This X-shaped copper piece, once used as money or for trading, and the African mask next to it are two of the many items on display in Ted Fiedler’s African collection at Phillips County Museum. — The Holyoke Enterprise | Johnson Publications
Artifact collection brings Africa to Phillips County Museum
A number of historic artifacts call Phillips County Museum home, and not all are originally from Phillips County.
Ted Fiedler’s African collection has many pieces that provide visitors with insight into other cultures and give them a glimpse of Africa without having to leave Phillips County.
Fiedler was born and raised in Holyoke and graduated from Phillips County High School in 1930. He traveled all over Europe, Central America and South America before making his first trip to Africa in the early 1960s. His final trip to Africa was in 1976.
He was employed by the U.S. Wheat Growers Association and lived in Holland from 1960-66. He then worked for the Department of Commerce from 1967-77. He was in charge of the African section of the Bureau of International Commerce.
His collection of artifacts at the museum are from all over Africa. There is a “mumubashi” mask from Zaire, now the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
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