The Exhibits
Natural History Treasures
Price Hall, Science Complex
Permanent Collection
Nature-lovers will be amazed at this collection, established on our campus in 1960 around the nucleus of a few specimens used for teaching. The star of the show is definitely the woolly mammoth, but the museum also includes a veritable treasure house of God’s creation, including collections of more than 30,000 marine shells, 1,600 birds and 1,400 mammals, as well as hundreds of butterflies and other insects.
Adventist Heritage Treasures
Center for Adventist Research, branch of the James White Library
James White LIbrary
Permanent Collection
Be inspired by God’s leading of His church as you view the original trunk that J.N. Andrews used on his historic mission trip, Uriah Smith’s desk, artifacts from Battle Creek and a display outlining the 150 years of the General Conference. In addition, the Center’s collection includes rare books, a handwritten bible, scrolls and Sir Isaac Newton manuscripts.
Recently CAR transferred old 16mm film of our campus into a digital format, which is now available for your viewing pleasure as part of our Andrews Treasures exhibition. The footage provides a vivid glimpse of life on the Emmanuel Missionary College Campus, including 1940 Founders Day, 1941 graduation, construction of Nethery Hall, scenes from the campus farm and dairy, College Press, campus buildings and classroom scenes.
Art Treasures
Art & Design Gallery, Smith Hall
(this part of the exhibition moves to the Center for Adventist Research after October 20)
Fifteen paintings are on display. This is a rare opportunity to view an authentic Rembrandt etching, a 18th-century Aubusson tapestry and two Chagall prints that are part of the University’s treasures.
Mission Treasures
Seminary Hall
Ordinarily kept safely stored away at the Center for Adventist Research, you can see textiles from around the world, a model of the Pitcairn mission ship and one of the original logbooks for the vessel, and a collection of primitive weapons donated by Adventist evangelist H.M.S. Richards.
Antique Furniture Treasures
Sutherland House,
Howard Performing Arts Center and
Art & Design Gallery, Smith Hall
(Furniture exhibit in Smith Hall closes October 20)
In 2002, Andrews alum Douglas Benson (’54) donated a valuable portion of his collection of beautiful antique furniture, including French made eight-piece bedroom set, dining room table and chairs, an antique piano, tapestries, vases and ornamental figurines. His intent was for the University to “live” with these beautiful pieces to inspire everyday life on our campus.
The antique painted piano and grandfather clock are on display at the Howard Center. Also on display are two 10 foot Japanese paintings.
Archaeological Treasures
Siegfried Horn Archaeological Museum
Permanent Collection
The Horn Museum is a permanent collection of more than 8,000 ancient Near Eastern artifacts. You may view an oil lamp from the time of Abraham and a Syrian bronze statuette of the Canaanite god Baal from 1500 BC. Don’t miss the Hartford Cuneiform Tablet Collection, one of the 10 largest collections in North America, which includes ancient market receipts and a property deed. The cuneiform tablet collection is catalogued with the international Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative cdli.ucla.edu. The museum’s main exhibit hall has a Bedouin tent woven especially for the museum by Bedouins in Jordan.
The museum’s collection began as a teaching collection in the late 30s. Artifacts were primarily acquired by gifts, loans and purchases until the late 60s when the university began excavation at Tell Hesban in Jordan, and acquired newly recovered artifacts for conservation and analysis.
Sutherland House
Sutherland House now stands as the oldest building at Andrews University, and the last remaining architectural link with the era of the pioneers. The home was originally named Brooknook because of its vantage point overlooking Lemon Creek, a tributary of the St. Joseph River. It was built in 1902, one year after the campus was established in Berrien Springs, as the home of the school’s president, pioneer Adventist educator Edward A. Sutherland. Throughout the next 80 years, the house was used as a specialty residence hall, infirmary and married staff and student home. In 2005 Sutherland House became home to Andrews University Press. The home also holds several items of furniture of historical interest to campus life, including a collection of “Kellogg Posture Chairs” designed by John Harvey Kellogg, parlor furniture ca. 1890s from the Battle Creek Sanitarium, and the original executive desk of Andrews University Presidents Richard L. Hammill and Joseph G. Smoot.
Architecture Treasures
Architecture Resource Center, branch of the James White Library,
School of Architecture, Art & Design
At the heart of the ARC is the most comprehensive compilation of environmental design materials in the world. The collection is made available as a result of our affiliation with the international organization Environmental Design Research Association (EDRA). Also on display are portions of two amazing rare book collections, the Vernon Watson Collection (designer of the first library building on our campus, also known as Griggs Hall), and the Ronald Senseman Collection. You will also see how these materials have inspired the mission focus of our architecture students and faculty, and helped them earn five Charter Awards of Excellence at the National Congress for New Urbanism.
Music Treasures
Music Materials Center, branch of the James White Library
Hamel Hall
The MMC showcases two large 15th-century chant manuscripts as part of a larger display on the history of music notation. Also on display are several ethnic instruments, including an oud, which is a type of Middle Eastern lute, and a book with fine reproductions of Felix Mendelssohn’s watercolors.
The MMC is the only dedicated music materials center in the Adventist university system, and the only one with a full-time music librarian. With its collection of sound recordings, printed music, and books about music-related topics, the MMC supports various undergraduate and graduate programs in music, the Music Ministry program in the Theological Seminary, and faculty research related to music. It also extends borrowing privileges to community members who are interested in music or who take music lessons through the university's Department of Music.