These artifacts are an important resource for hands-on teaching and have been incorporated into coursework, both undergraduate and graduate student projects and exhibits, and outreach activities. Many of the artifacts are also rotated in and out of the various exhibits showcased throughout Rhode Island Hall and in other locations around campus.

The JIAAW collection is housed in secure storage in Rhode Island Hall and can be accessed by appointment through the JIAAW Operations and Events Coordinator or the current Graduate Student Collections Proctor.

About the Collection

The non-coin objects in the JIAAW collection include a wide variety of items including ceramic vessels, lamps, figurines, lithics and sherds, as well as objects found during the renovation of Rhode Island Hall in the early 2000’s and 50 pieces from Petra, on loan from Jordan’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.

The coins reflect a wide geographical and temporal spectrum. The Greek coins in the collection come from a variety of mints in use during the Classical and Hellenistic periods (e.g., Syracuse, Argos, Athens, Thrace, Egypt). Roman coins form the largest portion of the collection, ranging from the earliest Republican bronzes (Aes grave) to Republican and Imperial silver and bronze coins from mints in Rome and the provinces. Coins from the Roman mint at Alexandria, Egypt, notably in silver denominations, are particularly well represented. Two large hoards augment the collection: a hoard of 45 imperial Persian sigloi (silver oval coins) and a hoard of 196 late Roman bronze coins. The collection also includes lead coins from Carthage (Tunisia), as well as Byzantine and Islamic issues, which are extremely useful for offering both artistic and technical comparanda to the bulk of the collection.

Available background information about the objects and coins in the JIAAW collection can be found below.

The Bishop Collection consists of 159 coins (40 of which are silver, and 119 of which are Greek and Roman bronze) and 131 other objects. The collection was a gift of J. David Bishop, a professor of Classics at Wheaton College, to the Department of Classics at Brown University in 1973 in memory of his wife, professor Doris Taylor Bishop, also a professor of Classics at Wheaton College.

Includes 181 coins.

Consists of 86 ceramic sherds.

Cornelia St. J. Lewis of Wakefield, RI donated two pieces of Roman glassware she had inherited from her father to the Joukowsky Institute in December of 2002.

Mrs. Herbert N. Couch donated her collection of ancient coins and approximately 400 other objects to Brown University in 1979. The set of objects and coins, which she and her husband collected themselves, consists of Greek and Roman silver coins, Greek and Roman bronze coins, plaster cast gems from the Medici Cabinet in Florence, sherds, worked obsidian, and a variety of vessels.

Includes three amphorae from Greece donated by Duncan MacMillan, a graduate (Classics, 1953) and trustee of Brown University.

The Florence E. Day collection comprises several dozen artifacts collected within the course of one woman’s life. As a scholar of Islamic art, Florence Day traveled widely and wrote many articles on archaeological sites and forms of Islamic ceramics. She also developed a personal collection of artifacts that were donated to Brown after her death.

Includes 41 lithics from Agrigento, Sicily.

The Harkness collection was formed by the Harkness family in the late nineteenth century and consists of 492 coins, mostly dating from the Roman Republic. The collection was donated in 1983 by Albert Harkness (Ph.D. 1949) and John C. Harkness, the grandsons of Albert Granger Harkness (A.B. 1879, Professor of Latin 1889-1923), and great-grandsons of Albert Harkness (A.B. 1842, Professor of Greek 1855-1892).

Consists of one ceramic stamnos.

The Lewis Collection was formed by Captain John R. Lewis of Block Island during his years in command of cargo vessels in the Mediterranean. The Collection consists of 2,665 objects, the coins of which were acquired from 1936-1952 in Greece, Italy, Malta, and Lebanon. The collection was donated to Brown University in 1989.

The JIAAW currently holds 50 artifacts from the site of Petra, on loan from Jordan’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities. These artifacts come from Brown’s excavations from 1993 to 2008, directed by Martha Sharp Joukowsky, of the Great Temple Complex, located in the center of the city of Petra near the Siq and the Treasury—Al-Khazneh. The complex was constructed toward the end of the 1st century B.C.E. and was enlarged later in the 1st century CE.

The Minassian Collection includes Islamic art and artifacts given to Brown University by Adrienne Minassian in 1997. The objects were collected by both Adrienne Minassian and her father, Kirkor Minassian. The John Hay Library received books, manuscripts, and drawings from the donation for accession into their collection and, in 2012, the Joukowsky Institute received 98 items or lots of associated items, including dishes, tiles, ceramic stamps, and bone buttons, to be made available “as a working collection in support of archaeology and the study of the Islamic world at Brown”.

Includes objects from Ross Holloway’s excavations at Buccino, Satrianum, La Muculufa, and Ustica as well as other objects including lamps, figurines, lead weights, and sherds.

John Whipple Potter Jenks (1819-1894) was director of Brown’s museum of natural history. He graduated from Brown in 1838 and returned in 1872 as curator of the museum, bringing some of his own collections with him. He continued to expand the museum at his own expense (even conducting a volunteer class in taxidermy in the basement of Rhode Island Hall) until his death in 1894. The museum closed in 1915 and objects were distributed across campus or dumped. See the Encyclopedia Brunoniana entry on the Museum of Natural History. Three biological specimens were recovered and are now part of the Joukowsky Institute collection, as well as a number of coins, many with original museum tags written by Jenks.

A donation of 65 ceramic sherds, as well several other small pieces of stone and glass by Frank and Joan Rothman. Frank Rothman, Professor Emeritus of Biology and Provost (1990-1995), was at Brown from 1961 until 1997.

Consists of 45 objects, including figurines, vessels, and ceramic and glass sherds.

Includes 956 coins.

Consists of 160 objects, including many ceramic figurines and vessels as well as bronze objects.

Dr. Arnold-Peter Weiss donated 45 ancient silver Persian coins (sigloi) dating to ca. 420-355 BCE to the Center for Old World Archaeology and Art in 1998. The coins are from a hoard, all with scarce reverse types.