University of Pennsylvania (5/9/2024)

Thursday, May 9, 2024
We had three objectives on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.

First was the Penn Medicine Travel Clinic to be prepared for an upcoming trip to Africa.

Second was the architecture of Frank Furness:

University Library until 1962 (now Fisher Fine Arts Library)
(1888-1890, by Frank Furness in Venetian Gothic style);
and the Henry Charles Lea Library (two-story building on
the left) was added in 1905, by Furness, Evans and Co

University Library of Frank Furness from the north

University Library of Frank Furness
(College Green/west side)

A 1931 reading room addition (now Ross Gallery) by
Robert Rodes McGoodwin whose plans meant to cloak
the Furness building in Collegiate Gothic brick and stone;
this addition masked the stacks of Furness on the west side

The three glass-roofed stacks in a modular iron-wing were
designed to be expandable to the left/south side

The Duhring Wing (1915) blocked expansion of the stacks

Although architect Frank Furness collaborated with Melvil Dewey, creator of the Dewey Decimal System, to design the most modern American library building of its time, it was controversial. After a thought to "cloak" the building, it was decided to demolish it. In 1957, Penn-trained architect and Philadelphia Evening Bulletin cartoonist Alfred Bendiner invited Frank Lloyd Wright to tour the Victorian "behemoth." Wright proclaimed: "It is the work of an artist." This statement saved the building.

A then peaceful Pro-Palestinian encampment on the
U of Penn College Green (the next day participants
were forced to leave and we would not have been
able to see that side of the Furness-designed library)

One end of College Hall (1872, by Thomas Webb Richards
in Victorian Gothic style), the oldest building on the
West Philadelphia campus

The Hospital of University of Pennsylvania (1874)

The third objective was to visit Penn Museum (founded 1887, current buillding 1899-1929 by Wilson Eyre, Cope & Stewardson and Frank Miles Day in Arts & Crafts style, with newer additions). The museum was established to house artifacts from the successful Nippur archaeological excavation at a time when the discoveries were "shared" with the host country.

The entrance to Penn Museum (formerly The University of
Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology)

Penn Museum Warden Garden

Middle East Collection:

The Temple: Mooring Post of Heaven display (c 2400 BCE)
includes a reconstructed wooden column inlaid with pieces
of stone and shell to resemble a trimmed date palm trunk

Metalware includes three spearheads (c 2500-
2200 BCE), axe (c 2300-2100 BCE),
and shaft-hole axe head (c 2500-2200 BCE)

Queen Puabi ornaments found in
her Royal Tomb (c 2500 BCE) in Ur, Iraq

Glass bottles (140 BCE-225 CE) from Nippur, Iraq 

Native American Voices:

Nestling Worlds (2000, by
Roxanne Swentzell, Pueblo)

1) Folsom Projectile Point (9,000-8,000 BCE), 2) Clovis Side
Scraper on Blade, 3) & 4) Clovis Projectile Points, and 5)
Clovis Spear Foreshaft (11,050-10,8000 BCE)

Mexico & Central America:

Eccentric Flints (600-800 CE) for
ritualistic purposes

Africa:

Lukumbi/Slit Drum (19C, Republic of Congo)
plays six musical tones; 
apologies, the slit is on the left side

Waiting for the Media/Wawa commuter train at
Penn Medicine Station with its view of Franklin Field
(1903-1905, by Frank Miles Day & Brother, rebuilt 1922
by Frank Miles Day and Charles Klauder); the stadium
was home of the NFL Philadelphia Eagles 1958-1970

To the south are the many buildings of
The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania