Currently, the museum’s collection is split between Providence and Bristol, a distance of 17 miles. However, a news release from Brown explained its plan to merge the two locations to the renovated 1 Davol Square location in Providence.
Robert Preucel, a Brown professor of anthropology and the museum’s director, said:
“Condensing the two locations into one will make it easier for more people, including staff, students, and faculty, to interact with the museum’s nearly 1 million ethnographic objects and archaeological specimens representing human cultures and societies across the world.”
Banner printing services often work closely with museums to help them identify and promote their exhibits.
The process of moving will be a slow, deliberate one that will involve taking stock of what the museum has and evaluating each piece. Already the museum has spent the last four years reorganizing and cataloging its collections in preparation for the move, which was made possible with assistance from a Mellon Foundation grant.
The Haffenreffer Museum’s collections span several thousands of years and have been gathered from six continents. They include palaeolithic hand axes from France, cradleboards from the Kiowa and Cheyenne, and featherworks from the indigenous people of Peru and Brazil.
The move is expected to be complete by fall of 2025.