Mission 

The mission of the University of British Columbia's Museum (located in Vancouver, Canada) of Anthropology is to investigate, preserve, and present objects and expressions of human creativity in order to promote understanding of and respect for world cultures.

The Museum strives:

	To provide information about and access to cultural objects from around the world, with emphasis on the achievements and concerns of the First Peoples and British Columbia's cultural communities;
	To stimulate critical thinking and understanding about cross-cultural issues;
	to pose questions about and develop innovative responses to musicological, anthropological, aesthetic, educational, and political challenges.

As both a university and public institution, the Museum is committed to balancing research, teaching, public programs, visitor services, and the development, documentation, and preservation of collections through its unique blend of professional and academic staff, students, and volunteers.

History

Since 1927, the University of British Columbia ( UBC ) has collected ethnographic material. In 1947, this material was brought together to form the founding collections of the new museum of Anthropology (MOA), which opened in the basement of Buck's main library in 1949. In its early years, MOA was directed by Dr. Harry Hawthorn, the first anthropologist appointed to the University faculty. His wife, Dr.Audrey Hawthorn, served as the first curator. MOA remained in the library until 1976 when it moved to its current location.

Construction of a new museum on the cliffs of Point Grey was made possible by a grant from the Government of Canada, marking the 1971 centennial of British Columbia's entry into Confederation. The University provided matching funds to complete installations and organize the academic components of the Museum. Walter and Marianne Koerner's 1975 gift of their extensive Northwest Coast First Nations art collection to MOA was instrumental in gaining these financial commitments. From 1974 until 1997 Dr. Michael M. Ames served as Museum director; the current director is Dr. Ruth B. Phillips. 

The 1976 museum building was designed by renowned Canadian architect arthur Erickson, who based his award-winning design on traditional Northwest Coast post and beam structures. Within the walls are 70000 square feet of usable space -20000 for academic functions (classrooms, laboratories, archival storage, and research offices), and 50000 available to the public (exhibition and performance spaces, visible storage galleries, shop, and rental facilities).

In 1990, a new wing was opened, adding 10,000 additional square feet for a resource library, teaching laboratory, orientation space, curatorial office, a resource bay to house data books on current issues and objects in the collection, and a 42,00 square foot exhibition gallery featuring 600 European ceramic pieces collected and donated by Walter Koerner. Observing its longstanding practice of providing maximum public access to its collections, MOA displays the ceramic collection in its entirety, alongside catalogue records describing each object.

Organization 

The Museum of anthropology houses ethnographic materials and the UBC Laboratory of Archaeology's archaeological materials. There are some 30000 ethnographic objects and 200,000 archaeological objects in these collections. the ethnographic the First Nations of coastal B.C., from whom almost half of the collections originate.