- Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology
The Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology (formerly the Lowie Museum of Anthropology) is an anthropology
museum located in Berkeley,California . Founded in 1901 under the patronage of Phoebe Apperson Hearst, the original goal of the museum was to support systematic collecting efforts by archaeologists and ethnologists in order to support a department ofAnthropology at theUniversity of California . The Museum was originally located inSan Francisco from 1903 (open to the public as of 1911) until 1931, when it moved to the campus of theUniversity of California at Berkeley . On the Berkeley campus, the Museum was located in the former Civil Engineering Building until 1959, when it was moved to the newly builtKroeber Hall .Today the Museum functions as a research unit of the University of California and defines its mission as:
* “To collect, preserve, research, and interpret the global record of material culture, so as to promote the understanding of the history and diversity of human cultures.” [Mission Statement of the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology, http://hearstmuseum.berkeley.edu/museum/mission.html]Many of the most notable names in American anthropology have been associated with the Museum. These include the Museum’s first director Frederic Ward Putnam, the anthropologists
Alfred Kroeber ,Robert Lowie , andWilliam Bascom , and archaeologistsMax Uhle andGeorge Reisner . It was also the final residence ofIshi , who lived there from 1911 until his death in 1916.Collections
The Museum houses an estimated 3.8 million objects plus extensive documentation that includes
fieldnotes , photographs, and sound and film recordings.Major collections include:
*Approximately 9,000 California Indian
basket s, representing almost every tribe in California and all of the region's basketry techniques. The collection is housed in the Museum’s basket and textile study center and is accessible to tribal scholars and community members.* A broad collection of approximately 20,000 ancient Egyptian artifacts, with a special emphasis on
predynastic Egypt . The core of this collection comes from excavations carried out byGeorge Reisner between 1899 and 1905.* A large Peruvian collection, especially strong in
pottery andtextiles , including 9,200 objects collected byMax Uhle at the turn of the century.* Approximately 16,000 African artifacts collected under anthropologist William Bascom and his students, and from the excavations of archaeologist
J. Desmond Clark .* An important collection of Oceanic objects, including collections from the Trobriand Islands made by
Bronislaw Malinowski in the early 1900s and archaeological collections from excavations inFiji andNew Caledonia undertaken by E.W. Gifford in the 1940s and 1950s.Programs and Activities
In addition to supporting scholarly research and publication, the museum mounts exhibitions in a gallery located on the
UC Berkeley campus, sponsors public educational programs, and works with Native American communities on issues related to cultural property and repatriation.The Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology is accredited by the
American Association of Museums .References
External links
* [http://hearstmuseum.berkeley.edu Phoebe A. Hearst Museum Website]
* [http://anthropology.berkeley.edu University of California Department of Anthropology]
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