The Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology will relocate from its Bristol site to 1 Davol Square in Providence’s Jewelry District in fall 2025, according to a Thursday press release from the University. The building will undergo renovations ahead of its conversion into a museum space starting fall 2024.
Currently, the museum is split between the Bristol location — which contains most of its collections — and Manning Hall on the Main Green.
“Moving to Providence won’t just put us in a multicultural center and a transit hub where we are more visible and more accessible to folks,” said Christina Hodge, associate director of the museum, in the University’s press release. “It will also make our everyday museum work easier.”
The University first announced the museum’s move in 2019, but did not publicize a specific location at the time, The Herald previously reported. The University agreed to purchase the 1 Davol Square building in October 2006.
In Thursday’s press release, the University wrote that the move to Davol Square will enable “possibilities for scholarship, community outreach and partnership with Indigenous communities worldwide.”
In 2017, the Pokanoket Nation demanded the return of the land at the Bristol site of the museum. A subsequent agreement was reached with the University in which Brown acknowledged that the lands are historically Pokanoket and pledged to transfer a “to-be-determined” portion of them to a preservation trust.
Earlier this year, officials in the Narragansett Indian Tribe criticized the museum, claiming the tribe was not consulted under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act regarding Haffenreffer’s possession of the remains of 10 Narragansett individuals, The Herald previously reported. In April, the Haffenreffer reported holding the remains of at least 99 Native Americans, according to ProPublica’s Repatriation Database.
The museum is not the only planned University project in the Jewelry District. In June, the University announced plans for an integrated life sciences building on Richmond Street near the Warren Alpert Medical School. The University’s recent property acquisitions have been concentrated in the area, according to a 2022 Herald analysis of city property records.
Neil Mehta is the editor-in-chief and president of the Brown Daily Herald's 134th editorial board. They study public health and statistics at Brown. Outside the office, you can find Neil baking and playing Tetris.
