We See Dead People

This was just too juicy to pass up. If you will forgive the bad pun, I have always loved haunting the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. I first became aware of this museum when I was in grade school. Back in the 1950s, the museum produced a television series which aired on Philadelphia's WCAU TV called What in the World.Produced by the Penn Museum, and created by its then director Froelich Rainey, What in the World was a pioneering museum education project during the dawn of the telecommunications age. Penn Museum's Peabody Award-winning popular weekly half-hour television program was first seen in 1951 and which ran for 14 years. By the early 1960s it was one of the oldest programs on television.

Seeing this program every week on television and discovering that I lived only a mile from the place where it was recorded was too much to resist. I begged my older brother to take me there whenever I could get the chance. Fortunately, he often obliged. Later, my first grade school girlfriend's mother worked in the museum gift shop and that was an even better excuse to visit.

When I entered graduate school at the University of Pennsylvania, I made weekly visits to the museum and the University's library dedicated to Anthropology which is housed within the museum, as well as taking classes under the auspices of the Dept of Anthropology which occupies an upper floor.

So, when I saw this video "teaser" this morning, I simply could not resist sharing it here. Check it out. And if you are curious, check out the old footage of What in the World, there are a few examples on Youtube and although very dated, they are still worth watching. By the way, the University of Pennsylvania Musuem has an amazing Egyptian collection, including many mummies, and the reconstruction of the throne room of the Merenptah Palace from Memphis, which was sacred to the god Ptah, his consort Sekhmet and the third member of the Memphite Triad, Nefertem.

See the ghostly denizens of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. Just perhaps I was a student of one of them. Alas, you will have to travel back in time a few months if you wish to attend the event, which was part of their program for school children, but it is none the less a fun way to introduce people to this wonderful resource. Check out their extensive website, the gift shop, and if you find yourself in Philadelphia, you really must include a visit to this amazing location. The extensive Egyptian collection should fascinate any Freemason, and the mummies will delight the kids if you have them with you.

Race: Coming to a city near you!

Race is a small but powerful word. Race shapes how one sees and is seen by others. Yet, many people poorly understand what race is and isn't.

To help promote a broad understanding of race and human variation, the American Anthropological Association has undertaken the RACE Project. The RACE Project has produced to date an award-winning public education program entitled RACE Are We So Different? The program includes a traveling museum exhibit, an interactive website, and educational materials. The program is geared for middle school-aged children through adults.

RACE Are We So Different? looks at race in the United States through the eyes of history, science and lived experience. The program explains how human variation differs from race, when and why the idea of race was invented, and how race and racism affects everyday life. The program conveys three overall messages:

Race is a recent human invention
Race is about culture, not biology
Race and racism are embedded in institutions and everyday life.
The Ford Foundation and National Science Foundation have provided generous funding to develop and produce RACE: Are We So Different?



Race is coming to a City near you! to see where the film and exhibit will be in the coming year, click here: Tour Dates and Venues