Guides: Writing an Object Biography at the Penn Museum: What is an Object Biography?

Object biography in Archaeology/Anthropology

The Cultural Biography of Objects
Special issue of the journal World Archaeology 31(2), (Oct. 1999) devoted to object biography.
The Object Biography
Chapter by Adam Drazin (2020) in Lineages and Advancements in Material Culture Studies, edited by edited by Timothy Carroll, Antonia Walford, and Shireen Walton. Routledge, London, UK.

Object biography in Museums

Objects and the Museum
Article by Samuel J. M. M. Alberti, published in Isis 96(4) (2005)

Museums and Biographies by Kate Hill (Editor)
Call Number: Penn Museum Library AM7 .M874 2012

ISBN: 1843837277

Publication Date: 2012

Essays exploring biography - of individuals, objects and institutions - in relationship to the museum, casting new light on the many facets of museum history and theory, from the lives of prominent curators, to the context of museums of biography and autobiography.
Museum Object Lessons for the Digital Age by Haidy Geismar
Call Number: Penn Museum Library AM133 .G45 2018

ISBN: 9781787352834

Publication Date: 2018

Among the challenges museums face when displaying digital objects are widely held assumptions about the nature of these objects and the material, social, and political foundations of digital art practices.

Researching an object at the Penn Museum

Digital Penn Museum is the portal for the Penn Museum's digital content, including over 379,000 object records representing over 1 million objects in the collections and accompanied by more than 200,000 images.

More information is available through Penn Museum publications, including:

Expedition, the current publication of the Penn Museum. Volumes 1 (1958) - present are available at the Museum Library (call # GN1 .E9), and all but the current issues are available free online.
The University Museum Bulletin. Volumes 1 (1930) - 22 (1958) are available at the Museum Library desk and Van Pelt Library (call # CC21 .P46)
The Museum Journal. All volumes 1 (1910) - 24 (1935) are available at the Museum Library desk and online through the Penn Museum website. Additionally, full text of volumes 1 (1910) - 13 (1922) is available and searchable through the HathiTrust.
The Bulletin of the then-named Free Museum of Science and Art. Volumes 1 (1897) - 3 (1901-1902) are available online through the HathiTrust, as well at the Museum Library desk and in the Van Pelt Library (call # CC91 .P39).

Examples of Object Biographies

The True Story of a Stone (Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, May-December 2023)
This former PAFA installation by Lenka Clayton presents the story of a marble duck sculpture carved from a discarded fragment of a 2300 year-old Greek statue
England: The Other Within (Pitt Rivers Museum)
Brief object biographies for select English objects in the Pitt Rivers’ collection

Object Stories by Steve Brown (Editor); Anne Clarke (Editor); Ursula Frederick (Editor)
Call Number: Penn Museum Library CC75.7 .O25 2015

ISBN: 1611323843

Publication Date: 2014

In this volume, 23 archaeologists each tell an intimate story of their experience and entanglement with an evocative artifact. Artifacts range from a New Britain obsidian tool to an abandoned Viking toy boat, the marble finger of a classical Greek statue and ordinary pottery fragments from Roman England and Polynesia. Other tales cover contemporary objects, including a toothpick, bell, door, and the blueprint for a 1970s motorcar.
The Sphinx That Traveled to Philadelphia by Josef Wegner; Jennifer Houser Wegner
Call Number: Penn Museum Library - Egyptian Collection DT62.S7 W44 2015

ISBN: 9781934536766

Publication Date: 2015

Written to celebrate the centennial of the Sphinx's arrival in Philadelphia, The Sphinx That Traveled to Philadelphia tells the fascinating story of the colossal sphinx that has become an icon of the Penn Museum.

The Museum Library

Penn Museum respectfully acknowledges that it is situated on Lenapehoking, the ancestral and spiritual homeland of the Unami Lenape.

The Museum Library, located in the Academic Wing of the Penn Museum, is the University of Pennsylvania's branch library for anthropology and archaeology. With over 145,000 volumes on-site with historic strengths in biological and physical anthropology, cultural anthropology, archaeology worldwide, and Native American studies, it is one of the premier branch libraries for anthropology in the United States.

Hours

Map

Ask a question

Learn more on the Museum Library's homepage.