USU Museum of Anthropology Awarded Prestigious Grant

The Museum of Anthropology at Utah State University has been awarded a $35,000 grant from the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services. The grant supports efforts to digitize the museum’s collections and paper records. The grant will allow the museum to better manage its collections electronically.

The museum’s collections and paper records include more than 6,500 artifacts, approximately 100 two-dimensional works of art and thousands of paper accession records. Student employees, volunteers and museum personnel have already begun the task of digitally cataloguing all information on record about its objects. Additional research on some objects is being completed and every object is being photographed. This data and more are being entered into an artifact-cataloguing software program purchased for this major undertaking, according to museum director Bonnie Pitblado.

 

“This project is part of our ongoing effort to improve museum infrastructure and the accessibility of our collections to our audience of USU students and Cache Valley community members,” Pitblado said. “At the conclusion of the two-year project, the newly digitized collections will be easier to search — that’s important for USU students creating exhibits — easier to access via our Web site for research purposes and easier to track from a management standpoint.”

 

“Museums for America grants like the one obtained by the USU Museum of Anthropology help strengthen museum service in communities across the United States,” said Anne-Imelda M. Radice, director of the Institute of Museum and Library Services. “These awards support hundreds of hands-on educational programs, the digitization of thousands of objects in museum collections at USU and exciting ventures using new technology. Museums use these funds to advance community partnerships, spur cultural tourism and support classroom teachers with educational curriculum, training and much more.”

 

Museums for America is the institute’s largest grant program for museums, providing more than $17 million in grants to support the role of museums in American society to sustain cultural heritage, support lifelong learning and to be centers of community engagement. Museum for America grants strengthen a museum’s ability to serve the public more effectively by supporting high-priority activities that advance the institution’s mission and goals. Of the 448 applications for project grants, only 177 were funded.

 

Utah State’s Museum of Anthropology is in Old Main, room 252. The museum is open Monday through Friday, 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Tours can be scheduled by calling (435) 797-7545. More information about the museum is available at its Web site.

 

Community members interested in volunteering at the museum for this project are invited to contact the museum at the above number.

 

USU Contact: Sara Lundberg (435) 797-7545, anthmuse@cc.usu.edu