Department of Africa, Oceania and the Americas
The collection of the Department of
Africa, Oceania and the Americas includes around 350,000
objects, representing the cultures of the indigenous peoples of
four continents.
The scope of the collection is contemporary, archaeological and
historical. It includes most of Africa (outside Ancient
Egypt, Sudan and the Mediterranean) the Pacific and
Australia, 
as well as the Americas. Most of the
collections were acquired during the nineteenth and twentieth
centuries and largely date from this time.
Research and collecting continues today in
Alaska, the Canadian Arctic, the Southwest of the United
States, and the Northwest Coast of America. Projects are underway
in the Caribbean, Ecuador and Peru, and in the Pacific in Papua New
Guinea, Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands. In Africa the focus is on
Ghana and Mali in West Africa, and on Ethiopia, Kenya and
Mozambique in the east.
Between 1970 and 1997 the department (then
known as the Department of Ethnography) was well known for its
lively exhibitions and related activities which took place at the
Museum of Mankind. Since it returned to the main Museum
site in Bloomsbury, the department has continued to
display its collection in permanent galleries and a number of
highly-successful temporary exhibitions.
The Centre for Anthropology includes the
Museum's Anthropology Library and provides access
to information about its ethnographic collections, as well
as an identification service. All levels of enquiries are
welcome.
Access to European and Asian ethnography acquired before 2004 is
managed through the Centre of Anthropology, or alternatively
by through the departments of Prehistory and
Europe, Asia, and the
Middle East.