FAQs

The Kelsey is open Tuesday through Friday, 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM, and Saturday and Sunday, 11:00 to 4:00 PM. We are closed on Mondays and on University of Michigan–designated holidays. Please see our Planning Your Visit page for more information on upcoming holiday closures.

Admission to the Kelsey Museum is always free, but donations are encouraged and appreciated.

Please enter the Kelsey Museum through our public entrance on Maynard Street. The State Street entrance is only for Kelsey staff and U-M students.

Please follow these simple guidelines when visiting the Kelsey. For more information, visit our In the Museum page.

• You are welcome to explore our artifact drawers, but please do not touch cases, pedestals, or artifacts. Oils, salts, soaps, and acids on your hands damage ancient art and artifacts. Cases or pedestals may tip over, injuring you or others and damaging artifacts.
• Leave all backpacks, large bags, and umbrellas in the coatroom. Large items in the galleries can jeopardize artifacts and exhibition furniture. 
• Food and drink, including gum and water, are not permitted in the galleries. 
• Visitors are welcome to take pictures in the museum, but please refrain from using flash, tripods, and accessories such as selfie sticks. Bright light (like a camera flash) can cause invisible damage to ancient objects that can lead to discoloration, decay, and disintegration.
• Please use pencils—not pens or markers—in the galleries. The ink from a pen or marker can cause permanent damage to artifacts—even an “erasable” pen can cause damage that can’t be repaired.
• Only service animals are permitted in the galleries.

There are about 1,500 objects on display at the Kelsey Museum. Most visitors spend about an hour exploring our galleries.

The Kelsey does not have a gift shop, nor are there dining options available within the museum. However, there are a number of restaurants and cafés within walking distance—learn more in the Ann Arbor Street District Guide.

The Kelsey Museum is right across the street from the University of Michigan Museum of Art (UMMA). Other public campus museums within walking distance are the U-M Museum of Natural History and the Sindecuse Museum of Dentistry. You can find information about additional institutions in and around Ann Arbor here.

Visit our In the Museum page to learn about family-friendly resources and activities in the Kelsey Museum. We also host monthly events geared toward children and families—learn more here.

Please refer to the Parking page on our website for parking options near the Kelsey Museum, including information about accessible parking locations. There is also ample bicycle parking available directly north of Newberry Hall, near the Trotter Multicultural Center.

Yes. Please refer to TheRide website for information about traveling around Ann Arbor by bus.

All public areas of the Kelsey are wheelchair accessible. The Maynard Street entrance has ramp access and power-assist doors. Curbside drop-offs are possible at the Maynard entrance. An elevator provides access to the second-floor galleries. Wheelchair-accessible restrooms are located on the first and second floors of the museum. Go to our Accessibility page for information about accessible parking.

The Kelsey does not provide mobility devices, but we welcome your personal walkers and wheelchairs.

The Kelsey Museum follows the guidelines set forth by the University of Michigan’s Office for Institutional Equity, which state, “service animals may be used by individuals with disabilities in order to participate in or gain access to programs, benefits, or services at the University.” Please refer to the OIE’s full statement for information about what kinds of animals are allowed and the conditions under which a service animal might be restricted or removed from a public space. 

Individuals with disabilities are encouraged to contact the Education Department to discuss any accommodations we can make for you or members of your group. Email kelsey.ed@umich.edu or call (734) 647-4167.

The Kelsey Museum is committed to making its programs and services accessible to everyone. Please visit our Accessibility page for details. 

• Admission to the Kelsey Museum is free for everyone, including members of the public, K–12 classes, university courses, and others.
• Our online database contains catalog entries for our ancient artifacts and archival photographs, many of which have associated digital media.
• Sensory Friendly Kits can be borrowed for use by individuals affected by Autism Spectrum Disorders. In addition, a Social Story can help families prepare for a visit to the museum.

Yes, we offer free drop-in public tours most weekends. You can also contact us to schedule a tour for your university students, K–12 class, or community group (see below).

Our Education Department is happy to help you arrange a tour for your group. Refer to the specific pages below for more information about the type of tour you would like to schedule, and contact kelsey.ed@umich.edu with any additional questions.

• If you are bringing university or college students, refer to the University and College page.
• If you are bringing a K–12 field trip, refer to the K–12 Educators and Schools page. 
• If you are bringing any other group, refer to the Group Tours page.

The Kelsey does not provide appraisals or authentication services for artifacts or art objects. Please refer to the Appraisals policy page of our website for more information.

Unless a label says otherwise, all the objects in the Kelsey Museum are “real”: authentic ancient artifacts with an average age of 2,000 years. With a few, clearly marked exceptions, we don’t put copies on display, and we don’t (knowingly) display fakes. If you are interested in fakes, there is an open-storage drawer installation in the Egyptian gallery and an online exhibition, The Art of the Fake: Egyptian Forgeries from the Kelsey Museum, comparing them to genuine artifacts for educational purposes.

Excavations in Egypt and the Middle East in the 1920s and 1930s account for most of the Kelsey’s holdings. Slightly more than 35 percent come from purchases, bequests, and gifts. Read about the Kelsey Museum’s collections history here.  

The Kelsey today houses more than 150,000 artifacts, ranging from prehistoric to medieval times. About 1,500 objects are on display in the Upjohn Exhibit Wing or appear in special exhibitions; the rest are maintained in climate-controlled storage in the basement of the Upjohn Building.

The Kelsey Museum has two human mummies and several animal mummies in its collection. Some are on display in the Egyptian galleries; the others remain in storage. The mummies are very fragile and must be housed in climate-controlled storage for their preservation, especially since Michigan’s weather is very different from the dry climate of Egypt that originally preserved them. The ancient Egyptians themselves went to a great deal of trouble to keep the bodies of their dead hidden and private, and this helped preserve the mummies.

The two human mummies in the Kelsey Museum are both of children about two or three years old (we thank James E. Harris, retired Michigan professor who x-rayed these mummies, for providing this information). Both appear to be from the Roman period. One of the child mummies is plain and undecorated, while the other has a plaster mask with gilt and painted decoration. The plain mummy underwent a CT-scan investigation, the results of which are on display in the Upjohn Exhibit Wing. Neither of the mummified children is currently on display.

The Kelsey Museum collection includes mummies of a cat and three birds (probably falcons), as well as the decorated head from a cat mummy. Animal mummies of this sort were left as offerings to a god associated with the animal; a person would pay the priests to kill the animal and have it wrapped as a mummy and put into a special chamber in the god’s temple. The cat was associated with the goddess Bast, the dog with Anubis, and the falcon with Horus. The Kelsey also has what appears to be the mummy of a baboon, but X-rays have shown that it contains human arm bones, wrapped to look like a baboon. Apparently, this is an ancient fake, designed to convince someone that they were paying for a baboon mummy. We also have another ancient fake—a mummy in the shape of a dog, made for the cult of one of the Egyptian jackal gods, that contains human child bones (this mummy was featured in the exhibition Death Dogs: The Jackal Gods of Ancient Egypt). The cat mummy, the cat head, and one of the mummified falcons are on display in the Upjohn Exhibit Wing.

The statues in the Kelsey Museum are ancient—between 1,500 and 5,000 years old—and a lot of things can happen over such a long period. Although made of stone, the noses (and arms and legs) of statues stick out and are especially vulnerable to damage. Imagine falling over but not being able to stop your fall, and you’ll get an idea of how this could happen! Statue noses are also easy to damage intentionally, and many ancient statues have lost their noses through ancient (or modern) vandalism.

The famous “Epistles of St. Paul” manuscript is an early copy of part of the New Testament on papyrus, dating to around 200 CE. Although parts of this manuscript have been on display in the Kelsey Museum in the past for temporary exhibitions, the manuscript is permanently housed in the University of Michigan Library Papyrology Collection—the largest collection of ancient documents on papyrus in North America. The Papyrology Collection at the University Library is closed to the public, but the papyri can be seen by appointment. For more information, visit the Papyrology Collection website and check out the epistles online here.

No, the Kelsey Museum building was never a house. Newberry Hall was completed in 1891 for the Students’ Christian Association, which used it as a meeting place until 1927. In 1937, it became home to U-M’s Museum of Classical Archaeology, which was later named after the museum’s founder, Francis W. Kelsey. The Upjohn Exhibit Wing, adjoining the rear of the original building, was built in 2009 and houses the museum’s galleries. Newberry Hall is now used for museum administrative offices, classroom space, lectures, and special events.

To learn more, visit the History page on the Kelsey website.

Email your question to kelsey.registry@umich.edu. Be sure to describe the artifact and include its Kelsey registration number (the number on the object identification card that starts with “KM”). 

We encourage the use of our images for your publications and teaching. For publications, we ask you to fill out the Application for Reproduction Permission form to request proper permission. For teaching purposes, you may use our images freely—all we ask for is acknowledgment. 

Please visit this page on our website for information about how to make a gift to the Kelsey Museum. We also have a collection box available in the lobby of the Kelsey Museum’s public entrance if you wish to make a cash donation while visiting.

There are several ways you can become a member:

• Join online by visiting this website.
• Join during a visit. Tell the desk attendant you would like to become a member, and they will give you a membership form to fill out and mail in later with your check.
• Call U-M Gift and Records Administration at (888) 518-7888 and tell them you would like to become a member of the Kelsey Museum. You may need to provide a shortcode for this transaction, which is 303888.

• Invitations to exhibition openings, lectures, and special member events, such as the Annual Saturnalia Celebration & Open House.
• Priority registration and member discounts for select programs and museum-sponsored events.
• Subscription to the Kelsey Museum Newsletter and monthly e-news.
• Gifts of $100 or more include a North American Reciprocal Museum (NARM) and Reciprocal Organization of Associated Museums (ROAM) membership. (NARM and ROAM provide reciprocal museum memberships at institutions throughout North America. A complete list of participating museums can be found here).

• The Kelsey Museum Newsletter.
• Lectures, behind-the-scenes tours, special events, and programming associated with special exhibitions.
• The Kelsey Museum annual Holiday Open House.

To renew or upgrade your membership, contact Jennifer Kirker at (734) 763-8976 or jkirker@umich.edu. 

Yes. The Kelsey Museum is part of the University of Michigan, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. The gift acknowledgment from the University of Michigan is your receipt for tax purposes.

If you made a gift to Kelsey Museum Membership Gifts (fund 303888), you will automatically receive a museum membership. You should get your membership card via US mail within two weeks of your gift transaction. If your card does not arrive, please contact Jennifer Kirker at jkirker@umich.edu. 

We’re here to help! Please contact Jennifer Kirker at (734) 763-8976 or jkirker@umich.edu.