Anthropology Resources: Archives & Museums

The National Anthropological Archives and Human Studies Film Archives collect and preserve historical and contemporary anthropological materials that document the world's cultures and the history of anthropology. Their collections represent the four fields of anthropology – ethnology, linguistics, archaeology, and physical anthropology – and include fieldnotes, journals, manuscripts, correspondence, photographs, maps, sound recordings, film and video created by Smithsonian anthropologists and other preeminent scholars.

The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is the nation's record keeper. Of all documents and materials created in the course of business conducted by the United States Federal government, only 1%-3% are so important for legal or historical reasons that they are kept by us forever.

Those valuable records are preserved and are available to you, whether you want to see if they contain clues about your family’s history, need to prove a veteran’s military service, or are researching an historical topic that interests you.

The Division of Anthropology is concerned with all aspects of human behavior, past, present, and with an eye to the future. Our work is biological, socio-cultural, archaeological and linguistic. Established in 1873, only four years after the Museum's founding, the Division has collected over 500,000 objects representing the peoples of Africa, Asia, Europe, the Pacific Islands and the Americas. Over 200,000 objects have been digitally imaged and are accessible online through the Collections Database.

The oldest and largest anthropology museum in the Southwest, established in 1893 by the Arizona Territorial Legislature. Acts as Arizona's official permitting agency for archaeological and paleontological projects across the state.

he Field Museum was founded to house the biological and anthropological collections assembled for the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893. These objects form the core of the Museum's collections which have grown through world-wide expeditions, exchange, purchase, and gifts to more than twenty million specimens. The collections provide the foundation of the Museum's exhibition, research, conservation and education programs.

Fundado en 1926, el Museo Larco exhibe de manera cronológica galerías impresionantes que muestran un panorama excepcional de 3000 años de desarrollo de la historia del Perú precolombino.

A diverse and multifaceted cultural and educational enterprise, the National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) is an active and visible component of the Smithsonian Institution, the world's largest museum complex. The NMAI cares for one of the world's most expansive collections of Native artifacts, including objects, photographs, archives, and media covering the entire Western Hemisphere, from the Arctic Circle to Tierra del Fuego.

The Oriental Institute Museum is a showcase of the history, art and archaeology of the ancient Near East. An integral part of the University of Chicago's Oriental Institute, which has supported research and archaeological excavation in the Near East since 1919, the Museum exhibits major collections of antiquities from Egypt, Mesopotamia, Iran, Syria, Palestine, and Anatolia.

Founded in 1866, the Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology is one of the oldest museums in the world devoted to anthropology and houses one of the most comprehensive records of human cultural history in the Western Hemisphere.

A regional project involving the creation and strengthening of networks among Central American countries.

Founded in 1887, Penn Museum has conducted more than 400 archaeological and anthropological expeditions around the world. Three gallery floors feature materials from Egypt, Mesopotamia, Canaan and Israel, Mesoamerica, Asia and the ancient Mediterranean World, as well as artifacts from native peoples of the Americas and Africa.