Furness, William Henry, 1866-1920

Between 1895 and 1901, William Furness, III., Alfred C. Harrison, Jr., and Hiram M. Hiller made a series of extended trips to Oceania, South and Southeast Asia, and East Asia. Furness, Harrison, and Hiller all received degrees from the University of Pennsylvania and donated or sold to the University Museum substantial collections of ethnographic, archaeological, and skeletal material acquired on the voyages. The Furness, Harrison, and Hiller collections, particularly those from Oceania, are extensive and reasonably well-documented for their time.

During the four voyages, Furness, Harrison, and Hiller traveled to China, Japan, India, Sri Lanka, Egypt, Burma, Thailand, Pakistan, Indonesia, and Malaysia. No complete single chronicle of all four voyages exists, but a rough itinerary can be pieced together from the journals (chiefly Hiller's) and from notes made by all three travelers. Voyage I (1895-1896) and Voyage II (1897-1898) are the most completely documented since nearly all of Hiller's and some of Furness' journals are present in the collection. Voyage III (1899-1900) and Voyage IV (1901) are more sketchily documented. Long stretches of these voyages are recorded only in the form of rough notes scribbled in small notebooks by Hiller and Harrison. Furness, Harrison, and Hiller did not always travel together, further complicating the difficulties of compiling complete and accurate itineraries. Chronologies for each of the four voyages have been developed based on available material and these chronologies are appended to this Note. The chronologies are most reliable for the early voyages and least reliable for Voyage IV.

Despite the incomplete and occasionally illegible condition of the notes and journals, they do contain considerable ethnographic and technological detail for the groups visited during the voyages. Perhaps the greatest attention is devoted to groups living in Sarawak and Kalimantan, Indonesia. Numerous ethnographic details are recorded and several ethnographic maps of groups living along various rivers in these regions are present in the collections. Furness, Harrison, and Hiller apparently spoke at least serviceable Japanese and Malay and made an attempt to learn local dialects in Sarawak. Linguistic details and comparisons were recorded in the journals from time to time. A number of observations on social organization and social customs are also recorded in the journals, as are observations on the impact of colonial administration and administrators, and foreign economic concerns on local groups.

In addition to studying groups in Sarawak and Kalimantan, Furness, Harrison, and Hiller also studied hill people in western India and in the Naga Hills, and spent some time among Veddah groups in Sri Lanka. Hiller accompanied Jenichiro Oyabe, a Japanese ethnographer studying the Ainu, on several trips to study this group. Observations on more frequently visited areas such as large cities in East Asia, South and Southeast Asia, and Oceania are also recorded. A number of very complete descriptions of technology are to be found in the journals and a number of competently executed drawings of boats, agricultural and fishing equipment, weapons, looms, tofu presses, and clothing are interspersed with the journal text. Considerable attention is devoted to variations in the shape and execution of tattoo patterns throughout Asia and Oceania. Over 500 photographs, some attributed to Alfred C. Harrison, are also available, illustrating many of the areas described in the journals and publications. These photographs have been placed in the general photographic collection for each country visited.

William H. Furness III (1867-1920) was the son of Shakespearean scholar Horace Howard Furness and nephew of architect Frank Furness. He received his M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1891. He was Curator of the Museum’s Section of General Ethnology 1903-05 and Secretary of the Board of Managers 1904-05. Devoted years to research work among anthropoids, a part of the work being the attempt to teach articulate language to chimpanzees.

Alfred Craven Harrison, Jr.(1869-1925) was nephew of Charles Custis Harrison, Provost of the University of Pennsylvania, 1894-1911, and President of the Museum’s Board of Managers, 1917-1929. His father, Alfred C. Harrison, was a prosperous sugar manufacturer who donated funds for the construction of the Free Museum of Science and Art in 1899 (now the University of Pennsylvania Museum), the repository for his son’s collections. Harrison received an Honorary B.S. in 1899 from the University of Pennsylvania. In addition to his travels with William Henry Furness and Hiram Hiller to the Far East, he was a member of an expedition to the Maya ruins of Copan in Honduras. In 1902 he entered his father’s business. Little is known of his later years, although he was involved in research work during the last ten years of his life.

Hiram Milliken Hiller(1867-1921) received his M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1891, and served as resident physician at the University of Pennsylvania Hospital and at nearby Blockley Hospital.