By: Lee Roueche

“In the meantime we are making all arrangements so that the moment that information arrives we can start the wheel going.” -Mason to Lothrop, January 5, 1940 As the dust from the holidays settled, Mason returned to work firing off correspondence about everything the team would need down in Panama. Luckily back in December, Samuel K. Lothrop […]

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By: Lee Roueche

“A great deal however depends on the individual in the field, his good judgement, his diagnosis on the condition of the specimen and just how it should be handled, the character of the material he has to treat, how much time is available and its reaction to certain kinds of treatment.” -Louis Schellbach to J. […]

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By: Lee Roueche

“We really ought to be leaving about this time and so have to step on the gas to get ready as soon as possible.” J. Alden Mason to Louis Schellbach, December 23, 1939 As 2014 comes to an end, the museum is in the final stages of installing a new exhibition. Beneath the Surface: Life and […]

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By: Lee Roueche

It is spring break for some this week, but it definitely doesn’t feel like sunshine and Mai Tais today in Philadelphia. For those of us stuck at our desks, here is a short clip from our archival film collection to get you dancing and thinking of vacation! Shot in 1940, this travelogue film documents the […]

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By: Bob Thurlow

One of five large gold plaques or breast-plates found on a long-departed Panamanian chief, the one pictured above might be the most impressive. It is entirely intact (unlike this one, which seems to have had a bite taken out of it…), and the fine details of the creature’s tails and claws are impressive. The teeth, […]

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