Lost Treasures Rediscovered

Dozens of ancient coins, Babylonian bas-reliefs, Assyrian and Egyptian monuments, and Hittite tablets found a home at Harvard in 1903 thanks largely to the generosity of one man, Jacob Henry Schiff.

A successful railroad financier, Schiff began purchasing collections for the Semitic Museum long before its official dedication 82 years ago. His goal was to create an institution that would counter "anti-Semitism in Europe and America by promoting a better knowledge of Semitic history and civilization," he told a gathering of the museum's patrons in 1891.

Schiff was considered the only man whose influence in American railroading equaled J.P. Morgan's. His immense wealth and power and his close friendship with then-President of the University Charles W. Eliot enabled him to gain a building for his collections on Divinity Ave.

Although he died in 1920, the more than $275,000 he contributed to the museum helped enrich collections well into the future and helped finance the acquisition of thousands of Nuzi artifacts, the museum's most important collection, in 1929.

Nuzi, a site in upper Mesopotamia, was once a provincial center of the mysterious Hurrian people whose writings continue to baffle archaeologists. The Semitic Museum's collection of Nuzi artifacts is the largest in the world, according to museum Director Frank M. Cross.

Despite the expansion of its collections, the museum experienced a general decline after Eliot's death in 1926. His successor, A. Lawrence Lowell, displayed a general coolness toward the museum and refused to provide any funding beyond what was necessary for maintenance, said Janet Tassel, an historian of the museum and life of photographer Daniel Tassel.

As a result, the museum's public exhibitions gradually declined. During World War II, the military moved into the museum building and set up a Japanese language instruction center. By 1948, the museum's collections had been stored away and nearly forgotten in the basement and the attic.

In 1958, the museum officially reopened to the public but lacked sufficient funds to display its exhibits. As a result, the University closed the public galleries and rented most of the building's space to the Center for International Affairs. Despite financial neglect by the University, the museum continued to function on a research center for Semitic studies and its collections swelled with newfound materials from excavations in the Middle East.

The protesters' bomb blast that rocked the building in 1970 led to the rediscovery of many of its long lost treasures and rekindled public interest in the museum. During the 1970's the museum recovered many artifacts that had been moved off campus or stored in other Harvard buildings.

In 1974, the Harvard football team, many of whom had been volunteers at the museum, rented trucks to recover collections of ancient coins and artifacts that had been shipped to Brandeis University in Waltham, Mass., in the 1940's. The museum's revitalization culminated with its reopening to the public to 1982.

The museum is currently engaged in several excavations, including one near the Dead Sea. A showing of Phoenicia artifacts is scheduled to open this spring.

Hundreds of visitors now browse through its exhibit halls annually. The museum is open to the public, 9:00 to 5:00, Monday through Friday.