In 1917, Haffenreffer acquired the Mount Hope Grant, a Bristol estate that encompassed the home of Wampanoag sachem Metacomet.

[2] Under the tenure of founding director J. Louis Giddings, the museum's scope expanded to include artifacts from the Arctic, Africa, and the Pacific.

[3] In 1995 Brown, under the leadership of President Vartan Gregorian, purchased the Old Stone Bank and Benoni Cooke House as part of a plan to relocate the museum's collection and galleries to Downtown Providence.

A resource across the university, it aims to inspire creative and critical thinking about culture by fostering an interdisciplinary understanding of the material world.

The museum also offers public lectures, performances, symposia, festivals, school activities, and a broad range of programs and events for all ages.