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Show PAGE 18 THEZEPHYRMARCH 1990 Why the Dan OLaurie Museum Exists by Lloyd Pierson the creatures of God's green and brown earth, man Is probably the strangest and most perplexing. From the earliest days of the caveman he has related to his past and thought about the future although he realized he could do Of all little about the latter except to hallucinate. He kept the past alive through legends and campfire stories; the future he explained through his religion ano by his care of the dead, however hazy an Idea of the future he may have had. At the same time to stay alive In the present he developed an Intense Interest In his world, what made It up, how It worked and the best ways to exploit It. Lastly man has been an Inveterate collector, oft times referred to as the "packrat syndrome." Some collect pretty rocks, others pretty women and conversely pretty men. Others collect old cars, airplanes, razors, real estate, animals you name It someone collects It. When one puts all of the above together one gets the motivation for museums. Mankind, as an Individual or group, tends to want to express himself; to show off If you will, and a collection has much more value If In a public display It reflects upion the Individual's or groups' good taste, ability to conquer In a sense, and hls m. Museums run the gamut from the mighty Smithsonian with Its 15 or more buildings and millions upon millions of artifacts (only 1 on display) to the curio cabinet In someone's front parlor displaying a doll collection. All ore in the tradition of museums from Montezumas collection of wild animals to C.W. Peale and P.T. Barnum In their public museums. The Moab Museum continued to enjoy public support and grow In scope throughout the late 50s and 60s. In 1965 a move was made from the old house to what had been the Moab City offices at 118 East Center. The old house had been sold to be torn down to make way for city offices which were being moved from the county courthouse. The county In turn got the old city offices and once again allowed free use of the property by the museum. As the community entered the 1970s tourism and retirement housing began to become Increasingly Important along with the long established mining Industry. By the 1980s mining began to decline, environmentalism brought about such things as a half dozen professional archaeologists living In a community that had rarely seen one before. Retirees and professional people began to stimulate museum growth as the mining Industry began to fade Into history and once again the desire to present Moab's best face to the tourist took on a greater Importance. So It was only natural that with the great Interest In and dependence on nature and the Intriguing history of the area that Moab should desire a public museum that One of the long standing supporters of the museum was Dan O'Laurie. Mr. O'Laurie had accumulated a certain degree of financial success In the mining self-estee- t To sustain the Interest of local citizens In the museum a program of traveling or temporary exhibits was started. These Included materials from both Inside and outside the community. They give local collectors a chance to show off their endeavors and the outside exhibits bring things to the community not easily seen or available In our somewhat Isolated situation. Complimentary to the traveling exhibits are lectures by experts In various fields contributing to the cultural development of the Moabites. would transmit this significance and knowledge to future generations of Moabites and visitors traveling to the region. Some attempt at preservation of the area's values had been undertaken by writers such as Faun McConkle Tanner In her "The Far Country", which was an update of her first book on Moab from the 1930s, and by the local chapter of the Daughters of Utah Pioneers In their hard fought battle to preserve the pioneer school and church building they now call Relic Hall. But Moab Is a unique community In Utah with a different religious mix than most towns In Utah and a much more varied past In a definitely different setting. There was more to the story than was being told and many artifacts of the past must be preserved. The Influx of peoples brought In by the uranium boom of the early 1950s not only brought professional people with the ability to resoarch and design a museum but people with a sense of knowing that history, Important history, was transpiring at that time, history that needed to be preserved and Interpreted. The Women's Literary Club, an old time Moab organization dating back to the 19th century and with a goodly mix of old timers and newcomers, organized a meeting of representatives of the towns and civic clubs to discuss a museum on November 13, 1957. By January 15, 1958, they were organized and under way. On August 22, 1958, the museum opened as the Moab Museum In a small house on Center Street whose use was donated by the Grand County Commissioners. Policies and direction were established by the Southeastern Utah Society of Arts and Science, the parent organization of the museum, that still In general guides the museum today some 31 years later. The area of Interest was determined to be within 100 miles of Moab and subjects to be collected and Interpreted were archeology, history, geology, mining and milling, paleontology and minerals. These continue to be the basic exhibit subjects In the "permanent exhibits and the sphere of Interest In making and accepting so-cal- led Paralleling concentration on these disciplines was a gradual art by local artists to be displayed for their own sake of for use fine of acceptance collections. In the exhibits. Industry. He had been Involved In the early days ot Charlie Steen's development of the local uranium business based on hls discovery at the Ml Vida mine and subsequent building of the uranium processing mill north of Moab across the Colorado River. Dan was also a collector of things other than Just money. He was a philanthropist to the community and one of hls philanthropies was the museum. He forced the museum people Into thinking about the long term future when one day he presented them with a healthy donation to be put Into the "building fund" which the museum did not have (being barely able to buy stuff to keep the moths out of the collections). He later Increased the building fund with additional monies to the point that the museum board built a frame and metal building on the rear of the old city hall building to house the Increased historical artifact collections. The history room became a pet project of Dans as It slowly took form and shape In an style. As he looked at the old city hall building It came to him that something had to be done to make It look as good or better than the history room. Hls unequivocal answer was funding for a new building build on the spot of the old city hall during the year 1988. He did not live to see It but knew It was named In hls honor, not only for hls contributions to the museum but to the entire community. up-to-d- ate The new Dan O'Laurie museum that fronts the history hall Is a two story affair with display space on the ground floor and balcony. The exhibits on the ground floor are of modern open style with few cases and most of them small. The sequence of exhibits runs from geological displays graphically showing local landform formation through minerals and fossils. Mining equipment from the turn of the century to the present Is displayed, the emphasis being on uranium mining. A special exhibit Is a tribute to the mine rescue team from Rio Algom mine. It displays the trophies they won and the equipment they use. Archeological exhibits start with Early Man at 8000 B.C. and go down through the Archaic period of Indian life to Ansazl and Fremont cultures as they existed In .T .... . |