Apr 23 at 11:13am - Holly Andrew
USU's Barn as a Future Museum
The iconic 1919 Utah State University Barn has generated nearly a century of human stories as it evolved from Horse Barn to Art Barn to faculty offices and labs. The evolution continues as USU prepares to restore the Barn to its original exterior and convert it into a new Museum of Anthropology and campus Welcome Center. To accomplish this, we are calling upon our loyal alumni and friends to help make this project a reality by contributing to the "Raising the Barn!" campaign fund. The new Museum of Anthropology will write a new chapter in the Barn's history and expand opportunities for cultural education in Cache Valley (Horse Barn, ca. 1940. Photo courtesy of USU Special Collections).
The Past
Built in 1919, the Barn is one of USU's oldest structures. As the "Horse Barn” it housed USU's equines for nearly 40 years. After World War II, USU experienced a growth spurt, and all barns but "our Barn” were moved to off-campus farms to make way for new buildings. After standing empty for a few years, the Barn experienced a rebirth in 1959, when a fire destroyed an Old Main ceramics studio and the USU art community lobbied to turn the old Horse Barn into the Art Barn . After construction of the Fine Arts complex in the 1970s, the Barn provided another 30 years of service as overflow space for professors, labs and classrooms. Today the Barn stands mostly vacant because fire-code problems render it dangerous.
Today
The USU Museum of Anthropology currently occupies another historic space on campus: the south turret of Old Main. There, in just 2,000 square feet of space, museum staff teach more than 8,000 visitors per year, including nearly 2,000 school kids and hundreds of university students about anthropology, the study of all people, everywhere, through all time. As visitation, exhibits and collections have expanded, the museum finds itself spilling out into the hallway, a situation harkening back to its own early days in the 1960s when Professor Gordon Keller began displaying finds in the hallways of the Old Main basement. The museum today and the barn of yesterday need help.
The Future
USU is embarking on a campaign to restore the Barn, establish a Museum of Anthropology with six times more space, and create a new campus Welcome Center. We plan to break ground in March 2012 and complete the project by December. The capital campaign calls for us to raise $4 million for construction and operating funds. Our strategy focuses on engaging alumni, friends, corporations, foundations and the local community to have a stake in this transformational project. We would like to have a conversation with people to explore how they can be involved and make a difference for the USU and Cache Valley communities. To learn more about opportunities to help, please contact Bonnie Pitblado (
bonnie.pitblado@usu.edu , 435-797-1496).
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