Museum History

The Gordon L. Grosscup Museum of Anthropology at Wayne State University has been a training ground for students and area residents interested in local history and archaeology for generations. Founded in 1958 by Dr. Arnold Pilling, the museum has long been a center for local archaeological research. In 2010, the Museum was re-named the Grosscup Museum of Anthropology in honor of its first Curator of Archaeology, Professor Emeritus Dr. Gordon L. Grosscup. From 1995 to 2016, Dr. Tamara L. Bray was the museum's director, in addition to being Professor of Anthropology. In August 2017 a new position of Director of the Museum of Anthropology & Planetarium was created, and Dr. Megan McCullen took on this role. In August 2022, Dr. Andrew Maske was hired as the Director of the Museum of Anthropology, with Dr. Megan McCullen as Associate Director of the Museum of Anthropology and Director of the Planetarium.

Over the years the Museum of Anthropology has been housed in a variety of campus locations. In 1997, the Museum moved to its current location on the first floor of the Old Main building. Old Main, constructed in 1896, is the oldest academic building on the Wayne State campus. It underwent complete renovation in the mid-1990s and was reopened to the public on the occasion of its 100th anniversary.

Museum Resources

Collections

The Museum's collections consist of over half a million archaeological, ethnographic, and contemporary objects. The majority of the Museum's holding pertain to North America, with an emphasis on Michigan, though materials from around the world are housed in the collections. 

Following the establishment of a State Archaeologist's Office, archaeologists across Michigan worked to document the breadth of sites in their regions of the state, to create a set of centralized files to assist other archaeologists in their research.  Dr. Pilling focused his work on the tri-county area around Detroit, leading to a collection of site files and sample collections from across the region which are housed here at the museum.  As construction in Detroit boomed in the 1960s Pilling and his students were involved in documenting and excavating sites downtown.  Additionally, as local avocational archaeologists sought out homes for their regional collections, many of them chose to deposit some of their materials here at Wayne State. 

The Museum's largest collections emphasize local historical and archaeological materials of the greater Detroit region. The majority of these collections have been gathered through archaeological investigation and WSU student field schools over the past 60 years. 

Pilling and Grosscup also recognized the value of having an extensive comparative collection.  With a focus on interpreting artifacts from historical archaeological contexts, the two acquired an extensive collection of ceramics, glass and other objects from vintage stores and estate sales.  Likewise an extensive collection of Detroit brick is also housed in the museum.

Ethnographic collections at the museum are smaller in nature, and more eclectic.  Students, faculty and community members have donated objects they acquired from family or during travels for research or leisure.  These run the gamut from traditional clothing to musical instruments and tourist art.  

Using collections, students learn about standard museum cataloging and proper curation practices. Collections are also available for anthropological research and analysis. There are significant research opportunities available to students interested in working with the museum's collections.

Museum Lab

The Museum Lab is outfitted with binocular and polarizing microscopes, thin-sectioning equipment and a kiln for ceramic analyses. We also have equipment for 3D scanning and 3D printing, a large-format printer, and a headset and software for developing virtual exhibits. Photography and exhibit construction tools are also available. The lab has an extensive library and comparative material culture collection that students can use for artifact identification.  Our computers have ArcGIS and Past Perfect 5.0 in addition to word processing software. 

Field equipment for archaeological field work, including Munsell charts, screens, shovels and a Trimble receiver, are also housed in the museum. 

PATT (photo artifact turntable) is a device built here at WSU to generate PTMs (polynomial texture maps, HP Labs). PATT takes 40 photographs of an object with the light source coming from 40 different positions to create very high contrast images of details that may otherwise be obscured. 

Left image: printing plate image taken with PATT that revealed written inscriptions.

 Diffused-light photography box used to reduce glare when photographing artifacts.

Kiln used for experimentation on clay types and firing techniques.  

 Thin-sectioning Saw used for taking thin and precise sections of ceramics and clays for compositional analysis using a microscope.

 ArcGIS (Geographic Information Systems) is available on our lab computers. Creation and analysis of spatial data is done using this program.  

 Stereomicroscope used for analysis of archaeological materials.

 Printrbot 3D Printer and NextEngine 3D Scanner used for scanning and printing diagnostic artifacts for analysis, teaching, and comparative research.