Congressman Peter DeFazio, wearing an Indiana Jones hat and bright orange safety vest, helped break ground on the first phase of a multi-million dollar expansion of the University of Oregon’s Museum of Natural and Cultural History on Wednesday.
A $2.17 million request from DeFazio as part of a federal highway spending bill will pay for most of a 7,000 square foot wing that will serve as a new collections center for 500,000 artifacts. About $6,000 in private donations will pay the rest of the center’s cost.
The funds were included in the 2005 highway bill because the museum is the official repository for artifacts found during road construction in Oregon. Those artifacts are currently held in five different buildings spread across campus, and the collections center will allow them to be kept in one location.
The building will also ensure the artifacts remain in Oregon and will not be shipped to other states, museum director Jon Erlandson said.
DeFazio, who is the chairman of the Subcommittee on Highways and Transit, said his staff initially thought of the proposal as “very dubious.” But the Federal Highway Administration and the Oregon Department of Transportation “think this is a great idea.”
The appropriation was also a great way to improve the display facilities at the museum, DeFazio said. He said other congressmen may pursue similar projects in the next highway funding bill.
The three phases of the museum’s expansion are projected to cost $9.55 million and bring all of the museum’s research and curation facilities into a single complex.
Construction on the collections center will begin by the start of fall term, according to University officials, and is expected to be complete by May 2009.
A $2 million exhibit hall, funded by private donations, is scheduled to begin construction in 2010 and open in 2011. In 2012, construction will begin on a new research wing, according to the University.
Other donors to the museum included the Ford Family Foundation, the Oregon Cultural Trust and retired geology professor Ewart Baldwin.
Ford Family Foundation President Norm Smith said the museum helps to preserve the region’s rural history.
“Some of these artifacts could only be rural,” he said. “There was only rural here at one time.”
Jason Younker, a member of the Coquille tribe, told gatherers at the groundbreaking that the museum was important for preserving Native history. Younker said the University has done progressive work in welcoming Native students since the creation of the Many Nations Longhouse.
“It is fitting that this new museum will take place next to the Longhouse,” he said. “It is because of this that many Native people will take part.”
After brief remarks, DeFazio put on his archeological gear and unearthed a box containing a knife, which museum director Erlandson told him was a sign of trust and admiration in many cultures.
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