Marian Eakins Archaeological Collection

Housed at the Northern California campus library

Consortium member institution of the Tel Gezer Excavation Project

The Marian Eakins Archaeological Collection presents its guests with a window into life in the world of the past. The museum’s primary purpose is to preserve and display antiquities from the land of the Bible, especially the ancient Near East as an important aspect of the educational mission of the Seminary. The Collection provides, as it were, pictures to aid in understanding the words of the biblical texts. Although slated to move to the Seminary's new campus in Spring/Summer 2016, the museum is currently located in the Library of the Seminary's Mill Valley Campus. Visitors from the community are welcome.

Among the museum’s significant holdings are Greek, Roman, and Near Eastern coins from biblical times, pottery representing over 3,000 years of Near Eastern culture, and glassware from the Roman period. In addition to these and numerous other antiquities, the Collection includes items more recent in date such as Aztec ceramics; Native American mortars, pestles, and arrowheads; and proprietary medicine bottles from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.  In addition to providing occasional comparison within displays of ancient materials, these latter artifacts serve the museum's secondary mission to enhance the aesthetic of the campus and create an engaging destination for visitors.

The museum occasionally displays objects on loan from other collections, including items owned by local residents. Such exhibits have featured Native California basketry, ancient Coptic fabrics, coins of the first seventeen Roman emperors, and Native American pottery from the southwestern United States.

History

In 1973, ken eakins, then professor of archaeology and Old Testament, began to acquire antiquities from the ancient Near East for a seminary collection to be used primarily in the classroom. His wife, Marian, who held a degree in anthropology from the University of California, Berkeley, and who was a member of the Joint Archaeological Expedition to Tell el-Hesi, Israel, was appointed the first curator of these items in 1986. As curator, she initiated the public display of material and created the first exhibits. Following Marian’s death in 1990, the Seminary trustees named the growing collection in her memory and established an endowment fund for its support.

Museum Hours and Staff

Monday through Friday – 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Saturday - noon to 5:00 p.m.
Tours available by appointment only – contact Dr. Gary Arbino for information.

Museum Director:  Dr. j. kenneth eakins
Museum Curator:  Dr. Gary Arbino