Anthropology department celebrates 50 years

Kansas University’s anthropology department is celebrating 50 years as an independent department at KU with two days of events and reminiscing.

The anniversary celebration includes tours, lectures and — to round out the festivities — a party on Friday night.

Anthropology anniversary schedule of events

Thursday

Noon-4 p.m.: Open house and tours

  • Anthropology department, Fraser Hall
  • Archaeology Lab and Research Center, Spooner Hall

2:45 p.m.: Video on the history of the department, 633 Fraser Hall, with Felix Moos

Friday

10 a.m.-2 p.m.: Open house and tours

  • Anthropology department, Fraser HallArchaeology Lab and Research Center, Spooner Hall
  • Ethnographic Collections, International Room, Level 5, Kansas Union

10 a.m.-noon: Laboratory of Biological Anthropology, Lippincott Hall

10:30 a.m.: Video on the history of the anthropology department, 633 Fraser Hall, with Felix Moos

Noon: “Human Migrations and the Aleutians,” Dixie West, Kansas State University, The Commons, Spooner Hall

2:30 p.m.: Department Awards Ceremony, Big 12 Room, Level 5, Kansas Union

4 p.m.: Keynote address, “A Lunch with Margaret Mead,” Bob Bee, University of Connecticut, Alderson Auditorium, Level 4, Kansas Union

7 p.m.: Anniversary party, Liberty Hall, 645 Massachusetts St.

A highlight of the two-day schedule will be a video about the history of the department. The video is of a 1988 interview conducted by Felix Moos, professor emeritus of anthropology at KU, with two founders of the department, Robert J. Squier and Carlyle Smith.

“The interview features reminiscence and commentary on the very earliest days of the department of anthropology,” said John Hoopes, incoming chair of the department. “It also includes some commentary on what Lawrence was like in the 1950s and ’60s.”

Moos, who retired from the department in 2011, called the interview with Smith a peek into the past.

“(Smith) came to KU after World War II around 1947,” Moos said. “He remembers KU and Lawrence in the aftermath of World War II, as a relatively small town and university.”