Phoebe Hearst Museum of Anthropology

11.2 afternoon. It is an exhibition about poison, prescription, prayer and pleasure: the world of mind altering substances. It is a small museum. I spent 20 minutes to see it. I saw many stone carving, cups and bottles of China. The building is quiet at weekends. There are only two visitors. There ate sofas and chairs to sit on.

So much potential in this little museum. The university has a huge collection. However, I wonder about their curation decisions. I am sure they are doing their best with the funding they have but it seems to me they could approach this with a more consistent theme instead of the hodgepodge of exhibits they throw out. The interactive part of the exhibit did not seem to fit in well and there was no instructions on using the x-box. If you are not proficient in x-box play its lost on you. Since no one was playing with it... its pretty much a fail. Looked cool but a simpler interface is needed to make it work. Essentially OK as a concept but not ready for public display. UC Berkeley has a few museums and this one should really review and apply the basics of curation 101. A card with title, artist or origin, date, provenance, and a description next to each artifact would be a great start. I wish this was better.

My guess is that there are plenty of Cal Students who spend their 4 years here and walk right past this place without giving it a second thought. I first noticed this Museum on the way to class a few weeks back and had some time recently to take a look. And I'm glad I did!The Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology was founded in 1901. The original goal of the museum was to support systematic collecting efforts by archaeologists and ethnologists to support a department of Anthropology at the University of California. The Museum was originally located in San Francisco from 1903-1935, when it moved to the UC campus. On the Berkeley campus, the Museum was located in the former Civil Engineering Building until 1959, when it was moved to the newly built Kroeber Hall. This museum was also the final residence of Ishi, who lived there from 1911 until his death in 1916.The Museum houses an estimated 3.8 million objects plus extensive documentation that includes field notes, photographs, and sound/film recordings. Major collections include:- Approximately 9,000 California Indian baskets, representing almost every tribe in California and all of the region's basketry techniques.- A broad collection of approximately 20,000 ancient Egyptian artifacts.. - A large Peruvian collection, especially strong in pottery and textiles. - Approximately 16,000 African artifacts - An important collection of Oceanic objects, including collections from the Trobriand Islands and from excavations in Fiji and New Caledonia.It's all free (with a suggested voluntary donation) and well worth your time, including an extended look or even study.

Be warned that this is more of a mini-museum, just one large room and one small room, but it's still a nice collection for a university museum....unlike the Berkeley art museum, where the building itself is the main attraction, it's very much about the actual artifacts and exhibits here. Definitely worth seeing if you're a Berkeley student (free) or a non-Berkeley student or senior ($1)

This is a place to explore the diversity of human cultures from around the world, in case the streets of Berkeley haven't provided enough fodder already. Traveling exhibits from around the world supplement the permanent displays and fine collections of nearly four million artifacts (although only a fraction of them are on display at any one time), many from native Californians, ancient Egyptians, and pre-Columbian Peruvians. The museum hosts frequent lectures and events and has a gift shop. Located near the corner of Bancroft Way and College Avenue, it's open from 10:00am until 4:30pm Wednesday through Saturday and from noon until 4:00pm on Sunday. Docent tours are available the first week of the month, on Thursday at 11:00am and Sunday at 1:00pm. General admission $4.00, seniors 55 and older, non-UC students, $1.00, free at all times for children 12 and under, museum members, UC faculty, students, and staff. Thursdays are free for everyone.

This is, as S.R. says, only a couple of rooms, but admission is cheap (and if you're a UCB student you can get a guest in for free) and it's well-organized. I sometimes go in when i'm just passing by to marvel at the California Indian corner. Mmm.

I sent the Hearst Museum a query about whether they could identify restorers of Native American Art in the Berkeley area. Evidently they didn't wish to, which is perhaps their privilege. But they didn't even reply to my question. The Hearst Museum is a publicly funded institution, but even if they weren't common courtesy would require a reply.Morton D. Paley

The Phoebe Hearst Museum of Anthropology needs to return the remains of the Native Americans it has in it's collection to there families so they can be properly buried."The remains of about 12,000 Native Americans lie in drawers and cabinets in the gym's basement. Most of them were dug up by university archaeologists and have been stored under the pool since at least the early 1960s". How would you like to have your ancestors put into a box or hanging from a hook such as the Mayo family did with Cut Noses remains in Minnesota until 1997? Give them back!