Collections

The museum's collection includes objects from most major North American cultural areas, as well as from many different countries of the world. The oldest item is a hominid chopping tool from East Africa that dates to almost two million years ago. Some of our artifacts are:

• Rhode Island arrow points and tools
• Prehistoric stone artifacts from New England
• Native New England woodsplint baskets
• Native American baskets and pottery
• Eskimo Kayak
• Plains Indian clothing, bows, arrows, and
  stone-headed clubs
• Stone Age and Bronze Age artifacts from Europe
• Babylonian cuneiform tablet
• East African lion hunting spears
• West African masks and sculptures
• Peruvian textiles

Exhibitions

Our exhibit gallery showcases a quality collection that is drawn from around the world.
Ongoing exhibitions in the Museum gallery currently feature:

"New England Woodsplint Baskets"
"Early Rhode Island Life"
"Visible Spirits: African Masks and Sculpture"
"Around the World"
"The Nineteenth-Century American Collector"
"Southwest United States"
"The Great Plains"

For more information
contact the Museum of Primitive Art and Culture:
 (401) 783-5711
1058 Kingstown Road, Suite 5, Peace Dale, RI 02879
or visit us at:
1058 Kingstown Road, Suite 4, (Route 108)

"Chichicastenango"  oil on canvas
by Guatemalan artist Humberto Garavito,
 Early 20th century

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Child's shirt, Southern Plains style,
late 19th century
Researchers, for more information on the museum's collections, please consult our catalog, "The Nineteenth-Century American Collector: A Rhode Island Perspective" (1991, ISBN # 0-9628314-0-9). It is available through inter-library loan or from the museum.