The Hearst Museum of Anthropology is now officially one hundred years old. On September 10, 1901, the University of California Regents voted to establish a Museum of Anthropology, the first such museum west of Chicago. This regental action came at the urging of Phoebe Apperson Hearst, herself the first woman to serve on the Board of Regents, and a major patron of the new museum. In the new museum's early years Mrs. Hearst played a key role, sending archaeological and collecting expeditions to Egypt, Peru, and the Mediterranean region, and funding the salaries of the museum's first directors, Frederic Ward Putnam and Alfred Kroeber. Later, the museum continued to grow and expand as U. C. Berkeley anthropology faculty and students traveled to every continent on the globe in the course of their field studies.
The legacy of this century of anthropological fieldwork and collecting was celebrated this spring in the Hearst Museum's major new exhibit, A Century of Collecting. Opened in a special ceremony hosted by Executive Vice Chancellor Paul Gray, this exhibit features some 700 of the most exquisite, interesting, and rare objects, culled from our vast collection of more than 3.8 million objects.
Our centennial year, however, is not just a time to reflect on the accomplishments of the past, but to look forward to the future. In that vein, the Museum recently released its long-range plan, A Vision for Transformation. This strategic plan, which looks toward the next decade, was the outcome of more than a year of careful thought and planning, and included input from the Museum's faculty curators, staff, and administration. The plan has been widely distributed to members of the U. C. Berkeley administration, and will form a blueprint for planning and fund-raising in the years to come.
I hope that you will join me in celebrating the Hearst Museum's centennial by visiting A Century of Collecting early next year, and by taking advantage of the various public programs being held in connection with this exhibit.
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