Stephen B. Luce Mediterranean Section records

In the early years of the Museum, until its administrative reorganization by G.B. Gordon in 1910, the Egyptian/Maditerranean Section was a semi-autonomous unit on the same level as the other two Sections (Babylonian, African/Other), each run by one curator who answered directly to the Museum Board of Managers. The curators often had other roles, and Board Members performed minor curatorial duties.

Stephen B. Luce served as curator of the section from 1915 to 1920 in the absence of Edith Hall Dohan.

Stephen B. Luce was a graduate of Harvard College, class of 1909. He completed his Ph.D. in 1913 also at Harvard. Luce worked as Assistant Curator and Curator at the Penn Museum and authored several catalogues for the museum's vase collection. Among his other writings was an article on "A Polyphemous Cylix in the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston" and "Studies of the Exploits of Herakles on Vases," both for the American Journal of Archaeology.

In addition to his curatorship at Penn, Luce was an Assistant Director at the American School of Classical Studies in Athens in 1928 and 1930. He was affiliated with the Fogg Museum at Harvard in the 1930s and served as Editor in charge of the American Journal of Archaeology from 1938 to 1941.

The Luce folders comprise two series. Series 1 includes general correspondence related to the museum and to his research. Correspondents include George Byron Gordon, Walton Brooks McDaniel, Gisela Richter, Lacey D. Caskey, Arthur Fairbanks, and Edward Newell. Series 2 includes correspondence with art dealers related to specific collections. Correspondents include A. Canessa, Alfred Merlin, and H. W. Parsons. The records within each folder are arranged chronologically.

Publication Information: University of Pennsylvania: Penn Museum Archives, 4/23/14

Finding Aid Author:

Use Restrictions:

Form(s)/Genre(s)

• Correspondence

Personal Name(s)

• Gordon, G. B. (George Byron), 1870-1927
• Luce, Stephen B.
• Stevenson, Sara Yorke, 1847-1921

Subject(s)

• Ethnology