Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology facts for kids
Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology, housed in Manning Hall.
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| Established | 1955 |
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| Location |
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| Type | Teaching museum |
| Owner | Brown University |
The Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology is a special museum at Brown University. It's a place where students and teachers learn and do research. The museum has a gallery that is about 2,000 square feet (186 m²) in Manning Hall, which is on Brown's campus in Providence, Rhode Island. The museum also has a big research center for its collections in Bristol, Rhode Island, which is nearby.
Contents
About the Museum
How the Museum Started
The Haffenreffer Museum began with the private collection of a man named Rudolf F. Haffenreffer. He was an industrialist, which means he owned factories. In 1917, he bought a large property in Bristol called Mount Hope Grant. This land was once the home of Metacomet, a famous leader of the Wampanoag people.
Rudolf Haffenreffer found many old objects on his property. He also collected more artifacts during his trips to the Western United States. In 1928, he built a museum called the Haffenreffer Museum of the American Indian to keep his collection.
After he passed away in 1954, his family gave his collection and the estate to Brown University. The museum then grew to include objects from places like the Arctic, Africa, and the Pacific.
Museum Locations and Plans
In 2006, the Haffenreffer Museum opened a gallery in Manning Hall. This building is right in the middle of Brown University's campus.
In 2019, the museum announced a new plan. They want to move all their collections from Bristol to a single place in Providence. This new spot would be close to the Brown campus. A grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation is helping with this big move.
What the Museum Does
The Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology is a teaching museum for Brown University. It helps people think creatively about different cultures. The museum wants everyone to understand the world better by looking at objects from the past and present.
It gives students and teachers chances to work with the collections. They can learn through objects and special programs. These programs happen in classrooms, in the CultureLab, and in the exhibitions at Manning Hall.
Exhibitions and Events
The museum's gallery in Manning Hall often changes its exhibits. These shows highlight objects from the museum's collections from all over the world. They also feature work by Brown University students and staff.
The museum also has many public events. These include lectures, performances, festivals, and activities for schools. There are programs for people of all ages to enjoy.
Educational Programs
The museum offers many learning programs for Brown University students. These often take place in the CultureLab, which is part of the Manning Gallery.
The museum also provides special programs for local schools. Plus, it hosts many public lectures for everyone to attend.
Museum Collections
Amazing Artifacts
The museum has about one million items in its collection! It has a very strong collection of objects from Native North America. But it also has important items from other parts of the world, like Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia.
Here are some examples of what they have:
- About 900,000 old objects found by researchers in Alaska.
- Around 70,000 old objects and 6,000 cultural items from other parts of North America.
- About 2,500 old objects and 3,000 cultural items from South and Central America.
- Around 40 old objects and 3,000 cultural items from Africa. Some of these were made by artists today.
- About 400 old objects and 400 cultural items from Europe.
- Around 1,100 cultural items from Asia.
- About 1,500 cultural items from Oceania.
Special Images and Photos
The Haffenreffer Museum has a large collection of photographs. These include pictures from the museum's founder and images from different research trips. The museum's library also has about 10,000 books.
Some important photo collections include:
- The Herbert Spinden Photo Archive: This has over 20,000 pictures and papers. They are about old sites and cultures in Central America from the early 1900s. Many show important places that look different or are gone today.
- The Kensinger Collection: This has over 5,000 photos and notes from anthropologist Ken Kensinger. He studied the Cashinahua people in Peru from 1960 to 1996.
- The Conti Collection: This has over 3,000 photos from the late 1950s to early 1970s. They were taken by a photographer named Gino Conti. Many show the Hopi, Apache, and Navaho reservations, and Mexico.
- Photos of ancient rock carvings (petroglyphs) from the Southwest. These were taken by Salvatore Mancini.
- Artworks like lithographs and serigraphs by and about the Inuit, the Ainu, Plains Indians, and many others.
See also
- John Whipple Potter Jenks
