. […]

By: Allison Francies

Down in the exhibits department, we’ve been busily working on the upcoming Secrets of the Silk Road exhibit. There is a lot to create, coordinate, and figure out with an exhibit this size. One thing we really wanted to focus on for this exhibit was adding experiences where the visitors can interact with the exhibit. […]

By: Amy Ellsworth

In Righteous Dopefiend: Homelessness, Addiction and Poverty in Urban America, anthropologist Philippe Bourgois and photographer-ethnographer Jeff Schonberg document the daily lives of homeless drug users, drawing upon more than a decade of fieldwork they conducted among a community of heroin injectors and crack smokers who survive on the streets of San Francisco’s former industrial neighborhoods. […]

By: Katy Blanchard

There are two types of dirt out there, I used to tell my field school students. Dirt Dirt, and People Dirt. People Dirt? You need to wash your hands before you eat, you know, you just got off the subway and hold on for the whole ride? But Dirt Dirt? You can safely eat your […]

By: Amy Ellsworth

Everyone is gearing up for the opening of the Secrets of the Silk Road in February. Every day I come into work I see something new. Yesterday I looked down and saw new carpet at the Kress Entrance. Shamika, who works at front desk, said it looks like “an old wool coat,” but I think […]

By: Therese Marmion

I just spent this beautiful day in the sunshine at Philadelphia’s Navy Yard.  Do Development professionals have glamorous lives or what?  There was a wonderful and well-attended event at the Naval Surface Warfare Center for their employees.  They called this multicultural event “Diversity Through the Arts.”  The Penn Museum was one of only a few […]

By: Jennifer Reifsteck

As most of us who work in the museum field, and for non-profits in general, I wear many hats.  This summer, I was one part Educator, two parts Juggler, and three parts Child Herder.  It’s all in a day’s work as Assistant Summer Camp Director.  And I love every minute of it. This summer marked […]