The Anthropological Collections
The Anthropology Collections at the Utah Museum of Natural History span from 8,000 b.c. to present day. The first artifacts were probably collected by Henry Montgomery, professor of natural history at the University of Utah. The earliest reference to the archaeology collection is found in the 1891 catalog for the University of Deseret (the original name of the University of Utah), which mentions "an archaeological collection, and much that may be classed under the heading of curiosities." The first substantial additions to the nascent collection were made by Byron Cummings who was on the faculty between 1893 and 1915.
Other significant additions were made by University of Utah professors: Andrew Kerr (1922-1929), Julian Steward (1930-1933), John Gillian (1935-1937) and Jesse Jennings (1948-1981) as the academic study of archaeology at the University of Utah expanded. The collection includes items from some 3,800 archaeological sites and occupies just under 7,000 cubic feet of storage. The archaeological collections held by the Museum have been instrumental to our understanding of the human history of western North America and are of global importance.
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