Nippur, Iraq Expedition records

The Nippur Expedition of the University of Pennsylvania brought together several men with various training but all with a passion for archaeology. In four seasons the personnel shifted and the fate of the expedition and its findings were often at the mercy of physical, environmental, local politics and their own temperaments.

John Punnett Peters, son of an Episcopal priest was born in New York City in 1852. He followed in his father's footsteps and was ordained first as a deacon and then a priest in the Episcopal church. Peters received one of the first Ph.D.s in the United States in semitic languages and he went on to teach Hebrew at the University of Pennsylvania. His interest in biblical archaeology drew him towards expeditions like the Wolfe Expedition of 1884 where potential archaeological sites in the Near East were scoured by representatives of the American Oriental Society. Upon the return of the Wolfe Expedition Peters began to seek backers who would finance actual excavations. He succeeded after many refusals in gaining the cooperation of bankers Edward W. Clark and Clarence Clark founders of the Babylonian Exploration Fund and part of the movement at the University of Pennsylvania that culminated in the founding of the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.

John Henry Haynes was born in Rowe, Massachusetts in 1849 and raised on a farm by his parents John W. and Emily Taylor Haynes. The oldest of several children, he attended the local elementary school then dropped out of school following his father's death to take care of his younger siblings. At the age of twenty-one Haynes began high school at Drury Academy and completed a bachelor's program at Williams College. He taught briefly, but resigned to join an expedition to Crete. Haynes complete his Ph.D. at Robert College in Istanbul.

While awaiting the approval of the Crete expedition by the Ottoman government, Haynes served as an assistant to W.F.J. Stillman a writer, painter and photographer whose tutelage developed the photographic skills that Haynes displayed throughout his life.

Hermann Volrath Hilprecht, eminent Assyriologist, was born in 1859 in Hohenerxleben, Anhalt, Germany, the son of Robert and Emilie Hilprecht. His education began at Herzogl, Karlsgymnasium in Bernburg, from which he graduated in 1880.

From 1880 to 1884, Hilprecht studied theology, oriental philology and law at the University of Leipzig attaining a Doctor of Philosophy degree in 1893. Additional degrees included an honorary Doctor of Divinity from the University of Pennsylvania and a Doctor of Laws from Princeton University. Hilprecht arrived in the United States in 1886, summoned by the Sunday School Times to edit their oriental section. Once in Philadelphia Hilprecht was appointed Professor of Assyriology at the University of Pennsylvania. The following year, Hilprecht assumed the duties of Curator of the Babylonian and General Semitic section of the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology at Penn.

Hilprecht was the scientific director for the Babylonian expedition to Nippur. In all, he worked on four expeditions but sometimes from the museum in Philadelphia and on a part-time basis. He specialized in the interpretation of the cuneiform tablets, of which he was a gifted scholar. Hilprecht was well-known to exhibit an elitist attitude and was highly critical of other researchers, namely John P. Peters who led the initial expedition to Nippur and could claim the work of others as his own.

In 1894, while Haynes was working alone at Nippur on the third season of the expedition, he met an M.I.T. graduate John A. Meyer, Jr. who was an acclaimed artist and architect traveling in Europe and Asia on a Fellowship. Haynes asked Meyer to join the expedition. Unfortunately, Meyer became ill at Nippur, possibly with typhoid and died at the hospital to which he was eventually evacuated. His plans and drawings are highlights of this collection.

Nippur was a pre-Biblical city-state located in the region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. British archaeologists had done some preliminary work in the 1850s; Ward's report(Wolfe Expedition)on the site during his 1885 survey indicated the mound was very promising.

The first season of the Nippur expedition, 1889, financed by the BEF proved to be arduous and dangerous for environmental and political reasons. Violent attacks by the locals were common. The fighting among the staff centered on the question of "treasure or tablets." At the end of the season, the staff was not encouraged but their finds, especially the tablets, impressed the BEF and the expedition was financed for another three years.

Peters and Haynes returned for season two in 1890 but Peters resigned from the University at its conclusion. Because Peters left the University, Haynes and Hilprecht took over as leaders after 1893. Unfortunately, a scholarly controversy arose over Hilprecht's acquisition and interpretation of the tablets, culminating in his resignation from the University of Pennsylvania in 1910. The museum did resume excavations in the 1940's jointly with the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, and turned its rights to the site over to them in 1949.

Haynes was appointed director for season three. All alone at the site, Haynes drifted into mental illness returning to the museum in 1895. A three-year respite seemed to improve Haynes mood and he returned to direct season four in 1898. While the previous seasons had all been productive in terms of artifacts and tablets, the fourth produced the greatest find, Tablet Hill, a library of clay tablets piled high and detailing the everyday lives of the Sumerian culture at Nippur.

Because Peters left the University, Haynes and Hilprecht took over as leaders after 1893. Unfortunately, a scholarly controversy arose over Hilprecht's acquisition and interpretation of the tablets, culminating in his resignation from the University of Pennsylvania in 1910. The museum did resume excavations in the 1940's jointly with the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, and turned its rights to the site over to them in 1949.

Leon Legrain, Curator of the Babylonian Section from 1920 to 1948, organized the documents relating to Nippur in 1926. In a little less than a month, he numbered all the documents concerning the excavation and prepared a catalog describing each item. In 1978, a doctoral student from the University of Chicago, Diane Taylor, assembled all the Nippur documents, finding not only Legrain's original material, but adding papers collected from the estates of J. H. Haynes and others. She arranged the papers by expedition and thereunder by Legrain number. For convenience, the papers are now arranged chronologically with cross-references to the Legrain number. Items acquired by Diane Taylor, often duplicates, have been interfiled with the original material, but are identifiable because they carry no red Legrain number. For further details on Taylor's work, please refer to her notes in the Near East finding aid file.

Additional information on the Nippur excavation may be found in:

Clarence S. Fisher papers Hermann V. Hilprecht Near East Section records John Henry Haynes Collection Leon Legrain Near East Section records

In 1887, the University of Pennsylvania agreed to sponsor an expedition to the Near East. The idea was conceived by Reverend John Punnett Peters, University of Pennsylvania Professor of Hebrew and already a fund-raiser for William Hayes Ward of New York who made a site survey in Babylonia in 1885. Peters raised interest among Philadelphia donors for an excavation project. Contributors to the Babylonian Exploration Fund eventually included Charles C. Harrison, the banker Edward W. Clark and his brother Clarence H. Clark, William West Frazier, Joseph D. Potts, Henry Charles Lea and William Pepper.

In January of 1889, the expedition party directed by Peters arrived in Nippur. Nippur was a pre-Biblical city-state located in the region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. British archaeologists had done some preliminary work in the 1850s; Ward's report on the site during his 1885 survey indicated promising archaeological resources. Two members of the 1885 investigation joined the Museum party: John Henry Haynes, photographer and business manager, and Daniel Z. Noorian, interpreter and work foreman. Other members of the 1889 team included Herman Volrath Hilprecht, newly appointed Professor of Assyriology at the University of Pennsylvania, Perez Hastings Field, architect and engineer, and Robert Francis Harper of Yale, co-Assyriologist with Hilprecht. The first campaign ended in the spring of that year, due to difficulties from climatic conditions, sickness, and violent attacks by local inhabitants.

The excavations resumed in 1890, again from 1893 to 1896 and finally from 1898 to 1900. A fifth expedition was proposed but never realized. A rich tablet collection, a Sumerian temple, and city walls were excavated. Because Peters left the University, Haynes and Hilprecht took over as leaders after 1893. Unfortunately, a scholarly controversy arose over Hilprecht's acquisition and interpretation of the tablets, culminating in his resignation from the University of Pennsylvania in 1910. The museum did resume excavations in the 1940's jointly with the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, and turned its rights to the site over to them in 1949.

Leon Legrain, Curator of the Babylonian Section from 1920 to 1948, organized the documents relating to Nippur in 1926. In a little less than a month, he numbered all the documents concerning the excavation and prepared a catalog describing each item. In 1978, a doctoral student from the University of Chicago, Diane Taylor, assembled all the Nippur documents, finding not only Legrain's original material, but adding papers collected from the estates of J. H. Haynes and others. She arranged the papers by expedition and thereunder by Legrain number. For convenience, the papers are now arranged chronologically with cross-references to the Legrain number. Items acquired by Diane Taylor, often duplicates, have been interfiled with the original material, but are identifiable because they carry no red Legrain number. For further details on Taylor's work, please refer to her notes in the Near East finding aid file.

The records of the Nippur, Iraq Expedition are contained in thirty-seven archival boxes plus two boxes of photographs housed in the photo archive and original drawings and oversize maps and drawings contained in the map cases. The materials are arranged chronologically by expedition number in ten series: correspondence, financial records, field notes, photograph catalogues, bound letter books, squeezes, photograph albums, original drawings and oversize maps and drawings.

The materials had been organized previously by Leon Legrain, curator of the Babylonian Section of the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. To find any given item catalogued by Legrain and assigned one of his red-circled numbers, one must note not only the number assigned by Legrain, but also the date and description given by him. The Nippur (or other) Box number entered in the margin of the xerox copy of Legrain's catalogue indicates the correct storage box: the date provides the order of documents within the box: and the description completes the identification. Items collected by Miss D. Taylor are recognizable from her penciled notes and by her pencil-circled numbers referring to her "Haynes Collection," "Fisher Collection," etc., and may be located by box numbers added to her lists.

The drawings and plans in the Oversize series include materials catalogued by Legrain and some others recently collected by D. Taylor of the University of Chicago. The numerical order of the Legrain arrangement has been retained: the materials brought into the collection by D. Taylor have been placed, first chronologically by expedition and then by type, with the Legrain numbered documents. These include rough sketches of finished drawings which are listed by Plate number in Legrain's catalogue of the Nippur expedition documents and therefore can be related back to Legrain number. Taylor has identified many drawings and plans and has labeled them with her own numerical system. Her manuscript concerning the Nippur documents should be checked for further information.

Types of Documents included are finished and working architectural plans, and sketches of objects and architectural features; these are on tissue, drawing paper, and linen using pencil, ink, and watercolor. There are also survey maps, architectural blueprints, reconstructions of the architecture, architectural notes with sketches, and an object catalogue (1894) with drawings and descriptions. There are also three boxes of squeezes (copies of inscriptions made by pressing treated paper against stone).

Items in this series for the I and II Expedition are limited to the 1889 map of Nippur, a series of plates depicting sections of trenches and the excavations (1888) at Zingerli, done by P. H. Field. Drawings and plans of the III Expedition (1893-1896) were done by J. H. Haynes and J. Meyer (post-June, 1894), an architectural student on a traveling fellowship from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Haynes sketches (271) of Camp Hill, Temple Hill and Hills II, VI, IX and X were mislabeled as done by Meyer. The original of an object catalogue by Meyer deposited in the Archives by D. Taylor has not been seen since 1977, but a xerox copy remains in the files. Most of the drawings and plans appear to be from the IV and last Expedition and were done by the two architects, C. S. Fisher and H. V. Geere, who arrived on the site in October, 1899. Subject matter includes the Temple of Bel and the Ziggurat; the Northeast City Wall and the Pre-Sargonic Gate; Tablet Hill; the Parthian Fortress and the Court of Columns. Geere's drawings include those of the mounds at Fara and Abu Hatab. Sketches and drawings, many accompanied by notes, of objects include those of ceramics, bricks, drains, slipper and other type coffins.

There is a complete set of photographic negatives and corresponding prints mounted in scrapbooks. In addition, photograph duplicates, cyanotypes, and master prints from the III and IV Expeditions which correspond to Legrain numbers (394) - (398) have been filed with the photographic print collection according to expedition. The Expedition III Series includes cyanotypes and photographs in numerical order with corresponding negative numbers. Expedition IV is composed of three series A, B, and C: A being 7 1/2 by 9 1/4 inches photographs, B being 4 3/4 by 6 1/2 inches, and C being 3 1/2 by 4 3/4 inches. These are also arranged by field number with corresponding negative number and are found in cyanotype, master print, and photograph form. These sets of duplicates, and triplicates in some cases, for both the III and IV Expeditions are incomplete. In the case of Expeditions I and II, there are no duplicates for the single scrapbook which contains photographs from these projects. Also, please note Legrain number (1442) refers to original photograph descriptions in notebooks (370), (317), and (372) ABC.

The bulk of Nippur publications concern tablets (see Museum publication list). Although six volumes were projected for excavations, only the first volume on the topography and the city walls was published. The Archives holds three copies (only one complete) of Fisher's 1905 publication, The Excavation at Nippur, Volume I, which, when compared with the Museum Library copy, were found to be in different stages of completion for publication. In Volume I, the plates were arranged out of numerical order and some do not pertain to the subject of this volume, but do pertain to the later projected volumes.

Most drawings and plans are located in the Map Case and smaller items have been placed in the Print Cabinet. Related files may be found in the Near East Section curatorial records and the Director's Office correspondence.

Publication Information: University of Pennsylvania: Penn Museum Archives,

Finding Aid Author:

Use Restrictions: Although many items from the archives are in the public domain, copyright may be retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law. The user is fully responsible for compliance with relevant copyright law.

The researcher is directed to additional sources of information in:

Clarence S. Fisher papers Hermann V. Hilprecht Near East section records John Henry Haynes Collection Leon Legrain Near East section records

Corporate Name(s)

• Babylonian Fund. Babylonian Exploration Fund
• American Oriental Society
• University of Pennsylvania. Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology

Form(s)/Genre(s)

• Maps
• Field notes
• Correspondence

Geographic Name(s)

• Nippur (deserted settlement)

Personal Name(s)

• Fisher, Clarence Stanley, 1876-1941
• Legrain, Leon, 1878-
• Haynes, John Henry
• Meyer, Jr., John A.
• Hilprecht, H. V. (Hermann Vollrat), 1859-1925
• Peters, John P. (John Punnett), 1852-1921

Subject(s)

• Excavations (Archaeology)
• Architecture, ancient
• Archaeological expeditions