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Museum of African Art

The Museum of African Art was established in 1964 to preserve and present to the public the creative traditions of Africa. Legislation, introduced on behalf of the late Senator Hubert Humphrey, effectively transferred the Museum to the Smithsonian on August 13, 1979. Located on Capitol Hill in Washington, the Museum occupies the historic Frederick Douglass house and seven other contiguous townhouses, as well as several other structures on adjacent mews known as Frederick Douglass Court.

Since 1964, the African Museum has produced over fifty exhibitions displaying traditional African art and sculpture, musical instruments, textiles, utilitarian objects, and jewelry drawn from its permanent collection of over 8.000 objects or from loaned private collections.  The Museum has assembled a specialized library and a photographic archive which includes the famous collection of Eliot Elisofon.

The African Museum is most notable for its education programs, including individual elementary and secondary departments providing community workshops, lectures, films and live performances, and a higher education program that has conducted twenty-five credit courses in cooperation with local universities.

[[Table 5 columns]]
[[underline]] LOCATION | SIZE  | ACQUISITION DATE | [[ACQUISITION]] TYPE | [[ACQUISITION]] COST [[/underline]]

Washington, D.C. (Captiol Hill, N.E.) | Office 10,330 sq. ft. Public 14,690 sq. ft. Storage 5,400 sq. ft. [[last number underlined for 'total']] 30,420 sq. ft. | 1979 | Legislation | None [[underline]] 1/[[/underline]] 
Frederick Douglass House | | | |
316, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28, and 330 A St., N.E. | | | | 
100 4th St., N.E. | | | |  
[[/table]]
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[[footnote]] [[underline]] 1/ [[/underline]] An amount of $350,000 is included in the Institution's FY 1980 appropriation to upgrade African Art Museum property according to local code requirements, to make emergency and necessary repairs, and to meet handicapped access requirements. In future years about $50,000 annually is anticipated for repairs and maintenance.
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