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Our Dark Materials: Rediscovering an Egyptian Collection

Leland Stanford

(1824-1893)

The California politician and railroad tycoon Leland Stanford supported his son's burgeoning collecting by introducing the boy to influential curators, by supporting family travels to the East Coast and Europe, and by funding his collecting. Stanford gave his son an allowance that Leland Stanford Jr. used to purchase Egyptian antiquities, among other items. After Leland Jr.'s death in 1884, Stanford and his wife, Jane Stanford, purchased Egyptian and other antiquities for the university museum they founded in their son's memory.

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(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.
Contents of this reply:
1. Leland Stanford
  (1824-1893)
  The California politician and railroad tycoon Leland Stanford supported his son's burgeoning collecting by introducing the boy to influential curators, by supporting family travels to the East Coast and Europe, and by funding his collecting. Stanford gave his son an allowance that Leland Stanford Jr. used to purchase Egyptian antiquities, among other items. After Leland Jr.'s death in 1884, Stanford and his wife, Jane Stanford, purchased Egyptian and other antiquities for the university museum they founded in their son's memory.
2. Leland Stanford Jr.
  (1868-1884)
  Born Leland DeWitt Stanford, Leland Stanford Jr. was the precocious son of Leland and Jane Stanford. He developed an early interest in archaeology, including Egyptology. Although he never traveled to Egypt himself, he purchased Egyptian antiquities from Gustave Posno and other European dealers during family trips to the continent in 1881 and 1883/1884. His tutor and biographer, Herbert Nash, describes Leland Jr. spending hours in the Egyptian Wing of the Louvre Museum in Paris, France, copying hieroglyphics and sketching artifacts. After Leland Jr.'s unexpected death in 1884 at the age of 15, his interests inspired his parents to found a museum in his honor at Leland Stanford Junior Memorial University.
3. Harry Claude Peterson
  (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.
4. Bertha Berner
  (1861-1945)
  Bertha Berner was Jane Stanford's long-time private secretary and companion. She joined Stanford on her two trips to Egypt, in 1901 and the winter of 1903/1904, and can be seen in surviving photographs of the journey. Berner's journal provides some details of the party's time in Egypt. In 1935, she published a biography of Jane Stanford titled Mrs. Leland Stanford: An Intimate Account, which also describes their travels in Egypt. For example, she recounts Stanford's enthusiasm for visiting the famous sites and the assistance Chauncey Murch provided as a guide and in selecting antiquities for the University Museum.
(1868-1884)
Born Leland DeWitt Stanford, Leland Stanford Jr. was the precocious son of Leland and Jane Stanford. He developed an early interest in archaeology, including Egyptology. Although he never traveled to Egypt himself, he purchased Egyptian antiquities from Gustave Posno and other European dealers during family trips to the continent in 1881 and 1883/1884. His tutor and biographer, Herbert Nash, describes Leland Jr. spending hours in the Egyptian Wing of the Louvre Museum in Paris, France, copying hieroglyphics and sketching artifacts. After Leland Jr.'s unexpected death in 1884 at the age of 15, his interests inspired his parents to found a museum in his honor at Leland Stanford Junior Memorial University.
Contents of this reply:
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. Leland Stanford
  (1824-1893)
  The California politician and railroad tycoon Leland Stanford supported his son's burgeoning collecting by introducing the boy to influential curators, by supporting family travels to the East Coast and Europe, and by funding his collecting. Stanford gave his son an allowance that Leland Stanford Jr. used to purchase Egyptian antiquities, among other items. After Leland Jr.'s death in 1884, Stanford and his wife, Jane Stanford, purchased Egyptian and other antiquities for the university museum they founded in their son's memory.
3. Herbert Charles Nash
  (1954-2009)
  Herbert Nash was hired by Leland and Jane Stanford to tutor Leland Stanford Jr., a post he held until the boy's death in 1884 at the age of fifteen. Nash wrote a laudatory biography of the young man, In Memoriam: Leland Stanford, Jr. It includes information about Leland Jr.'s travels and emerging interests in archaeology and antiquities. Nash also wrote a short, descriptive guide to the Leland Jr. "Museum" (as the boy called the installation of his collections in his parents' San Francisco mansion), which was recreated in the memorial rooms of the University Museum when it opened in 1893.
4. Gustave Posno Gustave Posno was a Dutch dealer and collector active in Cairo, Egypt, during the later nineteenth century. A jeweler by trade, Posno assembled a substantial collection of Egyptian antiquities, many of which he sold at a major auction in Cairo in 1874 and in Paris in 1883--it is for these auctions he is principally known. Items from Posno's collection are among the earliest to have entered Stanford's holdings. Leland Stanford Jr. purchased them in Paris during the family's 1883-1884 European trip.
(1832-1904)
Luigi di Cesnola was the first curator of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, serving from 1879 to 1904. Life as a soldier, educator, and archaeologist prepared him for this role. Leland Stanford was a patron of the Met, and Cesnola greatly encourage Leland Stanford Jr.'s growing interest in Old World archaeology during the boy's 1883 New York trip and provided a letter of introduction for him to take to museums in Europe. After Leland Jr.'s death, Cesnola sold a large collection of duplicate materials from the Met to Leland Sr. The majority were Cypriot, but some Egyptian antiquities were included.
Contents of this reply:
1. Leland Stanford
  (1824-1893)
  The California politician and railroad tycoon Leland Stanford supported his son's burgeoning collecting by introducing the boy to influential curators, by supporting family travels to the East Coast and Europe, and by funding his collecting. Stanford gave his son an allowance that Leland Stanford Jr. used to purchase Egyptian antiquities, among other items. After Leland Jr.'s death in 1884, Stanford and his wife, Jane Stanford, purchased Egyptian and other antiquities for the university museum they founded in their son's memory.
2. Leland Stanford Jr.
  (1868-1884)
  Born Leland DeWitt Stanford, Leland Stanford Jr. was the precocious son of Leland and Jane Stanford. He developed an early interest in archaeology, including Egyptology. Although he never traveled to Egypt himself, he purchased Egyptian antiquities from Gustave Posno and other European dealers during family trips to the continent in 1881 and 1883/1884. His tutor and biographer, Herbert Nash, describes Leland Jr. spending hours in the Egyptian Wing of the Louvre Museum in Paris, France, copying hieroglyphics and sketching artifacts. After Leland Jr.'s unexpected death in 1884 at the age of 15, his interests inspired his parents to found a museum in his honor at Leland Stanford Junior Memorial University.
(1859-1936)
Timothy Hopkins was a protégé of Jane and Leland Stanford and an influential early Stanford University trustee. He also was a keen collector and acquired cultural items from around the world for the growing collections of the University Museum. Hopkins subscribed to the Egypt Exploration Fund. He joined in 1900 or 1901 by paying $125 for a “life membership.” The EEF sent him many items, anticipating they would be donated to Stanford's museum. Hopkins also took at least two trips to Egypt and likely purchased items there. His handwritten journal mentions stays at the iconic Shepheard’s Hotel in Cairo in both 1892/1893 and 1928.
Contents of this reply:
1. Leland Stanford
  (1824-1893)
  The California politician and railroad tycoon Leland Stanford supported his son's burgeoning collecting by introducing the boy to influential curators, by supporting family travels to the East Coast and Europe, and by funding his collecting. Stanford gave his son an allowance that Leland Stanford Jr. used to purchase Egyptian antiquities, among other items. After Leland Jr.'s death in 1884, Stanford and his wife, Jane Stanford, purchased Egyptian and other antiquities for the university museum they founded in their son's memory.
2. 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.
(1954-2009)
Herbert Nash was hired by Leland and Jane Stanford to tutor Leland Stanford Jr., a post he held until the boy's death in 1884 at the age of fifteen. Nash wrote a laudatory biography of the young man, In Memoriam: Leland Stanford, Jr. It includes information about Leland Jr.'s travels and emerging interests in archaeology and antiquities. Nash also wrote a short, descriptive guide to the Leland Jr. "Museum" (as the boy called the installation of his collections in his parents' San Francisco mansion), which was recreated in the memorial rooms of the University Museum when it opened in 1893.
Contents of this reply:
1. Leland Stanford Jr.
  (1868-1884)
  Born Leland DeWitt Stanford, Leland Stanford Jr. was the precocious son of Leland and Jane Stanford. He developed an early interest in archaeology, including Egyptology. Although he never traveled to Egypt himself, he purchased Egyptian antiquities from Gustave Posno and other European dealers during family trips to the continent in 1881 and 1883/1884. His tutor and biographer, Herbert Nash, describes Leland Jr. spending hours in the Egyptian Wing of the Louvre Museum in Paris, France, copying hieroglyphics and sketching artifacts. After Leland Jr.'s unexpected death in 1884 at the age of 15, his interests inspired his parents to found a museum in his honor at Leland Stanford Junior Memorial University.
2. Leland Stanford
  (1824-1893)
  The California politician and railroad tycoon Leland Stanford supported his son's burgeoning collecting by introducing the boy to influential curators, by supporting family travels to the East Coast and Europe, and by funding his collecting. Stanford gave his son an allowance that Leland Stanford Jr. used to purchase Egyptian antiquities, among other items. After Leland Jr.'s death in 1884, Stanford and his wife, Jane Stanford, purchased Egyptian and other antiquities for the university museum they founded in their son's memory.
3. 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.

(1824-1893)

This page has paths:

This page has replies:

(1828-1905)

(1868-1884)

(1832-1904)

(1859-1936)

(1954-2009)

Contents of this reply:

(1824-1893)

(1868-1884)

(1832-1904)

(1859-1936)

(1954-2009)