Utah Museum Association Members Tour the Future USU Museum of Anthropology

The Utah Museum Association (UMA), a group representing over 250 museums in Utah, held their annual conference this year in Logan. At least 129 people attended the conference from October 10-12, 2011. As part of the proceedings, the USU Museum of Anthropology invited conference participants to tour the current museum and the historic Art Barn, or Aggie Barn, that will soon be the home of the new museum.

The tour, titled “The Past & Future of the USU Museum of Anthropology...and Aggie Ice Cream to Boot!” began with USU’s current Old Main-based museum. It included an overview by museum director Bonnie Pitblado, who briefly covered the museum's history and philosophy, followed by a discussion of exhibits and programming led by Adrienne Day. The tour participants then took a short walk over to the old Art Barn, where they got a sneak peek at the future home of the USU Museum of Anthropology, led by Holly Andrews.

As part of the barn tour, barn researchers Jon Alfred and Jason Neil presented some of their research to attendees. Jon Alfred’s presentation was “From Horse Dung to Pottery Shards: Barn Usage at Utah State University,” a discussion of the changing roles of barns on USU campus. Jason Neil’s presentation was “Memories From the Barn: Learning From the Past Through Oral History.” It featured information about three oral histories that have been done about the barn, including audio excerpts. It discussed how a building can represent different things to different people and the value of preserving memories from the public to understand the historic importance of places. Participants were interested in how the information gathered by the research team will be preserved and presented, such as through displays in the new museum and on the Barn Yarn public radio broadcasts.

At the end of the tour, Holly Andrews displayed and discussed the architectural plans for the rehabilitation of the barn into the new museum and welcome center. Participants then enjoyed their Aggie Ice Cream. Several attendees said the tour and the work of the barn research team has given them new ideas that they will take back to their own communities and museums.