Wescott (Joan A.) Collection - Africa: Yoruba
Finding aid created by Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology staff using RecordEXPRESS
UC Berkeley. Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology
2023
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Berkeley, California 94720-3712
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Title: Wescott (Joan A.) Collection - Africa: Yoruba
Dates: 1951 - 1980
Collection Number: Acc.4428, DOC1957.1
Creator/Collector:
Joan A. Wescott
Extent: 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.
Online items available
Repository:
UC Berkeley. Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology
Berkeley, California 94720-3712
Abstract: 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.
Language of Material: English
See https://hearstmuseum.berkeley.edu/request-a-research-visit/
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[Identification of item]. Wescott (Joan A.) Collection - Africa: Yoruba . Collection Number: Acc.4428, DOC1957.1. UC Berkeley.
Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology
For more information on specific objects and accessions, please reference the associated finding aid (pdf attached). To look
at the objects, request a research visit at PAHMA: https://hearstmuseum.berkeley.edu/request-a-research-visit/
Biography/Administrative History
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.
Scope and Content of Collection
Acc.4428 contains 281 objects that are mostly Yoruba sculptures. DOC1957.1 contains 9 boxes which include drafts of publications,
paper copies of publications in magazines, correspondence, biographical information, and many photos of Nigeria. These photographs
document daily Yoruba life, art, ceremonies, and religious practices.
Yoruba
Nigeria
West Africa
ibeji
photography
sculpture
witchcraft
ceremony
anthropology