A Man of Many Parts: The Life and Legacy of Francis Willey Kelsey

In the early 20th century, it was considered legitimate practice for archaeologists to combine fieldwork with active collecting, acquiring objects from dealers and other private collectors. In this regard, Francis Kelsey was no different from other great archaeologists of his day, including such memorable figures as Sir William Flinders Petrie and Ernst Herzfeld.

Most of the Kelsey museum's cuneiform tablets were collected for research and teaching purposes by Leroy Waterman, professor and head of the Department of Oriental Languages and Literatures (now the Department of Near Eastern Studies) at Michigan from 1915 to 1945. He directed the excavations at Seleucia-on-the-Tigris (1928–1931), where a few of the museum's tablets were found. Earlier, encouraged in a 1921 letter he received from Kelsey, Waterman had acquired a number of tablets from Edgar J. Banks. Considered an inspiration for the fictional character of Indiana Jones, Banks was the first American to climb Mt. Ararat on his quest to find Noah's Ark. When he returned to the United States in the 1920s, Cecil B. DeMille hired him as a consultant on biblically themed movies.

Emma Sachs