Stevenson, Sara Yorke, 1847-1921

In the early years of the Museum, until its administrative reorganization by G.B. Gordon in 1910, the Egyptian/Maditerranean Section was a semi-autonomous unit on the same level as the other two Sections (Babylonian, African/Other), each run by one curator who answered directly to the Museum Board of Managers. The curators often had other roles, and Board Members performed minor curatorial duties.

This Archives collection begins with the first curator of the Mediterranean Section (1894-1905), Sara Yorke Stevenson. One of the Museum's founders, she had also served as curator of the Egyptian collection since the Museum's inception in 1890. The Stevenson papers in this collection deal generally with Mediterranean curatorial matters. Other papers of Sara Yorke Stevenson may be found in the appropriate curatorial or excavation collections in the Archives (e.g., Mediterranean/Crete, Cyprus, Etruscan Tombs, Egypt).

While the material in the Mediterranean Curatorial Files dates from 1895 to 1979, the bulk of the collection dates to the earlier years (1895-1949) and within that period, the majority relate to Edith Hall Dohan. Edith Hall (married Joseph Dohan in 1915) followed S.Y. Stevenson's successor, William N. Bates (1904-1911), as curator. Due to Dohan's meticulous administration and scholarship, as well as having served two terms as curator (1911-1915; 1930-1943), the Edith Hall Dohan Archives collection is quite extensive. While Dohan's association with the Museum began with her assistance to Harriet Boyd Hawes at the Museum's excavation in Gournia (1904), this particular series covers only her curatorial years. Often, however, these papers were associated with own and/or others' work in Crete. (See: Mediterranean/Crete for related collections.) Besides her Cretan researchh, Dohan studied and published the University Museum's Etruscan collection in a 1942 publication, Italic Tomb Groups, from which much material remains (see also: Mediterranean/Italy/Etruscan Tomb Groups). Much of the Dohan series correspondence is with noted archaeologists abd scholars of her day. Edith Hall Dohan died while working at her desk in the Musem on July 14, 1943.

During the first part of Edith Hall Dohan's absence from the Museum, following her marriage in 1915, Stephen B. Luce served as curator (1915-1920). From his departure in 1920 to Dohan's return in 1930, the position remained vacant, although Dohan served as volunteer consultant to the Section.

John Franklin Daniel became curator following Edith Hall Dohan's death in 1943 and served until his own untimely death in Turkey in 1948. The bulk of the papers in this series actually covers the period following his death (1949-1950: 1954), including extensive correspondence with his widow. The earlier material, especially correspondence with other archaeologists, relates to Daniel's curatorial and scholarly work. (See also: Cyprus.)

Rodney Young succeeded as Mediterranean curator (1949) following John Franklin Daniel's death, and continued to fill that position until his own death in 1974, at which time he was followed in that position by G. Roger Edwards. Spyros Iakovidis became curator after G.R. Edward's retirement in 1979. Most recent files are retained by current faculty of the Mediterranean Section (Classical Archaeology Department).

Although classical, including Etruscan, collections had been donated to the University of Pennsylvania Museum since the early 1890's it was in 1896 that Dr. William Pepper as President of the Museum’s Board of Managers and Sara Yorke Stevenson as Secretary of the Museum and Mediterranean Section Curator formally authorized excavations in Italy and the acquisition of Etruscan tomb groups, as well as individual objects, for the Museum. Professor Arthur L. Frothingham of Princeton, then Secretary of the American School of Classical Studies in Rome, was commissioned to represent the Museum in Italy. Most of the tomb groups which Frothingham obtained are from Narce and Vulci, although there are objects from many other sites including Cerveteri, Orvieto, and Civita Castellana. Although the actual excavation work was conducted by Italian archaeologists, Francesco Mancinelli-Scotti in particular, Frothingham sent letters, notes, and photographs (made by Lorenzo Cozza) of the Etruscan finds to Stevenson for the Museum's decision on purchases. Thus, much of the correspondence is of a financial nature, and is often between Stevenson and the Museum's managers as well as Frothingham, and a small amount with Mancinelli. Many of the funds for these purchases were provided by the American Exploration Society, which worked closely with the Museum and had been founded by Pepper and Stevenson as a fundraising arm of the institution.

Frothingham was connected with the University of Pennsylvania Museum from 1895 to 1898 and was even named an associate curator in January of 1897. However, his relationship with the Museum deteriorated following a dispute between Frothingham and Italian archaeologists over the ownership of armor from Narce and Stevenson's simultaneous questioning of Frothingham's appropriation of Museum funds following her visit to Italy in the summer of 1897. Much of the correspondence concerns the controversy over Frothingham and is often with Hector de Castro, Consulate-General of the United States, who represented the Museum. Since John Wanamaker had both contributed heavily to the Museum's Etruscan funds and entered into a contract with Frothingham to acquire his own small Etruscan collection, many of the papers concern him. Much of the correspondence was copied or summarized by Stevenson.