American Museum of Natural History

The American Museum of Natural History is one of the world's preeminent scientific and cultural institutions. The museum has collections which were compiled by American Anthropologist Frederick Starr. Starr joined the missionary/explorer Samuel Verner on a collecting expedition to the Congo from 1905-1906. He collected nearly 5 000 artifacts including music instruments, shields, baskets, masks, stools and games that have become part of the Museum's collection of material culture from the Congo region.

While in Africa, Starr recorded his daily findings as well as depictions of the artefacts he came across, which can be found at the University of Chicago Library. His detailed accounts relating to the AMNH collection have been transcribed and linked to the artefacts, and is available online.

Most recently, transcriptions of passages from Starr's twelve field notebooks have also been made by interns in the Division of Anthropology that depicts contextual ethnographic information relating to the Congo.

The museum is open to members of the public daily from 10 am-5:45 pm