(2019-2022) The Haffenreffer Museum received a grant of $5 million from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to inventory the museum’s collections and transfer them from their current location in Bristol to Providence, RI (yet to be announced). This project will improve collections care, enhance academic study, increase public accessibility, and facilitate greater engagement with Native American and other communities.

(2018-2022) This Andrew W. Mellon Foundation grant supports improving physical and intellectual stewardship of the Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology's Native American and Indigenous collections and furthers their integration in the Brown curriculum.

(2017-2021) The CLIP is the result of a five-year cooperative agreement with the National Park Service (NPS) to inventory and re-house the federally owned collections in the CPL. Led by Annalisa Heppner, M.A. the CLIP has completed a baseline inventory for the majority of the Cape Krusenstern, Onion Portage, Noatak River sites, and other small sites, totaling ca. 300,000 artifacts.

(2014 - 2017) The Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology and the RISD Museum received grants from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation for “Assemblages,” a four-year collaborative initiative focusing on the new and evolving field of object-based teaching and research.

Supported by the National Science Foundation, this archaeological research focuses on the development of trade networks in the North Atlantic and women's role in weaving cloth and participating in these trade networks for 1000 years. Research Associate Dr. Michèle Hayeur Smith's earlier research showed that nearly 1,000 years ago the Vikings traded and sold cloth in London and other European markets.

Archaeological and natural scientific investigations of Surtshellir cave, Iceland, led by Kevin Smith, Deputy Director of the Haffenreffer Museum, funded by the National Science Foundation.