When Brown University received Rudolf Haffenreffer's private museum from his family in 1955, its collections included 60,000 objects from the Native cultures of the Americas. Under Brown's stewardship, the collections have grown in breadth and depth through fieldwork, donations, and strategic acquisitions to reflect the research interests of Brown faculty and students.

The Haffenreffer Museum's permanent collection now includes over 150,000 ethnographic and archaeological objects from all over the world, and forms the basis for research, exhibitions, and community outreach. The Museum collection illustrates and documents human cultures and societies worldwide. The collection is strong in the indigenous arts of the Americas, Africa, and Southeast Asia, along with smaller collections from other parts of the world.