Charles C. Abbott Papers

Charles Abbott was a native of Trenton, New Jersey who evidenced an early and profound interest in natural history and archaeology. He was educated at Trenton Academy and chose medicine as a career due to the lack of university programs in his main areas of interest. Abbott attended the Medical School of the University of Pennsylvania but it was not long after graduation that he decided he did not have the temperament to practice medicine. He did serve as a surgeon during the Civil War.

As a young man, Abbott published numerous articles and papers related to the flora and fauna of his native New Jersey. From 1876 to 1889, he was assistant curator of the Peabody Museum in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to which he presented a collection of 20,000 archaeological specimens. Abbott freely gave also to other archaeological collections.

Charles Abbott made his reputation in the 1880's thanks to his claim of the first definitive find of "pre-glacial" tools in the gravels of his farm at Trenton, and the publication of his book in 1885. This reknown undoubtedly influenced the decision of William Pepper and others to name him the first Curator of American and Prehistoric Archaeology in 1889. At the same time the University Archaeological Association began to work on establishing the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. Abbott's office was located in College Hall which housed the collections before the completion of museum construction. Most of the collection was donated by Francis C. Macauley a member of the University Archaeological Association. Abbott continued some personal fieldwork in 1890 with Henry Mercer at Point Pleasant in Bucks County, Pa., but generally stayed in his office where he handled the curatorial correspondence and promoted the museum to wealthy friends who had gifts to donate.

As curator, Abbott financed one non-University "expedition," that of archaeologist and geologist Gerard Fowke at Flint Ridge, Ohio in 1890–1891.

By early 1893, Abbott's reputation had suffered considerably as more and more evidence revealed that his Trenton finds were merely rough blanks from local argillite quarries which were dated later than the Pleistocene era. He quarreled with Pepper over his salary, and by the fall, as his tenure ended, his replacement had been decided. Another contributing factor was Sara Yorke Stevenson's negotiations to bring in Franz Boas from the Field Museum in Chicago. This ultimately failed as Boas' salary requirement of $3000.00 could not be met.

Abbott was replaced by Henry C. Mercer on December 1, 1893. Only Board member Howard Colket defended him until the end.

Abbott was a corresponding member of the Boston Society of Natural History, a member of the American Philosophical Society of Philadelphia, and a fellow of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of the North in Copenhagen. In 1919 he died at the age of 76 years in Bristol, Pennsylvania, where he had moved after the burning of his New Jersey home a few years before.

The Charles C. Abbott papers consist of one half of a curatorial box of correspondence and curatorial materials reflecting the early history of the Museum. The Correspondence series reflects Abbott's habit of numbering most of his incoming letters with red pencil, a remnant of early archival identification. His system was not maintained and the letters were processed in date order. There is a separate list of all correspondents who wrote to Abbott within each date grouping.

The Curatorial series holds reports of the American section submitted monthly to the President of the museum. There are also two reports of section meetings dealing with appointment of staff, summaries of discussions, gifts, membership and, in one case, excavation details that resemble field notes written by Abbott. An undated list of archaeological specimens is included with the curatoial series. This list was composed during the tenure of Abbott but probably not by him.

There is one file in the Biographical series which holds correspondence and news clippings about Abbott and his grave marker.

The collection includes photographs that are not yet processed.

Publication Information: University of Pennsylvania: Penn Museum Archives,

Finding Aid Author:

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Geographic Name(s)

• Trenton (N.J.)

Personal Name(s)

• Stevenson, Sara Yorke
• Fowke, Gerard, 1855-1933
• Pepper, William
• Mercer, Henry C.
• Macauley, Francis C.
• Abbott, Charles C., 1843-1919

Occupation(s)

• Museum curators