Professor of Latin and Literature, Francis Kelsey, began collecting artifacts in 1893 when he purchased one-hundred artifacts from a Jesuit Priest in Tunisia, while the first excavation he embarked on was in 1924. Kelsey wanted to give his students a more hands-on learning experience by having them read inscriptions off of artifacts rather than from a text-book.
Prior to Francis Kelsey's position, Henry Simmons Frieze had taught Latin and Literature during the rise of Darwinism. Frieze was also a curator for the university’s first museum: The Gallery of Art and History. The museum initially housed a variety of collections, from plaster casts of artifacts to stuffed birds. The museum represented a variety of fields of study: zoology, paleontology, anthropology, archeology, etc until the collections were dispersed by their fields into separate building. Frieze championed the idea of merging the natural sciences and humanities together because he believed it created enlightened thinkers. Thinkers who could not only represent the newly established University of Michigan but the State of Michigan.
Francis Kelsey came from a modest family who owned a farm but from their own academic pursuits and affiliations encouraged Kelsey in his study of philology. They saw the benefits of education, for Kelsey’s father had aspired to become a physician while his mother was the sister of John Townsend, who was an academic and an abolitionist.
Kelsey gained the financial support of wealthy friends across America and corresponded with political leaders such as Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, and Herbert Hoover. Thus, Kelsey was able to purchase artifacts: from Greek pottery, Roman mosaics, tombstones, to Latin inscriptions. In 1924, Kelsey and his collogues created the Near Eastern Research Fund and the university provided the financial means to excavate abroad. The collections in the Kelsey Museum of Archeology could not have been possible without the sponsorship of wealthy individuals and the University of Michigan, positions of power. Thus, the museum asserted scholarship.
The Near Eastern Fund allowed excavations to take place at Antioch of Pisiada (Turkey), Carthage (Tunisia), Karanis (Egypt), and Selecuia on the Tigris (Iraq). Artifacts were sent back to Michigan through partage, the division of artifacts based on the decision of each nation’s antiquities’ department. Though there have been some circumstances where museums have ignored these regulations, concealed and illegally took out artifacts from nations, Francis Kelsey strongly disapproved of illegal activity. For example, when a young man volunteered for a consecutive year to dig at Carthage but arrived early to do so without authorization, Kelsey threatened to close to the entire site down. Unfortunately, it was the same volunteer who bribed customs not to check his bag and illegally exported artifacts out of Tunisia.
Nonetheless, it is important to highlight Kelsey's respect for the regulations because it exemplifies his good character and intentions. He was also a humanitarian and one of his primary concerns was to bring attention to refugees of the Great War as he traveled abroad to ancient sites. He was also a part of the Near East Relief Committee that fought against the Ottoman persecution and massacre of Armenians, and also held the position of secretary to the Michigan chapter of the Belgian Relief Committee, an organization that brought aid to children affected by the war. Kelsey was professor who not only cared about his students but also about people across national borders.
The Kelsey Museum of Archeology's is an example of a museum that had the good intention of educating the University of Michigan's students and residential population through a hands-on experience. However, even with good intentions, institutions can exist under a structure that was designed for something else. The establishment of the musuem was in the wake of nationalism and scientific inquiry across the United States, perpetuated by European beliefs and a history of the assertion of power that is traced back to Rome, Greece, and Mesoptamia. Thus, the display of an artifact is a representation of intellectual and national power. And this is especially true if one believes that America's history is tied to these ancient artifacts, yet, leaves out the narrative of the present populations' residing in the region where these artifacts were uncovered.
"Do university museums that display ancient artifacts still exemplify a form of power, as did institutions in ancient Mesopotamia?"
Thus, Kelsey followed to era when museum artifacts began to be seen not only as aesthetically pleasing but as scientific data purposed for nationalism and the advancement of technology.
However, one could argue that the regulations are unfair. The ability to excavate and export artifacts back to the United States from other nations shows the uneven dispersion of power between nations.