By Kristin Olsen

Special to the Hard News Café The USU Museum of Anthropology has gone from a few dusty cases of artifacts in the basement hallway of the Old Main Building to a well-rounded and inviting museum receiving thousands of visitors each year.

Faculty and students have slowly improved the museum since it began in 1963.

"We had cases in the hallway and pipes hanging down," said Jon Moris, an anthropology professor who remembers the museum's subterranean beginnings. "It was so hot and you couldn't control the heat."

Today there are no worries about the heat. In 1992 the museum moved to room 252 of Old Main, which was originally a chapel. Now the concerns are focused on funding, storage space, and making people aware of what the museum has to offer.

Lara Petersen, museum curator for the last three years, has helped improve outreach programs. Last year 2,198 people signed the museum's guest book, including 63 school groups.

In fall 2002, the university hired Bonnie Pitblado to be the museum director as well as teach museum and archaeology classes. Pitblado said she doesn't think enough people know about the museum.

"I want to raise awareness among the school community but also among the Logan community," Pitblado said. "We have exhibits that will appeal to a lot of people--a little something for everyone."

Recently, about 30 people attended a special exhibit on lacrosse. Speakers explained the American Indian origins of the modern international sport. After the speakers were done, the audience enjoyed the displays and refreshments of beef jerky and trail mix.

"I'd never been there," said Thaddeus Nicholls, a graduate student studying coral reef ecology and a USU lacrosse team captain who spoke that night. "It was definitely a place I'd visit again."

Nicholls was invited to speak by his friend, Albert Garner, an anthropology student who put the exhibit together.

"All of the exhibits are conceived and built by students," Petersen said.

More events are planned for the summer. One possible event will feature the Brazilian martial art Capoeira.

Current exhibits feature a wide variety of subjects from Peruvian healers to Egyptian hieroglyphs to facsimiles of pre-historic skulls.

"I love the ice man topic. You just have to think that's pretty sexy," Pitblado said.

Petersen said she thinks the exhibits are really cool and that they are able to get a large variety in a small space.

"They had a lot more stuff than I had imagined," Nicholls said. "Some of the artifacts were pretty awesome."

Pitblado said that anthropology museums are always interesting because they deal with people. The more people learn about other cultures, the easier it is for them to get along with each other.

"Knowing about and understanding other cultures is vital to our national security," Pitblado said. "The ability to empathize is critical regardless of your political opinion." For more information go to www.hass.usu.edu/~anthromuseum/

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