African Collections (List of participating institutions)
Download the Family Activity Guide for African Art in the Greater Philadelphia Area (PDF, ~5MB)
Introduction
The Directory of African Art in Greater Philadelphia is the outcome of a project initiated by the African Studies Consortium (the University of Pennsylvania, and Bryn Mawr, Haverford, and Swarthmore Colleges). It was launched in November 1999, when the African Studies Association (ASA) held its Annual Meeting in Philadelphia. The local planning committee recognized the occasion as an opportunity to advertise the many African art collections located in and around the Delaware Valley, not only for the national and international visitors who attended the ASA Meeting but also for local area residents. With financial support from the Consortium schools and a grant from the William Penn Foundation, the committee mounted a small exhibition entitled "African Art in the Greater Philadelphia Area." Hosted by the Community College of Philadelphia in the lovely rotunda of the Old Bank Building, the exhibit included some sixty objects contributed by Bryn Mawr College, Delaware State University, LaSalle University, Lincoln University, the Museum of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia University, the University of Delaware, and Villanova University. From November 4th through November 22nd, the free public exhibit was seen by over 10,000 visitors, including several classes of school children and community groups. When the exhibition closed and the objects were returned to their institutional collections, the curators agreed to continue the project and expand the survey of African art holdings in the region.
The current Directory contains brief descriptions of African art held by eighteen institutions in the Greater Philadelphia area (including the eight that contributed to the original exhibit). Several of the collections were not known even by local scholars who specialize in African Studies, suggesting a need for greater exposure. Since many of the collections are not housed in public exhibition spaces, they have not received the attention they deserve. Moreover, some collections are currently better documented than others, and there is a need to bring them to the attention of experts who might assist in identifying and cataloguing some of the objects in them. Virtually all the curators or keepers contacted for the Directory expressed a desire to make their collections more accessible to the public, and to help their institutions find the means of publicizing them more effectively.
With this in mind, the Directory hopes to serve as a catalyst for bringing these remarkable African art resources to the attention of the wider community. We trust it will promote discussions and the sharing of ideas among institutions that possess these collections, on ways of making them more visible and accessible to local schools and colleges, community art organizations, public libraries, and the many African heritage communities that have settled in the region. By creating a new website, the Directory will be available not only to local classrooms and libraries but also to a national audience. A website also has the advantage of being updated as collections grow or as scholars add their knowledge about the collections and the objects in them. Finally, we hope this small project might serve as a model for other communities which seek to promote public awareness of the diverse traditions that make up our world's artistic heritage.
Lee Cassenelli