Carlee Reed and Dr. Paul Stavast, Anthropology
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As of 2009, the Museum of Peoples and Cultures (MPC) has been an active institution of BYU campus for over fifty years. Throughout that time it has developed educational programs, volunteer opportunities, and given a unique experience to students in and out of the Anthropology program. The MPC’s directors have kept the institution open through diligence, and acknowledging the importance of practical experience to BYU’s students.
The MPC is more than just a visual museum. Students have the opportunity to work, volunteer, and participate in the activities put on through the educational department. As of 2009, students are the employees that organize and take care of the artifact collections, archives, and community programs. Student’s who are unable to commit to a part-time schedule are still welcome to come in and volunteer, working with tour groups, date nights, and assisting the trained employees in their collection endeavors.
As a student employee, I was in charge of organizing the records of the collections the MPC maintained. This organizational project got me curious as to how the museum has changed over time, and what developments, through the directors, made the institution grow. I was surprised to find that no recent history had been written explaining the developments of the museum. That is how my project began. Originally, I planned on researching the infancy of the museum, the least documented portion. But as I researched, I found that the museum has continued developing significantly even up to this past year, so I expanded my research to include those years.
I had the opportunity to do research in the BYU Special Collections Library where BYU houses all records of the Anthropology, Archaeology, and Geology Departments as well as the Family, Home and Social Science College records. These records held memos, letters, financial records, and administrative records that gave personal insight into the developments and desired developments the different administrators had for the MPC. Another great resource was the MPC’s personal archives, which held meeting minutes, proposals, and policy documents relating to the personal desires the directors and other museum employees had for the MPC. My main primary source, however, was the opportunity I had to personally interview three of the MPC’s directors, Dr. Dale Berge, Dr. Joel Janetski, and Dr. Marti Allen and have continuing discussions about the MPC’s history with its current Director, Paul Stavast.
My research started with searching of basic knowledge on the development of the museum: who pushed for its birth, how much support did it receive from administrators, how did it initiate displays, and what were its initial plans to help the students of BYU progress. Research suggests that the idea of an anthropology museum had been around since before BYU was even a University. But the establishment did not come until Dale Berge, a student at the time but later University Faculty and Director of the MPC, first organized exhibits under the Anthropology Department heading.
It was difficult to get a complete, unbiased look on the development of the MPC as my information came from personal notes. But it gave me an opportunity to hone my primary source analysis skills, as primary sources were almost all I had to look through. It was not until the 1990 decade that annual reports were written about the workings and development of the MPC. Therefore, when I searched through the notes, the meeting minutes, I had to be aware of the different biases the people involved had. It was fairly obvious throughout my research that the directors and employees of the MPC were very passionate about how effective and useful the museum could be if given the proper support, while the administrators where more hesitant to give the MPC free reign.
Research brought up mild confusion, as there were many proposals for the development of the MPC, although few were actually realized. The earliest directors and staff of the MPC, it was known as the Museum of Archeology and Ethnology at the time, wanted to combine the archaeology and ethnology museum with the geology museum and the bean museum to create one large University Museum of Peoples and Cultures. This all-encompassing museum would house art, artifacts from excavations – archaeological and geological, and would have a special area designed to incorporate the LDS faith. Unfortunately, this proposal stayed just that as lack of funding and external support eventually killed the idea.
In 1982, the Museum of Peoples and Cultures became firmly established in Allen Hall, just south of BYU campus. With a permanent building, the MPC increasingly focused on the development of its educational programs, and the development of policies, procedures and standards recognized by national museums. Starting in 1990, the MPC created an Emergency Recovery Plan, developed a loan policy, and started applying for grants to conserve – and further protect – some of the museum’s Pre-Columbian textiles, and other artifacts. These procedures show the attitude the museum had of permanently protecting its artifacts, the MPC was beginning to think long-term.
Along with policies, educational programs were developed. 1992 brought the initiation of a free tour program and lecture series. Later, the MPC started celebrating Utah Prehistory Week by participating with the community in Primitive Crafts Workshops. A huge educational program initiated by Assistant Director Marti Allen was the Museum Studies Certificate Program, offered as a program to BYU Master students. The MPC made certain that while the education of BYU students was a main focus of the institution, the Provo Community also deserved to have access to educational resources. With that in mind, the MPC began developing teaching kits that could be rented out to elementary school teachers or home-school groups.
By 2003, where the focus of my research ended, the Museum Certificate Program was approved -allowing for increased opportunities in museum career fields for students – and the museum was continually focused on making a climate controlled environment for the protection of its artifacts. The development of its educational programs, collections environment, and increased knowledge of national standards for museums truly allowed it to “inspire students to life-long learning and service.”1 The results of my research are in the process of being typed into a report that will be accessible via request of the MPC Director. This report will aide in receiving grants that will further develop the MPC, and, hopefully, will set in motion a standard of writing down institutional histories for all of BYU’s different departments and institutions.
References
http://mpc.byu.edu/About%20Us/Mission.dhtml [accessed 06/16/2010].