Adria H. Katz Oceanian Section records

Adria Holmes Katz was born on April 28, 1935, in Springfield, Massachusetts. She graduated from Radcliffe College (later incorporated into Harvard University) in 1956 with a B.A., and subsequently received a Woodrow Wilson Graduate Fellowship to study at Oxford University, graduating in 1958 with a Bachelor of Letters. She then began a Ph.D. program in Philosophy at Harvard University, but ultimately withdrew in 1964. She married her husband, Stanley Katz, in 1960, and together they moved to Madison, Wisconsin, and later Chicago, Illinois. While in Chicago, Katz began volunteering as a research assistant at the Field Museum of Natural History under the supervision of Associate Curator of Oceanic Archaeology John Terrell, where she studied and catalogued a large collection of clubs from the Solomon Islands.

Katz began her long career at the Penn Museum in 1978 after her family relocated to Princeton, New Jersey. She first volunteered as a research assistant within the Oceania Section, during which time she worked alongside Curator Bill Davenport in choosing and researching objects for the museum's Polynesia Gallery, opened in 1982. In 1983, she was promoted to Keeper of Collections of the Oceanian Section, a part-time position, which she held until her retirement in 2020. During her time as keeper, Katz worked on a number of major exhibits, notably "The Dayaks: Peoples of the Borneo Rainforest", which opened in February of 1989, and an extensive renovation of the Polynesia Gallery in 2006. She also published several research articles, both in the Museum's Expedition Magazine and in outside academic journals. Katz passed away in 2025 at the age of 90. Her two children, Derek and Marion Holmes Katz, are both professors.

The records of Adria Holmes Katz include administrative records, correspondence, collections information, and records relating to the several exhibits planned during Katz's time at the Penn Museum (1978-2020). The records were gathered from Katz's office after her retirement, and originally included much superfluous material, such as computer program instructions, database printouts, and duplicate copies of email correspondence, which were discarded. Some files pertaining to the Oceanian section were turned over to the succeeding Keeper. All series range from 1978-2020.

The Administrative series contains Katz's biographical and professional records, documents related to the function and history of the Keeper position, and annual reports prepared by Katz concerning the Oceanian Section, organized by date in chronological order. This series also includes work plans for the Section, records relating to volunteers, students, and visitors to the Museum under Katz's supervision, and documentation of a large interpretive planning project completed in 1997.

The Correspondence series contains general correspondence grouped by decade in chronological order, followed by correspondence arranged by name (individual or organization) in alphabetical order, and finally topical correspondence in alphabetical order.

The Collections series is arranged alphabetically and contains records concerning portions of the objects collections of the Oceanian Section.

Finally, the Exhibits series contains records from the exhibits to which Katz contributed, grouped by exhibit in chronological order, ending with a small file containing miscellaneous exhibit records.

Publication Information: University of Pennsylvania: Penn Museum Archives,

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