Francis J. Dallett, 79; retired Penn archivist

Francis James "Jim" Dallett, 79, a retired archivist at the University of Pennsylvania, died of heart disease last Monday at Sharon Hospital in Sharon, Conn.

Mr. Dallett, formerly of Villanova, worked at Penn from 1971 until retiring in 1984.

"It was his dream job," son Matthew said.

Before joining Penn, Mr. Dallett had been librarian at the Athenaeum in Philadelphia from 1955 to 1962; assistant director of the American Museum in Britain, in Bath, for seven years ending in 1969; and an archivist at Princeton University for two years.

He was involved in the promotion and preservation of several historical sites in the Philadelphia area and was an officer with the Woodlands Cemetery Company and the Radnor and Chester County Historical Societies.

He was a founding board member of the Independence Seaport Museum in Philadelphia and was vice president emeritus of the French Benevolent Society of Philadelphia and the Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania. He was also active with the Library Company of Philadelphia - his family had been members since 1817.

During the planning stages for the 1976 Bicentennial celebration, Mr. Dallett told a reporter that there was "a need to mobilize regional history-minded citizens to present a stirring, dramatic and meaningful birthday party."

As an authority on the history of the French in America, he organized a lecture series at the Athenaeum about Joseph Bonaparte and other French emigres who settled in Philadelphia. Mr. Dallett's own ancestors came here from colonial Haiti in 1793 to escape a slave rebellion that had gripped the French possession.

A graduate of Radnor High School, he served in the Army from 1946 to 1947, and was stationed in Germany. After he left the military, he earned a bachelor's degree from Haverford College in 1950 and went to work for the State Department. He spent two years in posts in Germany and Holland before returning to Philadelphia to attend the University of Pennsylvania, where he earned a master's degree in history in 1955.

After retiring from Penn in 1984, he and his wife, Charlotte Houston Dallett, moved to Taconic, Conn. He kept up his numerous memberships in Philadelphia organizations, his son said, and visited often.

In addition to his wife of 51 years and son Matthew, Mr. Dallett is survived by another son, Richard; daughters Athenaide Hinman and Estelina; and a brother.

Funeral services were private.