John Henry Haynes Collection

John Henry Haynes (1849–1910) was an American archaeologist and photographer. He studied to be a teacher at Williams College in Massachusetts, but his keen interest in the ancient world led to a career excavating and photographing archaeological sites, although he had no formal training in either. In 1881, he apprenticed for two months with William J. Stillman, a photographer and journalist known for his 1870 folio of views of the Athenian Acropolis. Haynes subsequently joined an AIA-sponsored expedition to the ancient Greek site of Assos on the Troad Peninsula (in modern-day Turkey), where he worked from 1881 to 1883, while simultaneously employed as a tutor at Robert College in Constantinople (Istanbul).

In 1884, he accompanied the epigrapher John Robert Sitlington Sterrett to the Cappadocia region of Turkey. While Sterrett was mainly interested in recording ancient inscriptions, Haynes took pictures of archaeological sites—e.g., Konya, Eflatunpınar, Kayseri, Boğazköy—some never before photographed. On this and other expeditions, he also kept journals recording the minutiae of daily life on the road, as well as a log of his photographs. Later in 1884, both men joined the Wolfe Expedition to Mesopotamia, whose goal was to locate a site for an American excavation. The expedition was led by the Rev. Dr. William Hayes Ward; Haynes served as business manager and photographer. This survey helped select the site of Nippur for the first large-scale archaeological excavation in the Near East by the newly founded Penn Museum in 1887 (then known as the Department of Archaeology and Paleontology).

Haynes set out again in 1887 on a trip across Anatolia. He went back to Cappadocia, taking numerous photographs of the other-worldly landscapes of volcanic cones, as well as other sites he'd visited in 1884. He then traveled east to Phrygia as his patron, the architect William R. Ware, had commissioned him to take photographs of rock-cut monuments at the so-called City of Midas. The underlying purpose of the expedition was to assemble a folio of photographs of archaeological sites for commercial sale. Due to the difficulties of photographing in adverse surroundings, a lack of funds, and Haynes' inexperience, the folio that was ultimately published in 1892 was not a success.

In 1888, he was hired as photographer and Field Director for the University of Pennsylvania expedition to Nuffar/Nippur. After a disastrous first season in 1889, Haynes returned with the field director, John P. Peters, for a more successful second season (1889–90), when some 8,000 cuneiform tablets were found. After that, Peters left the project and Hermann V. Hilprecht, scientific director of the expedition, refused to return to Nippur, and Haynes was appointed Director for the third (1893–96) and fourth (1898–1900) seasons. On the fourth campaign, Haynes was joined by architects H. Valentine Geere and Clarence S. Fisher, and by Hilprecht for some of the time. Haynes was neither a trained archaeologist nor an effective leader, and things did not run smoothly. The expedition did, however, recover much information as well as another large deposit of tablets. Subsequently, Hilprecht took credit for the discovery of the tablets and effectively sought to destroy Haynes' reputation. Haynes, suffering from ill health and depression, retreated into obscurity and died in 1910.  

See also: Ousterhout, Robert G. John Henry Haynes. A Photographer and Archaeologist in the Ottoman Empire 1881–1900. Hawick, UK: Cornucopia Books. 2nd ed. 2016.

Anderson, Benjamin, and Robert G. Ousterhout. Palmyra 1885. The Wolfe Expedition and the Photographs of John Henry Haynes. Hawick, UK: Cornucopia Books. 2016.

The textual records of the Haynes Collection consist mainly of his journals from trips to Greece, Turkey, and the Near East, including the Wolfe Expedition to Mesopotamia, 1884-1885. In addition, there are numerous photographs, most taken by Haynes, but some purchased (including photographs by William James Stillman). There are also personal documents, the catalog of his library, lists of photographs taken or collected by Haynes, and documents regarding his memorial.

The collection was compiled in 1975–77 primarily by Diane Elizabeth Taylor, a doctoral student at the University of Chicago, as part of her research on the Nippur excavations. In her unpublished manuscript "In Search of the Nippur Archives," she relates how she tracked down documents regarding the Nippur expedition and found textual material at the American School of Oriental Research in Jerusalem and the University of Pennsylvania Archives, in the attic of Clarence Stanley Fisher's family home and in the Peach family residences (Hannah Peach was Haynes' sister). A second donation of material in 2001 came from the Olsen family. The five series in this collection comprise Haynes' journals (1881–87), his personal papers (official documents and correspondence), memorial documents, maps, and photographs. Maps, photo albums, and large images are filed with oversized material.

Additional documents pertaining to Haynes may be found in the Nippur Expedition Records. John Henry Haynes photographs are also found at the Documentation Center of the Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture at the Fine Arts Library, Harvard University; and at Cornell University Library, Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections.

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.

Form(s)/Genre(s)

• Maps
• Photographs
• Travel photography

Geographic Name(s)

• Istanbul (Turkey)
• Greece -- Antiquities
• Baghdad (Iraq)
• Aksaray (Turkey)
• Afyonkarahisar (province)
• Damascus (Syria)
• Boğazköy (Turkey)
• Eflatun Pınar (inhabited place)
• Athens (Greece) -- Antiquities
• Kayseri (inhabited place)
• Konya (Turkey)
• Malatya Ili (Turkey)
• Nippur (deserted settlement)
• Palmyra
• Tigris River
• Euphrates River
• Ürgüp (Turkey)
• Cappadocia (Turkey)
• Phrygia (general region)
• Sultan Han (Kayseri Ili, Turkey)
• Zincirli (Gaziantep İli, Turkey)
• Turkey
• Assos
• Mesopotamia

Personal Name(s)

• Stillman, William James
• Chesney, Francis Rawdon
• Fisher, Clarence Stanley, 1876-1941
• Bonfils, Felix
• Haynes, John Henry
• Hilprecht, Hermann Volrath
• Peters, John P. (John Punnett), 1852-1921
• Sebah, Pascal
• Ward, William Hayes, Rev. Dr.
• Ware, William R. (William Robert)
• Berggren, Guillaume
• Sterrett, John Robert Sitlington
• Pepper, William
• Osman, Hamdi Bey, 1842-1910

Subject(s)

• Iraq -- Antiquities
• Excavations (Archaeology)
• Architecture, Classical
• Architecture, ancient
• Archaeological expeditions
• Babylon Exploration Fund
• Wolfe Expedition to Babylonia, 1884-85
• University of Pennsylvania. Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology
• Robert College, Istanbul
• Antiquities

The standard size records (all documents, photographic prints, and drawings up to 11x17 inches) in this collection have been digitized and may be accessed via this finding aid. Each folder has been scanned as a multi-page PDF; the contents presented in the original order. The PDFs have been labeled with the collection number (PU-Mu. 1016), the box number, and the folder number (i.e. PUMu1016_01_01). Oversize plans and drawings, as well as photographic negatives, have not been scanned.

If you wish to publish an image, please contact archives@pennmuseum.org to obtain a publication-quality scan produced by the Penn Museum Photo Studio.

As a historical resource, some items within this collection may include language and imagery which is offensive, oppressive and may cause upset. The use of this language and imagery is not condoned by the Penn Museum, but we are committed to providing equal and open access to this material as well as preservation of the original context of the material. We recognize that we may not always make the right decision and welcome feedback from all sources so that we can learn and adjust our practices. Please contact archives@pennmuseum.org with any questions or concerns.