the Museum of Anthropological Archaeology began in 1837 with the relocation of the University to Ann Arbor and the creation of its first University Museum.

The Anthropology Museum was formally established in 1922, and moved to its home in the Ruthven Building in 1928. For nearly a century since then, the University of Michigan Museum of Anthropology has been a vital center of archaeological research and teaching.

Jimmy Griffin’s retirement in 1975 marked the end of 31 years of enlightened leadership. It was decided then that the directorship would rotate among the curators so that the burden would be shared. Richard Ford was the first to follow Griffin. In the 1970s, Dean Billy Frye created a curatorship in Latin American Archaeology for Joyce Marcus. A newly created curatorship for North America was filled by John Speth, and John O’Shea succeeded Chris Peebles (Great Lakes). Carla Sinopoli succeeded Karl Hutterer as Asian curator. Most recently, in a move that would undoubtedly please Jimmy Griffin greatly, Robin A. Beck became Curator of North American Archaeology and inherited Griffin’s fabulous ceramic repository.

The Museum has a history of creating new collections and changing or combining others. We refuse to be locked into a static set of categories and curatorships. More changes are anticipated for the future, as we try to stay ahead of new trends in Anthropological Archaeology. 

Graduate student A. Wright in lab

Throughout our history, the Museum has been greatly enhanced by the contributions of numerous research scientists, visiting scholars, staff, and students—too numerous to mention here, but essential to dynamic and innovative research and teaching, and to the development, study, and care of the important research collections that we curate.

fonte: @edisonmariotti #edisonmariotti
https://www.lsa.umich.edu/ummaa/about/history