Personnel Materials
for this online feature were provided by Egyptian Section Keepers
Dr. Denise Doxey (now Assistant Curator, Ancient Egyptian, Nubian
and Near Eastern Art, Boston
Museum of Fine Arts) and Jennifer
Houser Wegner.
The Section is maintained by two Curators. Dr.
David P. Silverman has served as Curator in Charge since July
of 1995. Dr. Josef Wegner
has served as the Assistant Curator since July of 1996. Dr. David
O'Connor, who retired from the position of Curator in Charge of
the Section in July of 1995 now holds the rank of Curator Emeritus.
The collections storage facilities are maintained by a staff of
volunteers
(known as the "Ushabtis").
Five
Research Associates are also appointed to the Section, each of
whom is associated with an Egyptian Section Expedition.
Sara
York Stevenson, first female museum curator in the United
States and one of the founders of the UPM's Egyptian Section
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History Founded
in 1890, the Egyptian collection of the University of Pennsylvania
Museum (UPM) is one of the largest collections of ancient Egyptian
material in the United States. The majority of the collection
was assembled through nearly a century of active archaeological
research in Egypt by the University of Pennsylvania. Numbering
in excess of 50,000 objects, this collection incorporates a large
number of material categories including: architecture (elements
of tombs, temples, palaces), statuary (royal and private), minor
arts, daily life objects, textiles, papyri, pottery, tools, jewelry,
funerary objects and human and animal remains.
One
of its founders, Sara Yorke Stevenson, the first female museum
curator in the United States, wrote that the Egyptian Section
should be available to scholars "as a basis for original and comparative
study, but also to public school teachers and pupils, as well
as the people at large who can enjoy at home the benefits derived
from foreign travel and a visit to the great state museums of
Europe."
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