The SAMB in short
SAMB is the french association "Société des Amis du Musée Basque".

It aims at contributing to the increase of collections, to the life and influence of the Basque Museum (Art. 1 Regulations). It includes all the people (about 450 members up to now) interested in the Basque patrimony and the cultural diversity of the area.
It supports the studies made about it . It participates in an active way to the cultural life, especially throughout the publication of the Basque Museum review and other documents (Art. 2 Regulations).

Apart from the original activities set up in the museum itself, the support to its educational wing called ARGITU and the gift of works of art, we provide the publication of the Basque Museum review. This one has been edited for more than 80 years, sent to the members and shared with many other publications which enable to make the Documentary Center of the museum richer.

We organize meetings and visits always trying to give a context to the collections of this ethnological and historical museum. We hold our general meeting in every part of the Basque Country, either North or South in order to delocalize the museum.
"The SAMB", the ambassadors of a society museum" by Etienne Rousseau-Plotto. Proceedings of the conference in Bayonne Oct 10-11th 2003: " The Educated Societies at the beginning of the 21st century in the cultural life of the city", organized by the Bayonne Science , Letters and Art Society.

The history of the museum
Founded in 1956, under the influence of General AUBLET, the "SAMB" aims at "gathering around the objects of the museum all the people who like to take care of the cultural resources of our area, supporting the museum thanks to either a physical help or moral influence, developing for the public and especially for young people and pupils a liking for regional studies".
In 1964 thanks to Jean Haritschelhar, the "SAMB" launched again the Basque Museum review which had been stopped in 1944.

Bulletin 1-1924	Bulletin 144 -1996

The Society had deep links with the Basque Museum till 1989 when the museum closed for safety reasons as major works had to be done in the Dagourette House where the Museum was located. The closing of the Museum was for some of us the right time to wonder about its life and the association actively contributed to the debates in order to make it open again. During those 12 years when the Museum stayed closed, the "SAMB" kept an eye on it and even if all the wishes had not been fulfilled it kept on struggling to see the main lines maintained.

The re-opening of the Museum in 2001 led the association to re-define its role.
In 2002 it signed a convention with the city of Bayonne to set up their collaboration. That was a success and the" SAMB" was granted the right to have free entrance in the Museum as an acknowledgment to its contribution to the life of the Museum
(Summary of the history, in french).
In 2006, the association filed to be a public utility charity and set up a sponsorship in order to fulfill its mission in the best way.

The devil represented on the home page and whose picture is shown below is the object n° 2612 of the collection of the Museum. Origin: Pastorale Roland , 1936.

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