There is a comparatively unimpressive building situated on Divinity Avenue, bearing the equally unimpressive name. "Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology." In fact, so prosaic is the appearance of the edifice that, in looks, it has often been compared with a typical. New England shirt factory. In this instance, however, looks and name are deceiving, for within the four walls of that structure are enough "finests" to phase the most blatant, peep show touter. Who would guess, for example, that there are more dead queens residing in that Museum than there are live ones in Europe today?

Fortunately or unfortunately, as the case may be, the history of the Peabody dates back to an idea conceived by a Yale man. In 1856 Professor Othniel C. Marsh, impressed by his discoveries in an insignificant, little shell-heap in Newark, New Jersey, wrote to his uncle, George Peabody of London, that he felt it might be a good idea if a museum of American archacology and rthnology were established in this country. Peabody, having already intended to give something to Harvard, gathered in the suggestion with open arms, the result being that on October 16, 1866, a deed of trust conveying to a board of trustees the sum of $150,000 for the endowment of a "Museum and Professorship of American Archaeology and Ethnology in connection with Harvard University," was accepted.

Sea-Captains Aid Museum

In the next few decades Peabody Museum made great strides, being particularly indebted to the rough, salty New England ship masters of the period, who, through their trading packets, tea clippers and whaling ships, brought home souvenirs wrought by peoples and races in the East and South Seas untouched by the white man. Many a sea-captain must have been surprised to find, on returning home, that some basket or spear-head which he had picked up as a mere curio was sought after by the scolarly directors of a pioneer museum as an item both priceless and probably never again to be duplicated.

By title, the Peabody is a museum. But it holds its function to be something more valuable than a picturesque exhibition of anthropological material. The ground-work of collection has been well laid, a great mass of material is in its keeping, but the Peabody is now in a transitional period designed to transform what was fundamentally an exhibition hall into a means for training students in the science of anthropology. In this conection, the Department of Anthropology is virtually inseparable from the Museum, for each moves in parallel courses, and each shares their personnel and resources. Materials for the study of anthropology are gathered chiefly by the Museum and at its expense; the administration of the Museum is in its own hands; active instruction receive their whole compensation from the Departments, their work in the Museum being voluntary. Research is, however, carried on both under the auspices of the Museum and of the Departments, but in every case each profits by the facilities and abilities of the other. The Peabody and the Department are inextricably intertwined, and the line between them is almost purely arbitrary.

Striking Items Displayed

The specimens of the Peabody which are on display form a striking collection whose richness is apparent even to the layman. Some of these, gathered over the past five years by means of 25 different expditions sent all over the world, are of particular interest. In the main hallway on the ground floor is an exhibit of Eskimo culture, which illustrates the newly - conceived, "Museum" technique of exhibiting only a few objects in a case at one time. The theory behind this is that one well placed bow and arrow or a single sled will teach more to the average observer than a case chock full of implements from which he will probably turn away in complete boredom. On the fifth floor, there is a collection of Arctic mummies donated the Museum by no less and earthy organization than the American Meatpackers' Institute. The story behind this gift is a curious one: a few years ago the Institute sent a former Anthropology 1 section man to the Arctic region to see if he could exist on meat alone. While there he gathered together these mummies, which the "Meatpackers" later presented the Museum. Near this exhibit is a collection of Peruvian mummies. Most South Americans, including many of their prominent scientists, have the superstitution that these are embalmed, but the Museum has proved that the flesh on these mummies has been merely dried up and that the superstition has no basis.

Bible Is Represented

Another exhibit is of the Ainu tribe on Yezo Island in the Japanese archipelago. These people live under Nipponese rule in an environment similar to the State of Maine's but dislike the Japanese intensely and would probably be friendly to an Allied expeditionary force. The main pastime of this race seems to be in getting inebriated on the local brands of beer and wine, and one of the most prized objects in this collection is a beard cleaner which the Ainu use to brush their beards free of liquor. Another object prized by the Peabody is the mummified body of King Shabataka, who is mentioned in the Bible in chapter 17 of the 2nd Book of Kings. On the same floor is a collection of several thousand skulls, one of the finest collections of its kind in the world. The skulls are locked in steel cabinets and along the corridor which these cases form is the building's air raid shelter where all employees will go in the event of a bombing attack. Then, on a lower floor, there are the remains selected from the contents of 300 graves excavated in the famous cemetery of Magdalenaberg, Jugoslavia, by Her Highness, the Duchess Marie Antoinette of Mecklenberg, during the early twentieth century. The Peabody bought these objects, and the Duchess's descendants, regarding them as family heirlooms, have been regretting the sale ever since.

An item for special interest is the Calaveras skull, discovered by several miners in 1866 in Calaveras County, California (the same district later celebrated in Mark Twain's poem, "The Jumping Frog of Calaveras County.) The skull was found at a depth of 130 feet in a large Middle Tertiary gravel, and, if one could trust its position, that would indicate a great age and would prove the presence in America of a race of prehistoric men older even than the Neanderthal man. A great furor raged around this question, even invading the realm of poetry as is shown by the following verses written on the subject by Bret Harte:

The Society Upon the Stanislaus

I reside at Table Mountain, and my name is Truthful James;

I am not up to small deceit, or any sinful games;

And I'll tell in simple language what I know about the row

That broke up our society upon the Stanislow.