Propaganda has long been used to mobilize people in times of war. Black Bodies in Propaganda: The Art of the War Poster presents 33 posters, most targeting African and African-American civilians. These carefully designed works of art were aimed at mobilizing people of color in war efforts, even as they faced oppression and injustice in their homelands. The exhibition explores changing messages on race and politics through propaganda—from the American Civil War, to World War I, World War II, and through to the African independence movements. The exhibition is curated by Dr. Tukufu Zuberi, the Lasry Family Professor of Race Relations, and Professor of Sociology and Africana Studies the University of Pennsylvania, and host of the PBS television series, History Detectives. See page 14 for more information on Zuberi’s poster collection.
In the Artifact Lab: Conserving Egyptian Mummies
Take a look behind-the-scenes at museum conservation in In the Artifact Lab, a public laboratory and exhibition focusing on the conservation of objects from our esteemed Egyptian collection. To date, conservators and Egyptologists have collaborated, in the public eye, to conserve and research many objects, including a falcon mummy, an elaborate coffin lid, and the remains of PUM 1, a mummy dating to 840–820 BCE.
The Year of Sound: Hollywood in the Amazon
In 1931, the Penn Museum led a new expedition to the Bororo territory in the Brazilian Amazon. Once there, they shot a film incorporating live sound, allowing anthropologists and experts to hear the recorded voices of non-Western people for the first time ever. Hollywood in the Amazon takes you behind the scenes into the making of this groundbreaking adventure-genre film, Matto Grasso: The Great Brazilian Wilderness. The exhibition presents clips from the 49-minute-long film and Penn Museum objects collected during the expedition. See page 18 for our story on the making of the film. The Provost’s office at the University of Pennsylvania annually sponsors a series of events and programs around a theme chosen by faculty, staff, and students. The theme for the 2013–2014 academic year is The Year of Sound, allowing an opportunity to explore sound and the many ways it shapes our lives.