Dr. Gerald Margolis
The University of Pennsylvania Museum welcomes a senior administrator who started at the Museum on February 28, 2001. Dr. Gerald Margolis has been appointed as the Museum’s new Deputy Director of Operations. Bringing a wealth of experience in museum administration, Dr. Gerald Margolis served as the Director of Development of Philadelphia’s Anti-Defamation League (1999-2000) and as the Executive Director of the Liberty Museum (1997-99), where he was responsible for the new museum’s administrative and strategic plan. In addition, Dr. Margolis was the Executive Director of the World Religions Museum in Taipei, Taiwan (1996-97), the Founding Director of the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles (1987-96), and the Director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles (1983-96). The UPM is delighted to have Dr. Margolis join us!
Mesoamerican Gallery
The University of Pennsylvania Museum’s permanent Mesoamerican Gallery exhibits objects from its strong Mesoamerican collection, comprising more than 28,000 artifacts, most obtained through Field excavations. Just in time for the 19th Annual Maya Weekend (March 23-25, 2001) the gallery, first opened in the 1930s, was updated and reconceived to incorporate the newest information and theories about the Maya, Aztecs, Zapotecs, Mixtec, and other ancient peoples who lived in the area encompassing Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, and parts of Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica.
Featuring new text, photographs, and more than 200 artifacts, the renovated gallery is designed to provide visitors with a structured, thematic approach. offering a general overview of cultures of the region and of the principal Mesoamerican civilizations that grew up, flourished, and influenced one another in the region and beyond. The five world-famous grand stone monuments, or stelae, and two monumental circular altars from the Museum’s early excavations at the Maya sites of Piedras Negras, Guatemala, and Caraco, Belize, continue to dominate the gallery. Wall and floor cases, some new, introduce visitors to Mesoamerican hieroglyphs, religion, concepts of beauty, everyday life, the Mesoamerican ball game, and architecture and public art.