H. U. Hall Siberian Expedition records

Henry Usher Hall was an American anthropologist who joined his first expedition in 1914. He traveled down the Yenisei River to the Kara Sea in Siberia with Polish anthropologist Maria Antonina Czaplicka. They were accompanied by ornithologist Maud Doria Haviland and artist Dora Curtis.

Hall served as curator of the General Ethnology section of the Penn Museum from 1915 to 1935. He was responsible for the establishment of the African section at the Museum.

Hall had profound interest in prehistoric archaeology and conducted early research at Dordogne, France in the summer of 1923 while a student at the American School of Prehistoric Research. He followed up in this field with special work in London in 1933.

Following his retirement from the Penn Museum, Hall conducted research on the continent of Africa in Sierra Leone into the Sherbo people. On his return from Sierra Leone, Hall published in 1938. This book included an account of the secret Poro society of the Sherbro men.

Hall was a frequent contributor to the Museum Journal.

Maria Antonina Czaplicka was a Polish anthropologist whose work focused on the aboriginal peoples of northwest Siberia. In 1914, she became the first woman ever to lead an anthropological expedition.

Czaplicka left Poland in 1910 to study at the London School of Economics under C. G. Seligman and at Somerville College, Oxford under R. R. Marett. Encouraged by Marett, Czaplicka prepared a major study of the native Siberian peoples, culminating in her book, Aboriginal Siberia. This literary research prepared her for research in the field, and in 1914 Czaplicka set out for Siberia in charge of a joint expedition between the Pitts River and University Museums.

Czaplicka chose to survey the Yenisei province of northwestern Siberia, and she was accompanied by anthropologist Henry U. Hall of the University Museum, who served as curator of the General Ethnology section from 1915 to 1935 and who helped edit Czaplicka's first book while at the London School of Economics. Czaplicka was also joined briefly by ornithologist Maud Haviland and artist Dora Curtis.

Following the 1915 completion of the expedition, Czaplicka returned to England to become the first woman to lecture at Oxford. As well, Czaplicka toured American universities, provided intelligence for the British government during the War, and promoted the independence of Polish and other Eastern European states.

Czaplicka died tragically early in 1921. Her death was ruled a suicide by poison.

The textual records from the Siberian Expedition consist of .25 linear feet of material divided into the following four series: Catalogs, Reports and Publications, Correspondence, and Photographs.

The series Catalogs includes a catalog of the ethnographical collection created in Siberia for the Museum, as well as a list of photographs, glass-plate negatives, and film negatives from the expedition.

Reports and Publications comprises a scrapbook of news clippings about Czaplicka compiled by H. U. Hall (also included is a preservation photocopy), a report by Hall on the expedition, a map of the itinerary, and Hall's written plans for a book about the expedition.

The correspondence consists of letters regarding the collection, particularly the bequest to Hall of Czaplicka's manuscripts in 1921, inquiries about the collection, and the recovery of Hall's papers. For correspondence between Hall and George B. Gordon, Director of the Museum, see Director's Office Records.

Photographs includes a complete set of field photographs taken by Hall. Prints can be found in Special Collections—Photographic Archives—Standard Size Prints—Asia. The negatives can be found in the photographic archives by number. Includes two panoramic views of Freetown, Sierra Leone taken by local photographer A. Liskcarew, collected by Hall while on the expedition.

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.

Preferred Citation: [Item name]. Box [Box number]. H. U. Hall Siberian expedition records. Penn Museum Archives. Accessed [Date accessed].

For Henry Usher Hall's records as curator, see Henry Usher Hall collection. See Sierra Leone expedition records for Hall's Sherbro research.

Form(s)/Genre(s)

• Faculty papers
• Photographs

Geographic Name(s)

• Siberia (Russia)
• Sierra Leone

Personal Name(s)

• Hall, Henry Usher, 1876-1944
• Czaplicka, Maria Antonina

Subject(s)

• Ethnology
• Archaeological expeditions

Hall, Henry Usher. "The Siberian Expedition" in The Museum Journal, Vol. VII, No. 1. March 1916.

Hall, Henry Usher. "Shamanist Bird Figures of the Yenisei Ostyak" in The Museum Journal, Vol. X, No. 4. December 1919.

Czaplicka, Maria Antonina. My Siberian Year. 1916.

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. 1057), the box number, and the folder number (i.e. PUMu1057_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.

Some items in this collection may describe culturally sensitive topics, document human remains or include names and/or images of deceased individuals. Records might contain language that is outdated, offensive, or incorrect. We include these to provide historic context for archival materials and enable access and inquiry. Contents may not reflect current views and values of the Penn Museum.