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Last updated: March 3, 2025
This page documents both the historical background of the Samuel G. Morton Cranial Collection as well as updates on the Museum’s work towards its repatriation and repair.
The Morton Collection consists of over 1,300 crania, which were collected by Samuel Morton and others during the mid-19th century. Morton’s research was used to justify racism and white supremacist views. After his death in 1951, the Academy of Natural Sciences purchased and expanded the collection, which was transferred to the Penn Museum in 1966. The crania come from all parts of the world and range in date from ancient Egyptian times to the 19th century. As a result, the Morton Collection needs to be treated as multiple smaller groupings, not as a single unit.
In August 2020, the Morton Collection Committee was formed to discuss a NAGPRA-informed infrastructure and process that would inform the repatriation or reburial of the crania of enslaved individuals within this Collection.
In April 2021, the Morton Collection Committee publicly released its report with recommendations for repatriation and burial, including the formation of a Community Advisory Group consisting of Philadelphia spiritual and community leaders and city officials, together with representatives from the University of Pennsylvania.
In December 2021, the Morton Community Advisory Group’s recommendations, which included burying the cranial remains of Philadelphians at Eden Cemetery, a historic Black cemetery, were publicly released. In 2022, we petitioned Philadelphia Orphans’ Court to seek approval to respectfully bury and commemorate the Black Philadelphians whose cranial remains are part of the Morton Collection. Public notices in local newspapers were also published in June and July 2022. The nineteen Black Philadelphians were interred at Eden Cemetery and a public Interfaith Commemoration Service was held in their honor in February 2024.
This is the first step in what we expect will be an ongoing effort towards atonement and repair. If further research yields new information about the individuals in the collection, we remain committed to taking appropriate steps towards repatriation or burial.
The Morton Collection consists of over 1,300 crania, which were collected by Samuel Morton and others during the mid-19th century. After Morton’s death in 1851, the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia purchased and expanded the collection. It was moved to the Penn Museum in 1966.
The crania come from all parts of the world and range in date from ancient Egyptian times to the 19th century. As such, the Morton Collection needs to be treated as multiple smaller groupings, rather than as a single unit.
The exact number of crania in the collection is difficult to determine due to inconsistencies and renumbering in the Morton and Meig's catalogues. The figures provided in these pages are based on the best current assessments around constantly evolving research into the Collection.
19th-century archival records from the Morton collection identified at least 13 individuals as Black Philadelphians. Laying their cranial remains to rest is an initial step that reflects our ongoing work towards repair.
As further research yields new information about individuals in the collection, we remain committed to taking appropriate steps towards repatriation or burial.
Samuel George Morton (1799–1851) was a Philadelphia-based physician and anatomy lecturer. He worked at the Academy of Natural Sciences, where he conducted research into paleontology and on a large collection of human skulls, which later came to be known as the Morton Cranial Collection. However, leading scholars such as Charles Darwin regarded Morton as a second-rate scholar, who poorly documented information presented in his publications, made arbitrary assumptions, and came to false conclusions.
The Collection is housed in storage in the Museum’s Biological Anthropology Section. Some of the crania had previously been stored in custom-made glass-fronted cabinets in CAAM Classroom 190. This was originally intended to be a dedicated Biological Anthropology classroom; however, with CAAM’s growth, 190 has become a multi-use classroom, and the Museum determined that having these skulls on view was not appropriate.
Research on the Morton collection reflects changes in studies of human biological variation over time. Morton’s craniometric studies provided scientific evidence of racial differences that supported 19th century sociocultural norms. Later studies of Morton’s collection promoted understandings of human variation that countered racial typology. For instance, crania were used in 20th and 21st century studies of human variation supporting genetic evidence that there is more variation within groups than between them.
Morton’s research is often centered in contemporary histories of scientific racism. His methods are used to demonstrate how scientific research can be influenced by ideas that are not scientific/can be influenced by social and political beliefs. This scholarship plays a role in recognizing the humanity of the people whose remains are in the collection. As such, Morton’s perceived ownership of the crania by virtue collecting them is rightfully minimized.
For general questions, including more information about repatriation and the Museum’s policy on human remains, please contact director@pennmuseum.org.
For more information specific to the Morton Cranial Collection, please contact biologicalanthropologysection@pennmuseum.org.
For press-related inquiries, please contact pr@pennmuseum.org.