Ramon Morales
Staff Writer
Anne Collier, curator for the University’s Cultural and Natural History Collections, delivered a presentation titled “Mapping a Cultural Geography from the Archaeological Stone Tool Collections in the Cultural & Natural History Collections,” Tuesday before University community members in the Quay Davis Executive Boardroom and on Zoom.
The presentation was part of a series designed to connect to and bring understanding of the University’s cultural history.
Collier’s lecture was centered around stone tools that have been discovered locally and are now a part of the Collections.
The Cultural and Natural History Collections at the Jaeger Museum at Second Street on the east side of the campus stores and preserves historical artifacts.
Collier talked about the stone tool collections, their discovery, how they are stored, what they plan to do with them and how they want to share the stone collections and the natural history in general.
Collier brought stones from the Collections into the Boardroom and discussed their history and their distinct functions.
She shared more about the Collections via a PowerPoint presentation.
She talked about the importance of the Collections and of natural history itself.
The stones and artifacts tell stories about people’s everyday lives, she said.
Stone tools like the ones Collier shared are among the oldest living artifacts from the people who came before us, she told the audience.
Each collection has its own story: No matter where it was found, it has evolved with the rest of the world to the point where we are now able to learn about it through presentations like these, Collier said.
Throughout the presentation Collier acknowledged the importance of remembering those who were here before us, how these artifacts may be connected to them and how we should respect them as such.
“The University attempts to honor the people from the land who owned it before us, the tribal people,” said Zandra Wagoner, University chaplain and assistant professor of philosophy and religion, who attended the Tuesday presentation.
Collier emphasized that anyone who wants to view the Collections is welcome.
“We’re very good about our outreach to the community,” Collier said.
“(Collier) knows the backstory of nearly every object in the museum, and we have close to 100,000 objects,” added Felicia Beardsley, professor of anthropology and director of the Cultural and Natural History Collections.
The Jaeger Museum is open to visitors from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Monday through Wednesday, and by appointment. For more information, email ulvcollections@laverne.edu, or visit ulvcollections.org.
Ramon Morales can be reached at ramon.morales@laverne.edu.
Ramon Morales, a senior communications major with an concentration in public affairs, is a staff writer for the Campus Times.
