Museums - Museum of Anthropology, Wakeforest University Reynolds Campus

Founded in 1963, the museum was established by the faculty of the Department of Anthropology to broaden learning opportunities for their students. Since its inception, the museum’s educational role has expanded greatly into the Winston-Salem and Triad communities. In its present location on campus since 1986, the museum’s collections, exhibits, and programs have grown extensively. Its permanent collection consists of objects from the Americas, Africa, Asia, and Oceania, including household and ceremonial items, textiles, hunting and fishing gear, and objects of personal adornment. Materials collected by Moravian missionaries can be found here, as well as prehistoric artifacts from North Carolina’s Yadkin River Valley.
Dr. David Rilling of Pennsylvania recently gave the museum 120 objects from Africa and New Guinea. Among the pieces he donated are very large, strikingly modeled and painted ceramic vessels used to store sago palm flour along the Sepik River of Papua New Guinea, a rare ceremonial costume from New Britain, three carved wooden doors from Côte d’Ivoire, two Dogon ladders, and ancient Bura phalliform burial vessels. The Rilling donation has caused the museum staff to plan a major renovation of the African installation.