Endowments, Contributions, and Grants Our deepest thanks go to Bruce and Peggy Mainwaring for their unwavering generosity and commitment to the Museum throughout the years. Because of their extraordinary kindnesses, the Museum has established endowments to support Marketing, a Senior Research Scientist position, and a Collections Management position.
Tom and Kitty Stoner and the TKF Foundation have also made a generous contribution to support the Loren Eiseley Poetry Corner in the Warden Garden.
With the completion of Phase I of the Future Air-conditioning, Renovation, and Expansion Project at the Museum, this Garden will reintroduce Philadelphia to the beauty of the Museum’s main entrance and provide a wonderful green space.
The Museum has recently received three major grants: a $50,000 grant from Pew’s Heritage Philadelphia Program to commission a Historic Structures Report on the Museum; a $1.7 million grant from the National Science Foundation to produce a traveling exhibition that will open in October 2007 entitled “Survivor: The Place of Humans in the Natural World”; and a three-year $30,000 grant from the Christian R. and Mary F. Lindback Foundation for the Internet2 Initiative (I2I), which will employ advanced networking technologies to conduct scholarly conferences and programs.
The Jeremy A. Sabloff Keeper of the American section Spearheaded by Board Chair John C. Hover and Chair Emeritus A. Bruce Mainwaring, the Museum’s Board of Overseers presented outgoing Director Jeremy A. Sabloff with a Keepership in his name. This endowment fund will underwrite the salary of the keeper in the Museum’s American Section.
Olympics Web Journal
When Penn Museum Research Scientist and ancient Olympics expert David Gilman Romano attended the Summer 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece, he wrote home—with a journal on the Museum web (http://www.museum.upenn.edu/ new/olypmics/journal.shtml). His unique perspective—a look at the contemporary Games, with reference to the Games of antiquity—was in hot demand. He fielded calls and interviews with NPR, the BBC, the Associated Press, the Philadelphia Inquirer, and more. Look for more web journals from Museum researchers in the future!
Maya Chocolate and Precious Delights
From the luxurious chocolate drinks prepared for kings to the ancient trade in cacao beans, Maya kakaw, or chocolate, remains one of Mesoamerica’s greatest legacies. Cacao seeds once circulated as currency and served as valuable tribute to the courts of Maya and Aztec kings. Spiced with chili and scented with vanilla, chocolate beverages filled decorated cups used in Classic Maya royal banquets. Penn Museum’s excavations of the royal tombs of the Copan Acropolis recovered elaborate pottery holding the remains of foods prepared with chocolate for the deceased. This spring, the Museum’s 23rd Annual Maya Weekend presents “Maya Chocolate and Precious Delights,” a program focused on the exotic finery and delicacies of Maya sobriety, April 8-10, 2005. Specialists in ancient Maya writing and art, archaeologists, botanists, and chemists will come together to explore the rich history of Maya chocolate. Our program combines illustrated talks, workshops, and tastings of chocolate drinks prepared according to ancient recipes. For more information and a brochure, call (215) 898-4890 or email us at events@museum.upenn.edu.
Arts and Culture at Penn is coming together as never before—with a new website and a monthly e-newsletter offering updates and special promotions. The website www.upenn.edu/artsandculture/ brings the diverse arts and culture opportunities open to the public at Penn into one, easy-to-navigate presentation, with a full calendar, plus information on Penn attractions, directions, transportation, parking, and more.