The Museum Journal

Originally published from 1910–1935, the Museum Journal includes articles which may not reflect the current views and values of the Penn Museum.

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The scope and purpose of the Journal make it a standard publication of merit, containing much information regarding exploration and kindred topics which cannot be had elsewhere... It will relate the history of expeditions in the field and give descriptions of all new acquisitions.
A New Departure — Volume I - Number 1 (1910)
Portrait of men on the aerial expedition in front of their plane

Aerial Expedition to Mexico and Central America

This 1930 expedition investigated the ancient Maya civilization of Central America from both air and land, particularly in those areas not previously covered by either method. Along with taking breathtaking photographs, the expedition also discovered several new archaeological sites amongst the rainforest and rivers, and provided new geographical and ethnological data.

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The expedition camp at Marajo

The Amazon Expedition

William Curtis Farabee conducted a pioneering expedition to the Amazon in 1913. For three years he explored and collected among the little-known tribes of the Amazon, Guyana, and eastern Peru, and conducted excavations on the Island of Marajo, at Santarem, and explored several small waterways once inhabited during prehistoric times at the mouth of Brazil’s Amazon River in the State of Pará. His work resulted in a wealth of field notes, linguistic data, physical measurements, drawings, photographs, and specimen collections, both archaeological and ethnographic.

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Leon Legrain

Leon Legrain

Legrain was an epigrapher Curator of the Babylonian Section the of Penn Museum. He specialized in cuneiform, and lent his expertise to the excavations at Ur. He published several works translating tablets, cylinder-seals, and inscriptions, and facilitated the research and display for the artifacts received from the Ur excavations.

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J. Alden Mason

J. Alden Mason

Mason was one of the last of the great generalist anthropologists of the 20th century. He is known for his work in anthropological linguistics in Mexico, and as an archaeologist of the Americas who excavated at Piedras Negras in Guatemala and Sitio Conte in Panama, and as Curator of the American Section for the Penn Museum.

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C. W. Bishop

C. W. Bishop

Bishop was a archaeologist and Curator of the Asia Section for the Penn Museum. He made several archeological surveys in China, Japan, and Korea, and led excavations at Neolithic sites in China. He greatly expanded the Asian Section’s collections of the Museum through his travels.

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