The Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia

Vancouver’s Museum of Anthropology was founded more than fifty years ago in the basement of the main library at the University of British Columbia. Today the museum, acclaimed world-wide for its innovative programs and its collaborative approach to working with First Nations and other cultural communities, is housed in a spectacular building that overlooks mountains and the sea. The museum’s soaring glass walls and beautiful natural setting, on traditional Musqueam territory, are uniquely suited to its extraordinary collections. The new Multiversity Galleries, the first of their type in the world, give visitors access to the work being done behind the scenes.

This stunning volume celebrates the Museum of Anthropology’s rich past and promising future. Lavishly illustrated, it highlights treasures from the museum’s vast collections, which include historic and contemporary carvings, ceramics, sculptures, textiles, and other arts from Asia, the South Pacific, North and South America, Africa, and Europe, along with magnificent totem poles, sculptures, woven pieces, and intricate items made of gold, silver, and argillite from British Columbia’s Northwest Coast. A brief history of the museum, stories about each collection, and extended captions offer fascinating details for the reader.