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Holmes Museum Updated Hours

The Museum is open Fall and Spring semesters, Monday-Friday from 1:00-5:00 or by appointment.  During winter break and during the summer, the museum will be open by appointment only.  Admission is free but donations are accepted.   If you would like to visit or schedule a tour please call 316-978-7068 or email holmes.museum@wichita.edu holmes.museum@wichita.edu.

 

The Lowell D. Holmes Museum of Anthropology offers exhibitions on cultures from around the world and archaeological objects predominantly from the American Midwest and Southwest

Museum student giving a tour to a school group

Tours

Group tours are available by appointment. Please contact the Holmes Museum for more information. 

 

Museum Collections

In addition to a large collection of ethnographic Asmat art, the Holmes Museum collections include Chinese and Asian cultural objects, African sculptures, southwest Pueblo pottery, pre-Columbian ceramics, archaeological artifacts from the American Plains and southwest, Latin American textiles, Guatemalan dance masks and costumes, Oceanic material and Native American beadwork and basketry.

Holmes museum collection storage
 
A student paints a backdrop for an exhibit

Current Exhibitions

Discover what's on display at the Holmes Museum.

 

Our Purpose

The museum has two main functions; to support the educational mission of the Department of Anthropology and Wichita State University and to be a teaching museum operated by students enrolled in the university's Museum Studies Program, which includes the Graduate Museum Studies Certificate. This program gives potential museum professionals hands-on experience in museum administration, operations, and exhibitions. The museum's collections include a wide range of cultural, archaeological, and biological objects. Museum artifacts are not only used within the Department of Anthropology, other departments, campus wide, use the museum's collection for research.

The museum is funded primarily by private donations and is continually working to fund student scholarships, student positions, exhibitions, field collecting expeditions, curation supplies, equipment, and acquisitions. If you are interested in helping the museum with the donation of objects or funds please contact Rachelle Meinecke, the Museum Director or contact the Wichita State University Foundation.

Museum History

The Lowell D. Holmes Museum of Anthropology began in 1966 as the Museum of Man, at the bequest and initiation of Dr. Lowell D. Holmes, Professor of Anthropology at Wichita State University in Wichita, Kansas. Over the next 33 years it grew slowly and became known throughout the campus as a small but interesting museum. The collections and exhibitions include cultural items from around the world and archaeological objects predominantly from the American Midwest and Southwest. In 1999, the Department of Anthropology and the museum moved to a new location in Neff Hall.