Region: North America

Favorite Object

By: Christina Griffith

Most people have a favorite animal that they identify with in some way or in spirit. For me, the bear is both terrifying and worthy of the utmost respect. I also find them adorable. They are known to behave in the wild in ways that are curiously human, or at least, we tend to anthropomorphize […]

Research Notes: Listening to the Voice of the Storyteller

By: Fiona Jensen-Hitch

As soon as I set eyes on the photograph in the Penn Museum’s online catalog, I knew the ceramic figure was exactly what we needed. I was working with two other undergraduates and a team of advisors from the Museum, curating an exhibition for the Penn Provost’s Year of Innovation. We landed upon storytelling as […]

By: Chantel E. White

A sepal, petal, and a thorn Upon a common summer’s morn— A flask of Dew—A Bee or two— A Breeze—a caper in the trees— And I’m a Rose! Emily Dickinson A prolific poet during the mid- to late 19th century, Emily Dickinson is today revered for her works including “Success is counted sweetest” and “I’m […]

Four Days in West Kingston

By: Deborah A. Thomas

The new Penn Museum exhibition Bearing Witness had its genesis in a disturbing event that took place in Jamaica in 2010. Over the course of four days, at least 75 residents of a community were killed in a confrontation with local authorities. Professor Deborah A. Thomas and her colleagues Junior “Gabu” Wedderburn and Dr. Deanne […]

An Introduction to Mummy Studies around the World

By: Janet Monge

Over 20 years ago, I got hooked on mummies. It began when we first x-rayed the many South and North American mummies that are part of the Physical Anthropology Section collections at the Penn Museum. This led to a drive to glean even more information from the mummies. For several years, on Sunday mornings at […]

Saponification and Deceit in 19th-Century Philadelphia

By: Anna N. Dhody

Old and probably ugly, with a nut-cracker profile. That is how Joseph McFarland, M.D., referred to the Soap Lady, one of the Mütter Museum’s most famous and enduring specimens. McFarland, the Curator of the museum from 1937 to 1945, also called her “one of the most revolting objects that can be imagined.” And, while it […]

Twenty-five Years of NAGPRA at the Penn Museum

By: Lucy Fowler Williams and Stacey O. Espenlaub and Janet Monge

On November 2, 2015, Mr. Lalo Franco and Mr. Pete Alanis of the Tachi Yokut Tribe of the Santa Rosa Rancheria arrived in Philadelphia to receive ancestral human remains that had been part of the collection of the Penn Museum. This was a profoundly significant event for them as they took possession of the remains […]

The Mounds of Native North America

By: Megan C. Kassabaum

Earthen mounds have been constructed in the eastern United States for well over 5,000 years. From early beginnings in the Lower Mississippi Valley through the ongoing mound building ceremonies of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, mounds have always played important roles in the ritual, social, and political lives of Native American groups. They vary […]

By: Caroline Kee

Tucked behind Penn’s Greenfield Intercultural Center (GIC) at 37th and Chestnut is a small, narrow lot. For many years, it was just that—a backyard space that GIC students and staff used occasionally for barbecues and receptions. Aside from a couple of new flowerpots, it was mostly unkempt; weeds speckled the yellowed grass and tangled grape […]

Africa at the Chicago and Paris Expositions

By: Dwaune Latimer

Arican exhibits at world’s fairs— including both native peoples and the objects of their daily life— provided American and European visitors to fairs with an opportunity to see cultures vastly different from their own. Some ethnographic exhibits supported the idea of the “other,” providing evidence of diverse “exotic” groups that had their own distinct cultures. […]