The Penn Museum has had a long history of fieldwork in the MesoAmerican area, including the work by Robert Burkitt in the Highlands of Guatemala, 1908-1934, excavations at Piedras Negras, Guatemala, 1931-1939, and the world-famous excavations at Tikal, Guatemala, 1956-1970.  The records of this work, including letters, field notes, drawings, and photographs, are housed in the Museum Archives.  The presentation featured a number of original materials from these and other projects, including Tatiana Proskouriakoff’s earliest Maya work; she was hired by the museum in 1936, which started her Maya career and early photography from Mexico and Guatemala, including photographs by Désiré Charnay, Teobert Maler, and Alfred P. Maudslay.  The work of artists Annie Hunter, who worked with Maudslay and M. Louise Baker, Museum Artist, 1908-1936, were also featured.

            Alex Pezzati, Senior Archivist, Penn Museum, obtained his BA in Anthropology from Penn.  He worked on several excavations in the Maya area, including at Copan, with former Penn professors Robert Sharer and Wendy Ashmore.  He has worked in the archives since 1987, and became the head of the department in 2002.