The Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology has been part of the University of California for more than a century. Its gallery is open to the public on Fridays from noon to 4 p.m., a schedule that started Sept. 4, according to the museum.
Where to find it
The museum is in 102 Anthropology and Art Practice Building on Bancroft Way at College Avenue. Enter through the courtyard on the south side of the building. Downtown Berkeley BART is about a 20-minute walk. There's metered street parking nearby, and the closest paid lot is the Underhill Lot.
The museum says the entrance and all exhibit spaces are wheelchair accessible, with large-print text and cane-detectable cases. Restrooms are near the gallery.
Limited collection access
Outside gallery hours, the museum offers limited access to its collections for UC Berkeley research and teaching, and visits from tribal and descendant communities. It says it can't accommodate K-12 visits or groups not affiliated with UC Berkeley for class gallery visits.
A long history
The museum was founded in 1901 with support from Phoebe Apperson Hearst, according to Wikipedia. It was first in San Francisco, open to the public from 1911, and moved to the Berkeley campus in 1931. In 1959 it moved into the newly built Kroeber Hall as the Robert H. Lowie Museum of Anthropology, and it took Hearst's name in 1991.
Many major anthropologists have been connected to the museum, including Alfred Kroeber and Robert Lowie. Wikipedia notes that for decades it was considered to have the largest collection of its kind on the West Coast. It was also where Ishi lived from 1911, when the museum was still in San Francisco.