About the Museum

History

In his September 2019 State of Indiana University at the Bicentennial speech, IU President Michael A. McRobbie announced the creation of this new museum as part of the university’s ongoing effort to care for its many precious collections and preserve the knowledge they hold. The new museum merges the rich collections of the former Glenn A. Black Laboratory of Archaeology and the Mathers Museum of World Cultures to create a world-class museum whose collections and research resources, dynamic exhibits, engaging programming, and outreach efforts will serve IU’s education and research missions and make it a leading destination for scholars, students, and the public. The Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology brings together over five million objects to tell the story of humanity, from the rich heritage of Indiana's First Peoples to contemporary Hoosiers and to cultures around the world. In fall 2020, work began on extensive renovation of the building formerly housing the Glenn A. Black Laboratory and the Mathers Museum of World Cultures at 416 N. Indiana Avenue on the IU Bloomington campus.

Mission

From the secular to the sacred, the everyday to the extraordinary, the Indiana University Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology exhibits, curates, and studies the objects and experiences that make us human and tell the story of humanity. As part of Indiana University’s educational and research missions, we increase the accessibility of our research and collections in order to bring university, Indigenous, and public audiences together in a respectful dialogue that increases knowledge of the material world in the service of social justice and environmental stewardship.

The Museum will make the collections and programs more open and accessible.  Programming spaces will connect offsite teachers and students to museum educators and curators; and immersive virtual technology in the galleries will enable visitors to engage with objects and places in new ways. This approach will also be reflected in the museum's work with university, Indigenous, and public audiences in collaboration and partnerships.

The highlight of the museum will be an immersive exhibition on Angel Mounds State Historic Site, a National Historic Landmark located on the banks of the Ohio River in southwest Indiana. IUMAA curates the collections of this important Native American site that dates between 1050 and 1450. Representatives from Native American tribes descended from Mississippian people of Indiana are developing the Angel Mounds exhibit in partnership with the museum. The Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology curates over 2 million artifacts from the Mississippian site was occupied at one point by more than 1,000 people, and served as an important religious, political, and trade center for regional people.

Beyond its regional importance, Angel Mounds shares common practices with other ancient cultures of the Americas. The Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology will engage colleagues throughout the Americas to explore the history of influences and contact between geographic areas, focusing on material evidence—such artifacts or site diagrams—as well as evidence of intellectual activity, such as ritual, symbolism and innovation.

The Museum will also involve IU faculty who research many of the complex societies in the Americas. Given similarities between certain North American cultures and those in Central America, for example, museum staff and scholars will use the tools of archaeology, anthropology, and ethnography to understand both societies in the past and their descendants in the present.