Riverside Metropolitan Museum

Cultural Collection

The cultural collections at the Riverside Metropolitan Museum provide a look into the diversity of our community and the cultural history of the region.

Anthropology Collection

As the founding collection at the Riverside Metropolitan Museum, the Anthropology Collection provides a diverse look at early collectors in Southern California, and in particular, at local Native American culture in the Riverside region. As the Cornelius Earle Rumsey Indian Museum, the collection gained prominence locally, attracting other collectors such as Harwood Hall, F.A. Little, Samuel Evans, and other local collectors. Through the generosity of the community of Riverside, the Anthropology collection at the Riverside Metropolitan Museum holds one of the largest collections of Native American basketry in California. The collections holdings are diverse and vast, spanning many periods of time and types of collections. The collection houses everything from African Hausa hats to Northwest Coast totem poles, from local Native American basketry to Japanese textiles, from Artic people and the Southwest. This diversity creates an interesting look into the collecting practices of our ancestors and the legacy of a community.