Figure 1: School of Dental Medicine Museum, c. 1935. Photograph from the 1935 Penn Dental Record. Property of the School of Dental Medicine’s Leon Levy Library.
One step into the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Dental Medicine is a step back in time, if you know where to look. Visitors to the modern Schattner Atrium are sure to notice a 19th-century carriage and cabinets filled with decorative arts from the Dr. Thomas W. Evans Collection, and guests to the Leon Levy Library will see paintings adorning the walls of the main reading room. From the front lobby to offices in the Dean’s suite, the Evans Collection is omnipresent at Penn Dental.
Art and historical artifacts might seem out of place at a dental school, but they were important props and enjoyments during the daily life of Dr. Thomas W. Evans (1823-1897), one of the premier benefactors of Penn Dental Medicine. Evans, a native of Philadelphia and prestigious dentist for Emperor Napoléon III of France, bequeathed the majority of his fortune and family home to found a dental institute and museum in West Philadelphia. His goal was to further dental education in the United States and to house his vast art collection, which came to realization through the formation of the Thomas W. Evans Museum and Dental Institute.
Evans may have been a Philly native, but he spent the majority of his career in Paris working for Napoléon III and other prominent figures across Europe. Because of these connections, he amassed his large collection of decorative arts and luxury goods. In addition, he became friends with well-known artists and actors, resulting in a friendship with Manet. Several of Manet’s paintings were discovered in the Evans Collection at one point.
Upon the joining of the Evans Institute with the University of Pennsylvania, due to logistical benefits, the Evans Collection passed to ownership by the university. It was displayed in the Evans Museum, located in the east half of the Evans Building, Spruce Street wing (Figure 1). Historical paintings, statues, medical instruments, books, jewels, and mementos of Evans’ daily life occupied the rooms.
While a large part of the collection was brought to auction during the early 1980’s, a sizeable chunk is still owned by the university. Up until a few years ago, parts of the collection were stored in offsite facilities. Thanks to the work of many university staff members and administrators, including Dean Kinane and university curator Lynn Marsden-Atlass, many of the pieces were brought to light and for a special exhibition at the Arthur Ross Gallery in 2015. These days, pieces from the Evans Collection adorn public and private spaces throughout the Dental School and across the University of Pennsylvania’s campus.
Check back monthly as we uncover more about the Evans collection both at Penn and around the globe, and about Dr. Evans himself.
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