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The story the bowls tell
penn museum incantation bowl being examined

Gross and Elitzur-Leiman are studying some intact, pristine bowls and others, like the one above, that are in pieces. “The sherds tell a story, too,” says Blanchard.

The story the bowls tell

In an ambitious new project, historian Simcha Gross and Harvard’s Rivka Elitzur-Leiman are studying hundreds of ancient incantation bowls housed at the Penn Museum. They hope to better understand the objects and eventually, build a database of all these bowls worldwide.

Michele W. Berger

A multidisciplinary approach to considering the Earth’s changing systems
view of earth from space

(Homepage image) Touching on a broad range of topics from climate’s impact on national security to resilient building design to emissions related to food production, the course aimed to boost students’ understanding of earth systems and climate literacy. (Image: NASA)

A multidisciplinary approach to considering the Earth’s changing systems

Bringing expertise from each of their disciplines, the School of Arts & Sciences’ Kathleen Morrison and Joseph Francisco and the Environmental Innovations Initiative’s Melissa Brown Goodall infused chemistry, anthropology, policy, and more into an introductory course on climate and the environment.

Katherine Unger Baillie

Inspiring the next generation of archive scholars
students examine a long scroll in the archive class

Homepage image: Graduate students in the Inside the Archive course look on as Bill Whitaker, the curator and collections manager at the Weitzman School of Design’s Architectural Archives, unfurls an artifact from the Louis Kahn Collection.

Inspiring the next generation of archive scholars

Through Inside the Archive, a course taught by Liliane Weissberg of the School of Arts & Sciences, Penn students explore what an archive is, how history gets written, and what is ahead in a digital future.
Keepers of the cultural memory
An old and large book upside down on a table, being held by two sets of hands, one gloved, the other not. There are boxes and other materials all around.

Workers at the rare manuscripts and old printed books department of the Andrey Sheptytsky National Museum store them in cardboard boxes to reduce the risk of damage in the event of an attack in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, Friday, March 4, 2022. (Image: AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

AP Photo/Bernat Armangue

Keepers of the cultural memory

In wartime, saving human lives is a top priority. But secondary considerations often include preserving the cultural heritage also under siege. Penn experts offer their thoughts as the situation in Ukraine continues to unfold.

Michele W. Berger

Christopher Woods on his first year as director of the Penn Museum
Person standing in front of a sphinx in a museum

One year in, Penn Museum Director Christopher Woods has  continued to lead the massive transformation of the 135-year-old institution’s building while reevaluating the collection, expanding the staff, strengthening community engagement, and addressing sensitive issues through new policies.

Christopher Woods on his first year as director of the Penn Museum

Penn Museum Director Christopher Woods leads the massive transformation of the 135-year-old institution’s building while reevaluating the collection, expanding the staff and community engagement, and addressing sensitive issues through new policies.

Louisa Shepard

Nobel Prize winner Wole Soyinka on art and culture
two people sitting in chairs on stage talking

Playwright, novelist, and poet Wole Soyinka (right), the first African to win the Nobel Prize fo Literature, was the inaugural speaker for the Distinguished Lecture in African Studies. The event at the Penn Museum included a Q&A with Wale Adebanwi (left) a professor of Africana studies in the School of Arts & Sciences.

Nobel Prize winner Wole Soyinka on art and culture

Wole Soyinka, the first African to win the Nobel Prize for Literature, spoke as the inaugural guest for the Distinguished Lecture in African Studies.

Louisa Shepard