Rhodes Scholar organized Lenape exhibit

Lenape Indian Exhibit Figures in Rhodes ScholarshipA University of Pennsylvania student who organized an exhibit about Lenape Indians living quietly in the state is among this year's winners of Rhodes Scholarships.

Abigail P. Seldin, of Tierra Verde, Fla., curated the exhibit "Fulfilling a Prophecy: The Past and Present of the Lenape in Pennsylvania," which opened at the University of Pennsylvania Museum in September.And:Seldin, a Penn anthropology student, said she admired the survival of cultural traditions despite the difficulty involved in maintaining them in secret.

History books say the Lenape tribe left Pennsylvania by 1803, she said, but there were some who stayed behind, intermarrying with whites but quietly continuing their indigenous ways through the generations.Tierra Verde Resident Awarded Rhodes ScholarshipShe is on track to graduate from the University of Pennsylvania in May with bachelor's and masters degrees in anthropology. Seldin said her dream job is being the director of a major anthropological and archaeological museum.

Her mother, Judy Seldin-Cohen, said her daughter has been "passionate about museums since she was 10 years old."

"She's passionate about the underdog and giving a voice to the voiceless," Seldin-Cohen said.

That is why Seldin's project, "Fulfilling a Prophecy: The Past and Present of the Lenape in Pennsylvania," struck a chord with her, Seldin-Cohen said.

The exhibit opened at the University of Pennsylvania Museum in September and will run for one year.Comment:  Neither article says the Lenape exhibit was instrumental in Seldin's winning the Rhodes Scholarship. But it may have been anyway.