About

Welcome to The University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology blog, a new forum for Museum staff to share information about their projects and perspectives with our online community.

If you’ve ever visited the Museum, you’ve probably seen many people with Museum IDs coming in and out of mysterious doors marked “Staff Only.” Now you can follow us through the fourth wall, into our laboratories, storage areas, and offices to see how the Museum works.

Did you know only 2% of our collections is on display? The activity that goes on behind the gallery walls: research, conservation, lab work, events and exhibition planning, is what really makes the Museum run. With a collection of a million objects, over 400 research expeditions around the world, 2,500 feet of archival records, an active events schedule, countless conservation projects, a veritable cavalcade of archaeology and anthropology exhibitions, the Penn Museum staff are rarely at a loss for content.

The intended purpose of the blog is to “curate” your Museum experience and provide a transparent glance behind the gallery walls. Not only is this blog intended to serve as a knowledge base of information about the Museum, but we also hope it will become a useful tool for museologists to understand how Museums work from the inside out.

Over time, we hope to enlist more contributors to the blog. You’ll find posts about the latest exhibits, events, and research with links to videos and podcasts browseable by subject, user name or department.

Be a part of our Museum community and feel free to post comments and engage in conversations with our bloggers. And once you get to know us online, please come for a brick and mortar visit next time you’re in Philadelphia!