American Museum of Natural History Research Library
author: American Museum of Natural History

American Museum of Natural History. Collections from the Philippine Islands.; Philippine Islands; Philippine Hall; Living Tribes of the Philippine Islands; Collections from the Philippines; Philippine Island Hall; Collections from the Philippine Islands; Philippino Hall; Philippine Collection; Philippine Islands Collections; Philippine Islands Hall; Collections from New Guinea, Philippines and Malaysia; Philippine Natives; Collections from Philippines and Malaysia; Philippine Island Natives
birth: 1909
death: 1961
Permanent exhibition. Opened 1909 and closed between 1958-1961. Located on Floor 4, Section 8. The Collections from the Philippine Islands at the American Museum of Natural History was an ethnology hall installed in the newly built West Wing in 1909-1910. (1, 1910, p. 16) It was mainly devoted to the Philippines, but also housed collections from Malaysia and Java (2, 1911, p. 93; 2, 1920, p. 122). The collection was reinstalled in 1918 by A.L. Kroeber, L.R. Sullivan, and William A. Sabine (1, 1918, p. 86). The last documentation of this hall is in the 1958 General Guide (5, 1958, p. 199).
The Philippine Hall exhibited a variety of cultural objects from the Philippines, including brass-work, jewelry, weapons, basketry, pottery, and textiles. The hall featured exhibits on the industrial life of the Bagobo people of Mindanao, a model of a bamboo-walled, a thatched-roof house, a life-size replica of a tree-house typically built by Moros near Lake Lanao, a model of a woman weaving on a loom, and a case of life casts (2, 1911, p. 93; 2, 1920, p. 122).
In 1918 Professor A.L. Kroeber of the University of California came to the Museum through an exchange of services with Associate Curator Robert H. Lowie. Kroeber worked on a reinstallation of the Philippine Island Hall, which included preparation of labels and writing a visitor’s handbook. In cooperation with Assistant Curator L.R. Sullivan, Kroeber made a study which resulted in casts, busts, and diagrams that were displayed in the hall (1, 1918, p. 86).
Due to space restraints elsewhere in the Museum, several exhibits more relevant to other halls were exhibited in the Philippine Hall, such as approximately 200 primitive costumes arranged by M.D.C. Crawford which were displayed in 1918 (1, 1918, p. 43). In 1925, while the Museum was determining a location for an Australian Hall, an exhibition of the Australian collections was displayed in the center of the Philippine Hall (1, 1925, p. 21). In 1928 objects from Japan, Europe, and Egypt donated by Dr. Walter L. Hildburgh were temporarily exhibited in the Philippine Hall (1, 1928, p. 54). In 1928 some objects from a collection of material from Japan, Europe, and Egypt donated by Dr. Walter L. Hildburgh were temporarily exhibited in the Philippine Hall (1, 1928 p. 54). n 1934, objects collected by Dr. Margaret Mead in New Guinea between 1931-1933 were installed in the Philippine Islands Hall as the Pacific Islands Hall, also referred to as the South Sea Island Hall, did not provide sufficient space (1, 1934, p. 10).