The Johns Hopkins Archaeological Museum received its first collection items in 1882, just six years after the founding of the Johns Hopkins University. Originally called the “Historical Collection,” the museum was first located in the History and Political Science Seminary in Hopkins Hall on the university’s original downtown Baltimore campus. By 1915, the museum had expanded to occupy the entire third floor of McCoy Hall. When the university moved to its current location—now called the Homewood Campus—the museum was relocated to Gilman Hall, where it remains today.

The Archaeological Museum’s collections have always played a central role in teaching and research at Johns Hopkins. Class listings from the early 1900s show that faculty and students regularly worked with museum objects as part of their coursework. The museum continues this tradition today, its role in teaching and research further enhanced by the 2010 renovation of Gilman Hall, which created new spaces for exhibitions, collections care, and hands-on teaching and research.

Much of the collection was acquired in the late 19th and early 20th centuries through donations from notable Baltimore donors, the Baltimore chapter of the Archaeological Institute of America, and university-funded purchases made by Johns Hopkins faculty. The university was also a subscribing member of the Egypt Exploration Fund, through which it acquired objects from documented archaeological contexts. The museum also received transfers of objects from other institutions, including The Brooklyn Museum and the Asian Art Museum.