How a 1950s television show turned museum artifacts into a popular guessing game
In short: What in the World was a weekly half-hour television program that aired for 14 years starting in 1951. This archival footage captures the show's unique format, where experts identified mysterious artifacts from the Penn Museum collection, offering a rare glimpse into mid-century public engagement with archaeology.
Moderated by Froelich Rainey, the program featured panelists Carleton Coon, Ralph Linton, and Alfred Kidder II. The show challenged these experts to identify diverse objects, such as a 19th-century Siberian iron bird used on shaman robes by the Tungus people, or a 100 AD ivory carving of winged figures from the Bering Sea.
The artifacts featured span global history, ranging from a 12th-15th century pottery jar lid from Colombia to a 4th-6th century Byzantine door ornament found in Palestine. By presenting items like a late 19th-century Indonesian shell armband or a 1940s Brazilian clay figurine, the show brought the complexities of material culture to a wide television audience.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: "What in the World?" #3 (1952 circa)
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