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telligent woman, a remarkably successful fund-raiser and social in®uence, and a competent curator of Egyptian artifacts as well (Darnell 1970:83; Kuklick 1996:60–63; Jacknis 2000:6–7; Danien and King, this volume). She had been born in Paris of American parents and raised in France and Mexico. In her early twenties she settled in Philadelphia and married Cornelius Stevenson, a wealthy lawyer. During the 1880s she joined with prominent Philadelphia gentlemen in their enthusiasm for Egyptian antiquities and Egyptology and soon became a major force in the Babylonian Exploration Fund, Pepper’s American Exploration Society, the University Museum’s support for Egyptian , Mediterranean, and Near Eastern archaeology, and promotion of the University Museum (Kuklick 1998:61–62). She came to the attention of the national anthropological community through her services at the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893 under the directorship of Putnam. Furthermore, through her close friendships with Zelia Nuttall and Phoebe Hearst—who shared both her outlook as a socially prominent woman and the cosmopolitanism derived from time spent in Mexico and Europe—Stevenson brought a global perspective to the world of museum patronage in Philadelphia ( Jacknis 2000:6–9). Darnell has suggested that she was “more interested in the material artifacts of exotic cultures than in the broad panorama of human history” that concerned more professionally oriented ¤gures such as Brinton (Darnell 1970:83). If “exotic” is understood to mean Old World, Mediterranean civilizations, this judgment is essentially accurate—and equally applicable to most members of the University Museum board. But it was her close relationship with Pepper, from at least 1889 until his sudden death in 1898, that gave particular force to her presence in the museum. William Pepper, whose wife was an invalid and who had a reputation as an adulterer and “charlatan,” clearly had great attraction for Stevenson, and at his unexpected death in 1898 she endured a serious psychological crisis (Kuklick 1996:61). But Stevenson was also a brilliant aid to Pepper in fundraising for the museum, and he depended on her for organization, ideas, and constant emotional support. They came to see the museum as their joint project and common fate: “Never will you give up your quest for a Museum, and never shall I give up helping you according to my feeble powers,” he assured her. “I should look upon you as false, damned & lost forever did you forsake your great work. I am sure that God will send us some fat subscriptions & then we shall toast each other in a magnum of champagne” (Pepper to Stevenson, spring [n.d.], 1893, UPM). Frequently comparing their prog16 Curtis M. Hinsley ress to Putnam in Cambridge, they buoyed each other at low times: “I am so disgusted with the lack of intelligent interest among our people [in Philadelphia ],” he wrote. “But no, that is not fair—it is only because such interest in things scienti¤c & artistic here is too young & too limited to justify our expectations of any spontaneous movement. It will all come. We can wait” (Pepper to Stevenson, 24 February 1893, UPM). In the meantime, they treasured their late-night communications (“These long silent hours of the night are our only refuge & solace”—[Pepper to Stevenson, 4 July 1893, UPM]) and their rare times alone: “Dear Friend—Can it be but a week since we were in the Plaisance [of the Chicago World’s Fair]—among the Javanese—just turning the tip top point of the Ferris Wheel—it all seems a part of another life. . . . come home before long. But stay—Stay while results can be accomplished by you” (Pepper to Stevenson, 24 September 1893, UPM). The Chicago Fair was a great hope and opportunity for Stevenson in particular , since her presence for several months at the Exposition gave the Philadelphia group entree to a national community and contact with individuals such as Putnam, Franz Boas, George Dorsey, and the Washington anthropologists. Stevenson seems to have realized (and convinced Pepper) that Boas, in particular, represented the scienti¤c future of anthropology; at her insistence Pepper made serious efforts to arrange a joint appointment for him between the Wistar Institute and the University Museum. He reported hopefully on progress on Boas and obtaining collections from the Fair: Dr. Boaz [sic] is free—He has left Clark University—He is open to our offer unless Putnam has secured him for the Columbian Museum. We might have had him instead of Abbott or Culin—Great God—to think of it. Can...

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