California Academy of Sciences - 150th Anniversary Celebration

Irvine Chair and Curator Nina Jablonksi and Senior Collection Manager Russell Hartman in the Anthropology collections.

DEPARTMENT MILESTONES

1895
George Hewston appointed Curator of Ethnology.

1900
Alfred Kroeber, remembered today as the “Father of California Anthropology,” becomes the first paid Curator of this department.

1906
Earthquake and fire destroy most collections. The Department remains inactive for the next
70 years.

1975
The Department of Anthropology is officially reinstated, and the Wattis Hall of Human Cultures opens on July 1, 1976.

1983
The Traditional Arts Program brings live performances and demonstrations from diverse cultures into the museum every week.

1993
The first Wattis Symposium in Anthropology is held on February 6th on the subject of early human evolution.

2002
Curator Nina Jablonski leads a paleontology expedition in China’s western Yunnan Province as part of the Academy’s Yunnan Biodiversity Survey.

Anthropology | The Study of Humans

Artifacts of Human Culture
The Department maintains a permanent collection of 17,000 items emphasizing the traditional lifeways of native peoples, with a particular emphasis on western North America and the Pacific Basin. The collection is enhanced through scientific field work, gifts, and selective purchases.

From the Ashes
Most artifacts and records were destroyed in the earthquake and fire of 1906, but some were recovered from the rubble. These include hundreds of pottery objects and shards from the Elgueta collection of Mayan artifacts from Pichikil and Chalchitan in Guatemala.

Primate Studies
Nina Jablonski is the Academy’s fourth Irvine Chair and Curator of Anthropology. She is a biological anthropologist with broad interests in primate and human evolution. Her research on primate evolution in Asia and Africa has forged strong collaborations with other researchers and institutions in China, Kenya, and throughout the world. Her recent work on the evolution of skin color has received international recognition.

1916 Native American Baskets
The Fitzhugh-Lowe collection is installed in the new 170 foot-long gallery. Academy President Grunsky notes that “Basket Hall is usually crowded… visitors are observed to tarry long, studying the objects critically.”

150th Anniversary Celebration | 150 Years: A Timeline | 150 Years of Research | The New Academy