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Our Dark Materials: Rediscovering an Egyptian Collection

Heywood Walter Seton-Karr

(1859-1938)

The British soldier, explorer, and amateur archaeologist Heywood Seton-Karr was particularly interested in stone tool technologies. He located "lost" flint mines in the eastern Egyptian desert, excavating extensive extraction and processing sites near Fayum and at Wadi El-Sheikh “with the help of H. E. Johnson and the Arabs in 1896.” Harry Peterson, Stanford's first museum curator, wrote to Seton-Karr thanking him for his "especially valuable" contribution, sharing "Mrs. S [Jane Stanford] often speaks of the interest shown by you in sending the implements to a museum so far distant."

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(1876-1941)
Harry Peterson was appointed by Jane Stanford to be the first curator of the Leland Stanford Junior Memorial University Museum, by then known as the Stanford University Museum of Fine Arts, in 1899. He held the position until 1917. Peterson organized the museum, including the Egyptian Gallery, during its formative period and is responsible for the first catalogue of museum holdings, made in 1916-1917. He corresponded with many donors, including Heywood Seton-Karr. Peterson loved history, especially California history, and was an important figure in American museology, but he was not a trained historian, art historian, or archaeologist. His artifact identifications are likely informed by first-hand knowledge of collections provenance and institutional history.
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1. Jane Lathrop Stanford
  (1828-1905)
  Jane Stanford supported her son Leland Stanford Jr.'s interest in archaeology and antiquities during his life and continued collecting in his memory after his death at the age of fifteen. When her husband, Leland Stanford, was alive, they both acquired and donated items from Egypt and other places for the Leland Stanford Junior Memorial University Museum. Her work continued after her husband's death, taking her on two trips to Egypt to network with dealers and acquire antiquities in person. Stanford's personal secretary, Bertha Berner, joined her for both trips: the first in 1901, the second in the winter of 1903/1904. Stanford worked closely with Harry Peterson, the first curator of the university's museum.
2. Heywood Walter Seton-Karr
  (1859-1938)
  The British soldier, explorer, and amateur archaeologist Heywood Seton-Karr was particularly interested in stone tool technologies. He located "lost" flint mines in the eastern Egyptian desert, excavating extensive extraction and processing sites near Fayum and at Wadi El-Sheikh “with the help of H. E. Johnson and the Arabs in 1896.” Harry Peterson, Stanford's first museum curator, wrote to Seton-Karr thanking him for his "especially valuable" contribution, sharing "Mrs. S [Jane Stanford] often speaks of the interest shown by you in sending the implements to a museum so far distant."

(1859-1938)

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(1876-1941)

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(1859-1938)

(1876-1941)