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Reggie & Celeste Hodges Donate African Art Collection to North Carolina Museums

Hello! We’re Reggie & Celeste Hodges, former Peace Corps Volunteers who are donating our West African carvings, textiles, and photos to museums. We went from serving as Volunteers in Sierra Leone 50 years ago to sharing our African art collection with museums today. A few articles that tell our story are available here.

Museums that Have Accepted Artworks from the Hodges Collection

Carvings and Textiles

Gregg Museum of Art & Design at NC State University
The Gregg has accepted 41 textiles, carvings, and other items, including this Senufu mud cloth. The carvings will be displayed at some point. Textiles deteriorate in light so they will be kept in archival storage cabinets to be seen and handled only by textile students and researchers. See
• Hodges’ items accepted by the Gregg
• Descriptions

North Carolina Museum of Art
The NCMA has accepted 24 pieces, including our two favorites: a gongoli and a Bundu mask named Navoh. Curator of African Art Amanda Maples conducted research in Sierra Leone so she’s as excited as we are that the NCMA is giving these pieces from Sierra Leone a permanent home. See:
• Hodges’ items accepted by the NCMA
• Our two favorites are on exhibit in the NCMA African gallery: Gongoli and Navoh. Also on exhibit: Fulani blanket.

Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University
The Nasher has accepted 27 pieces, including this falui mask. A Wolof ngoni (guitar) is currently on display as part of the Cosmic Rhythm Vibrations exhibit. See:
• Hodges’ items accepted by the Nasher: Photos | Nasher’s online catalog

Ackland Art Museum at UNC-Chapel Hill
The Ackland has accepted nine artworks. Reggie is a member of both the museum’s National Advisory Board and the Collections Committee so we’re confident that the Ackland’s African Art collection will expand.
• Hodges’ items accepted by the Ackland
• Descriptions

University of Michigan Museum of Art (UMMA)
The UMMA has accepted three artworks from our collection. They will be kept on the U of M campus, where John F Kennedy first spoke of his idea of the Peace Corps while addressing an enthusiastic student audience – at 2:00 AM on October 14, 1960. See:
• Hodges’ items accepted by the UMMA
• Descriptions
• JFK Plaque at U of M
• JFK Medallion at U of M

Photographs

John Hope Franklin Research Center for African and African American History & Culture at Duke University
We’re honored that the JHF asked to have the cultural photos that we took and we’ve committed to donating all of our African prints, slides, and negatives to the JHF archive. We’re in the process of digitizing and culling the set, which comprises a couple thousand items, and we plan to make many of the digital versions publicly available online. See a few photos in the slideshow below, with more photos in our sampler portfolio.