Harvard Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology

The Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology is a museum affiliated with Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, founded in 1866.

The Museum is one of the oldest and largest museums focusing on anthropological material, with a strong focus on the Americas.

The Peabody Museum collection covers archaeological, ethnographic, osteological, and archival collections from many countries.

The exhibits cover millions of years of human cultural, social, and biological history. The museum collections consist of over 1.2 million objects, thousands of documents, 2,000 maps, and over 500,000 photographs.

The museum was established as a gift from George Peabody, a wealthy financier in 1866.

Ngady aMwaash, Kuba Royal Mask, ca. 1890-1910

Peabody Museums 

There are several Harvard Museums and other Peabody museums that should not be confused:

• Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology
• Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History
• Peabody Essex Museum
• George Peabody House Museums
• Robert S. Peabody Institute of Archaeology
• Peabody Museum of Salem
• Old Peabody Library
• Peabody Historical Library Museum

Plaque depicting chief flanked by two warriors, Benin, 1550-1650

Highlights of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology

• Hopi Paho, for Mamzrauti
• Coclé gold plaque, from Panama
• Bronze plaque from the Benin Empire
• Astrolabe from Persia, 1620
• Hemenway Codex (Huixquilucan Codex), Mexico, c. 1660-1750
• African Mask Collection
• Arms and Armor Collection
• Powder flasks from North Africa
• South American Collection
• Headdress Collection from South America
• Artifacts from the World’s Columbian Exposition, 1893
• Meso-American Collection
• Native American Collection

Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology

• Name:                   Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology
• City:                       Boston
• Launched:             1797
• Established:          1866
• Type:                    Archaeology museum
• Location:              Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts

Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology – Virtual Tour Map

Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology – Virtual Tour – 360 Views

Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology- Virtual Tour – 360 Views

Museum At Harvard Shows Rare Pieces

 

A Tour of American Museums

• New York Museums

  • The Metropolitan Museum of Art or MET
  • Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)
  • Intrepid, Sea, Air & Space Museum
  • Neue Galerie New York
  • The Cloisters
  • Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
  • American Museum of Natural History
  • Museum of the City of New York
  • New-York Historical Society
  • Frick Collection
  • Met Breuer
  • Rubin Museum of Art
  • Brooklyn Museum

Decoding Maya Hieroglyphs with 3D Technology

• Washington, D.C. Museums

  • National Gallery of Art
  • National Museum of American History
  • National Air and Space Museum
  • National Museum of African American History and Culture
  • National Museum of Natural History
  • National Portrait Gallery
  • Smithsonian American Art Museum
  • The Phillips Collection
  • Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
  • International Spy Museum

Anthropology, Colonialism, and the Exploration of Indigenous Australia

• Boston Museums

  • Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
  • Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
  • Harvard Art Museums
  • Freedom Trail
  • John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum
  • Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology

• Top 100 Museums in America

Peabody Museum Galleries

Exploring Peabody Museum of Archeology and Ethnology

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“Anthropology demands the open-mindedness with which one must look and listen, record in astonishment and wonder that which one would not have been able to guess.”
– Margaret Mead

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Photo Credit: Daderot / Public domain