The Institute of Ethnomusicology & the Museum and Laboratories of Ethnic Arts and Technology

The Institute of Ethnomusicology

  Established in 1961, The Institute of Ethnomusicology sought to teach various types of non-western music to UCLA students. The institute had been years in the making. Mantle Hood, the founding director of the institute, had been pushing for such a program since his hiring at UCLA in 1954. After receiving and raising the appropriate funds, the Institute of Ethnomusicology was established in 1961.
       The institute offered a major in music leading to B.A., M.A., and Ph.D degrees; the curriculum for the degrees was taken from the Music Department, but it also incorporated classes and seminars on ethnomusicology. The Institute of Ethnomusicology was housed in the Music Building in what is now Schoenberg Hall.
       The institute that Hood had worked so hard to establish was discontinued in 1974; the discontinuation of the institute occurred after a study by the U.C. Regents revealed that the institute was no longer functioning how they believed it should. The regents wanted the institute to be interdisciplinary, but since they felt it no longer met those requirements they shut it down. The ethnomusicology courses and programs were moved to the Department of Music.

 For more on Mantle Hood, please visit the Individuals page.
                                 

                                                                                                                                                  

The Museum and Laboratories of Ethnic Arts and Technology

      The Museum and Laboratories of Ethnic Arts and Technology, which is now the Fowler Museum of Cultural History, had its beginnings in 1963. Chancellor Franklin D. Murphy was extremely interested in the “ethnic arts” and he had acquired a few art pieces for UCLA. Chancellor Murphy approached the Art and Anthropology departments about housing these pieces, but they didn’t want them. Understanding their significance, he decided to clear out the basement of Haines Hall and stored the pieces there.
       Chancellor Murphy recruited Ralph Altman, knowledgeable in the “ethnic arts,” to help him run this enterprise. Even though Altman knew a lot about this type of art, the Academic Senate wouldn’t hire him because he lacked a Ph.D. degree. Despite not having many art pieces, Chancellor Murphy and Ralph Altman raised enough funds to keep their venture going. In 1965, UCLA acquired the Sir Henry Wellcome Collection and that became the base of the museum.
          In the early 1970s the name of the museum was changed to the Museum of Cultural History. The museum grew so successfully in acquisitions that it has come to be ranked among the top university museums in the nation.
         The Museum of Cultural History was again renamed in 1992; the UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History became the new name of the museum after the new building opened its doors to the public in 1992.

 For more on Chancellor Franklin D. Murphy, please visit the Individuals page.

For more information on the Sir Henry Wellcome Collection, please visit the Art Acquisitions page.