Inspired by the American Indian artifacts he found on his Bristol property, Rudolf F. Haffenreffer II began to acquire items from further afield. After his death in 1954, his family donated his museum and 500-acre estate to Brown. In 2008, when the Museum’s collection had grown to over one million ethnographic and archaeological items from around the world, the University decided to move the collection closer to campus and to present public exhibits in a gallery in Manning Hall.