Clarence S. Fisher papers

Clarence S. Fisher was born in Philadelphia in 1876 and attended the University of Pennsylvania, attaining a degree in architecture in 1897 but devoted his entire life to archaeology. His first archaeology field experience was as the architect for the initial Babylonian expedition to Nippur from 1898 to 1900. This was followed by a research fellowship in Babylonian archaeology at the University Museum. Fisher also worked as an assistant to Harvard Archaeologist, George Andrew Reisner in Egypt and Samaria. From Reisner, Fisher learned archaeological techniques and the methods of meticulous record keeping he would use in his later work.

Fisher was appointed a curator of the Egyptian section of the University of Pennsylvania Museum by George B. Gordon in 1914. He spent the next nine years in the field collecting data in Dendereh, Giza, Memphis, and Dra Abu el-Naga. Fisher's expedition to the cemetery at Dendereh re-worked a site that had been explored by Charles H. Rosher and W.M. Flinders Petrie, producing more precise data and a wealth of objects from the burial sites.

Fisher received an Honorary ScD. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1924, in recognition of his discoveries. Unfortunately, Fisher preferred discovery to publication and his only contribution to the literature was a report on a minor cemetery in Giza in 1924.

Fisher's love of field work made his presence at the Museum infrequent and an argument with George Byron Gordon regarding Fisher's choice of an assistant resulted in his resignation from the Museum in 1925. Fisher then traveled to Jerusalem where he served as Professor of Archaeology at the American School.

Fisher worked tirelessly, often at two sites at the same time, affecting his health. During the excavation at Dendereh, Fisher also worked at the Giza and Memphis sites. In addition to his own sites, Fisher served as scientific advisor for the first year of the Elihu Grant Beth Shemesh expedition sponsored by Haverford College in 1928.

Fisher was known for his war efforts, working in Egypt on behalf of Near East Relief during World War I and as a representative of the Lutheran Church of America and the YMCA during World War II. In 1939, Fisher was the moving spirit in founding the Dar el-Awlad Home for Children. He was also a member of the Directorate of the German(Schneller)Orphanage during WWII.

Clarence S. Fisher died in Jerusalem in 1941, while serving as the Administrative Director of the American School of Oriental Research. He is buried at the Protestant Cemetery on Mt. Zion. Much of Fisher's data was recovered later but has never been published.

Clarence S. Fisher was trained as an architect at the University of Pennsylvania. His first archaeology field experience was as the architect for the initial Babylonian expedition to Nippur from 1898 to 1900. This was followed by a research fellowship in Babylonian archaeology at the University Museum. Fisher also worked as an assistant to Harvard Archaeologist, George Andrew Reisner in Egypt and Samaria. From Reisner, Fisher learned archaeological techniques and the methods of meticulous record keeping he would use in his later work.

Fisher worked diligently in the field perhaps neglecting his duties at the Museum and left much of his work unpublished.

The Clarnece S. Fisher papers were organized around the correspondence of Fisher, the Director of the Museum, George B. Gordon and his colleagues and competitors in Egypt. As Fisher worked several sites at the same time, much of the material overlaps. This was a problem when the correspondence was organized by site. As a collection organized by date the correspondence is more accessible and lends a continuity of communication regardless of the site.

The collection consists of two archival boxes. The day-to-day correspondence is highlighted by Fisher's somewhat cheery letters to Eckley B. Coxe, Jr. who provided much of the funding for the expeditions. In addition to reports to George B. Gordon, Director of the Museum, Fisher was involved in several conflicts which precipitated letters to and from Gordon to George A. Reisner and W.M. Flinders Petrie. Reisner and Fisher each wrote long, detailed letters about the "who, what and where" of the conflicts.

Publication Information: University of Pennsylvania: Penn Museum Archives,

Finding Aid Author:

Use Restrictions:

Preferred Citation:

Form(s)/Genre(s)

• Correspondence

Geographic Name(s)

• Egypt

Personal Name(s)

• Coxe, Jr., Eckley B.
• McHugh, Jane
• Jayne, Horace H.F.
• Mackay, Ernest John Henry
• Sanborn, C. Ashton
• Reisner, George Andrew
• Petrie, W. M. Flinders (William Matthew Flinders), 1853-1942
• Gordon, G. B. (George Byron)
• Fisher, Clarence Stanley, 1876-1941

Subject(s)

• Archaeology -- Burials
• Archaeology and biblical studies