The last few years have been a whirlwind of activity at the Museum, with ongoing renovations leading to the opening last fall of the new Sphinx Gallery, Mexico and Central America Gallery, Africa Galleries, and renovated Harrison Auditorium. Virtually the entire Main Level of the Museum was closed for over a year; many of us learned to use back stairways that we didn’t know existed! Over the months leading up to November 2019, the tension increased as our deadline neared. We all kicked into overdrive, not only to complete our own work, but also to help others as much as we could. I worked closely with Exhibitions, Marketing, Collections, and Development, sharing information, swapping object photos and label text, and working to make sure the Museum’s message was consistent. When a call came out for help, I saw teamwork throughout the Museum. Everyone pitched in to make sure the new spaces looked beautiful on opening day.
We are now back to normal, and, from your Editor’s perspective, we are basking in the afterglow of a job well done. See “At the Museum” for all the successful events and activities that took place during our grand reopening. If you haven’t visited the Sphinx Gallery yet, you will especially enjoy our first article. Next we present the Cat Island Heritage Project in the Bahamas. The authors write about plantation owners who brought enslaved workers to the island just after the American Revolution. Our last article is the story of a late 19th-century collector, Dr. Robert H. Lamborn. Lamborn traveled the world with the express purpose of collecting for Philadelphia museums, including your own Penn Museum.
As always, please write with ideas for articles you would like to see in Expedition, or with suggestions on how we can improve the member magazine of the Penn Museum. Best wishes for a wonderful 2020!
JANE HICKMAN, PH.D.
EDITOR