NIU’s Anthropology Museum finds new home

DeKALB – Admiring the movable walls, specialty lighting and glass cases in Northern Illinois University’s new Anthropology Museum, Sara Pfannkuche said the old setting pales in comparison to its new home.

“This is kind of what I had hoped this space would look like,” said Pfannkuche, interim director of the museum, now in Cole Hall.

An open house held Sunday at the newly renovated Cole Hall on NIU’s campus offered the public its first look at the Anthropology Museum.

Cole Hall reopened Jan. 17 after being shuttered for nearly 4 years. On Feb. 14, 2008, a former NIU student walked into Room 101 in Cole Hall shortly after 3 p.m. and opened fire, killing five students and injuring 21 others before turning the gun on himself.

Students Gayle Dubowski, Catalina Garcia, Julianna Gehant, Ryanne Mace and Daniel Parmenter were killed during the shooting. In 2009, a memorial garden was created next to Cole Hall in their honor.

The 1960s-era building was given an extensive overhaul during a $6 million renovation that began almost a year ago. It is now equipped with a “collaboratory” classroom that features state-of-the-art technology, a lecture hall and the Anthropology Museum.

The museum had been housed in a converted classroom in the Stevens Building since 1976; it closed in July 2010, Pfannkuche said.

Because the anthropology department originally was in Cole Hall in the 1960s, re-establishing the museum there seemed like the perfect opportunity, “bringing us back, I guess, to where we started,” Pfannkuche said.

NIU President John Peters said Sunday that the location of the museum is appropriate because Fay-Cooper Cole, for whom the building is named, was an anthropologist.

Pfannkuche said there’s no question the Cole Hall location is a modern museum; its previous location had the undeniable feel of a classroom, she said.

A heating, ventilation and air-conditioning system monitors temperature and humidity, which is key to keeping art and artifacts in good condition, Pfannkuche said. Specialty lighting and movable walls create a gallery feel and the front glass cases offer a view into the museum that’s hard to miss, she said.

“This is what you expect,” she said of the well-lighted, temperature-controlled space that was filled with people Sunday. The museum will feature traveling exhibits and student work. Current exhibits showcase prairie photographs and Korean theater masks and costumes.