Penn Museum of Archaeology and Anthrolopogy

On one of our trips to view primary documents, our class visited the Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology on University of Penn's campus.  Here in the archives department we saw original photographs and documents relating to early Native Americans including government sponsored photography of Indian leaders in their headdress staged for original ceremonies and contract signing.  The curator discussed the fact that many photographs were "doctored" to show a change in skin tones from one time to another to elaborate the control that the government had over the early Americans. We also saw a slide show about "going West" that spanned two hundred years from the early wagon trains, cowboys and bandits to western expansion and to current day California and the Sunset Strip.
The museum staff is most helpful in locating items for teachers and their displays and hands-on exhibits are engaging. Their current exhibit is on the Mayans and their calendar.

Archives at the Penn Museum