In 1989, the Hearst Museum of Anthropology at UC Berkeley accessioned 281 objects (Acc.4428) and accepted nine boxes of supporting archival records (DOC1957.1) from Joan Arato Wescott, an anthropologist who studied Yoruba art, culture, and witchcraft. She donated her collections to the museum with the intent that they would supplement the pre-existing Bascom Yoruba collection, see Bascom finding aid linked here. Wescott collections and writing focus on Yoruba art and culture throughout her academic career. The attached Wescott finding aid details the contents of the nine boxes and their relationship to the accessions.

Joan Arato Wescott was born May 19, 1931, in Brooklyn, New York, and died August 28, 1989, in Sonoma County, California. In 1955, she received a BA in English literature from Boston University with minors in philosophy and psychology. She worked as a reference librarian for the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston before going to Nigeria on her husband at the time, Roger Wescott’s, Ford grant to study Yoruba culture from 1955-1957. After returning from this trip, she pursued an MA and PhD in Anthropology at University College, London and studied public and private collections of Yoruba art across Europe, published several papers, and studied English witchcraft. She sold many copies of her photos from the Nigeria trip which were valuable for publications on Yoruba art and culture. During this time, she also began work on aYoruba and British witchcraft book that was never published. In 1981, she moved from London to Lake County, California, and in 1985 donated the majority of her collections to the then Lowie Museum of Anthropology (now Hearst Museum) which were accessioned in 1989. Wescott also gave several objects from her collection to the British Museum, London.

Accession Acc.4428 contain African, primarily Yoruba sculptures and ceremonial objects Wescott collected throughout her career. Nine boxes of supporting document DOC1957.1 holds photographs and correspondence from Wescott’s research and academic career studying the Nigerian Yorubaland. The photographs provide imagery of Yoruba daily life, art, and ceremony.

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