By resolution of the Board of Trustees, passed on March 10, 1913, on the recommendation of the Board of Managers of the Museum, the name of the Museum has been changed from the Department of Archaeology and Free Museum of Science and Art to the UNIVERSITY MUSEUM, which now becomes its official title.
Through an oversight in the September number of the JOURNAL the name of the author was omitted from the article on “The Fiesta of the Pinole at Azqucltan.” The article was written by Dr. J. Alden Mason, the Museum Fellow in the International School of American Archreology and Ethnology in Mexico.
Dr. Wm. Curtis Farabee, F.R.G.S., formerly instructor in anthropology at Harvard University, has been appointed Curator of the American Section of the Museum and leader of the Amazon Expedition. Dr. Farabee formerly spent three years in the Amazon region as leader of the de Milhau Expedition of Harvard University.
Mr. E. Torday, of London, the African explorer, Was engaged for three months to catalogue the Congo collections purchased last summer. Mr. Torday arrived at the Museum on the first of January and remained until the end of March. During this time he gave two public lectures in the Museum course.
A collection of very rare old specimens of North American ethnology has been presented by Mrs. Mary Powers Harris, to be known as the Thomas H. Powers Collection.
A collection of ancient Chiriqui pottery consisting of two thousand pieces has recently been purchased.
A small collection from the Plains Indians has been presented by Mr. George W. Norris.
The California ethnological collections have been increased by the purchase of thirty-two pieces of unusual interest from the Yurok, Karok and Hupa Indians.
Mr. Carl P. Birkinbine has presented a jade image from Mexico.
Dr. Ward Brinton has presented two architectural sculptures from the ruins of Uxmal, Yucatan.
A collection of about two thousand pieces of Mexican antiquities obtained by the International School of American Archaeology and Ethnology in Mexico, has been acquired through Prof. Franz Boas, of Columbia University, who was Director of the School last year.
The following ethnological collections have been purchased: Matty Island, British New Guinea, New Caledonia, Solomon Islands, New Ireland, German New Guinea, comprising in all six hundred and seventy-four specimens.
A collection of two hundred and forty-nine specimens from the Herreros of southwestern Africa has been acquired by purchase.
A collection of one hundred and eighteen pieces consisting of bronzes and carved ivory tusks from Great Benin has been acquired by purchase. The bronzes consist of portrait heads, staves, plaques, masks, bells and personal ornaments. The collection forms the subject of a special article in the December number of the JOURNAL.
Four Chinese porcelains of the Ming dynasty have been acquired by purchase.
Mrs. William Pepper has presented a piece of old Indian embroidery.
Mr. E. Torday has presented a piece of Bushongo embroidery.
Mr. Charles A. Rutter has presented an iron axe, a pair of bellows, three harps and a mancala board with its counters, all from the Congo.
A letter has been received from Mr. Otto Hanson, who is collecting for the Museum among the Bogobo tribe of southern Mindanao in the Philippines, reporting good progress in the work in which he is engaged.
A collection of eighteen Oriental rugs and other Oriental textiles has been purchased and added to the collections in the ethnological section.
The Museum has made a contribution to the British School of Archaeology in Egypt for its work during the coming season under the direction of Prof. Flinders-Petrie.
A small collection of inscribed mummy cloths and a terra cotta statuette from Egypt have been added to the Egyptian collections.
The Mediterranean Section has acquired by purchase eighteen ancient Greek vases, a collection of forty-seven pieces of Roman glass and four ancient Greek gold ornaments.
An exhibit has been arranged in the Mediterranean Section, of pottery and bronze objects excavated by the several Museum expeditions to Crete. This exhibit illustrates the several successive periods of Minoan civilization according to the classification of Sir Arthur Evans and his colleagues. The sites represented in this collection are Gournia, Vasiliki, Pseira, Sphoungaras and Vrokastro. Besides the pottery and bronzes there are a number of casts of seals and other objects, the originals of which are in the Candia Museum.
Dr. Edith H. Hall has in preparation a volume dealing with the excavations of the Museum at Vrokastro, Crete, and embodying the results of investigations made by the last two expeditions.
Volume III of the publications of the Babylonian Section is now in press and will be ready for distribution during the summer. This volume is by Dr. James A. Montgomery and deals with the Aramaic texts inscribed on incantation bowls found at Nippur.
Dr. George A. Barton, Dr. B. B. Charles and Dr. Edward Chiera are engaged in copying tablets in the Museum collection and in preparing volumes of texts for publication in the Babylonian Series.
The President of Museum, Mr. Eckley B. Coxe, Jr., has presented to the Museum Library a perfect copy of the first edition of Napoleon’s “Description de l’Egypte.” This monumental work consists of twelve folio volumes of plates, one folio volume of description of the plates and nine folio volumes of text. The next number of the JOURNAL will contain an historical note relative to this work.
During the present school year the teachers of Philadelphia took an increased interest in the educational work of the Museum. Under this plan of co-operation a great many classes from the elementary and high schools of the city visited the Museum, together with their teachers, to listen to informal talks by the curators and to examine the collections.
The lecture course for the season just closed maintained the standard and kept up the same interest as that brought out in last year’s lectures. The auditorium was filled on each occasion and on some occasions a number of people who came to hear the lecture were unable to find places. The new auditorium, when completed, will afford relief to this situation by providing more ample accommodation for the audiences that attend the Saturday afternoon lectures.
The contract for the new extension of the building was awarded to Jacob Myers Sons’ Company and work began immediately after the signing of the contract. Already considerable progress has been made upon the foundations.
Dr. P. R. Schuller, formerly of the Museum Goeldi of Para, Brazil, was granted permission to copy and otherwise study the Brinton collection of MSS. and rare books relating to the Indian languages, ethnology and antiquities of Central and South America. Dr. Schuller spent five months in the Museum Library pursuing his studies in these connections.
The latest publication of the Museum is “The Book of Chilam Balam of Chumayel,” published in facsimile, with introduction by G. B. Gordon. This work forms Volume V of the Anthropological Publications of the Museum.