BYU NewsNet - Looking to the past to prepare for the present

Today’s societies that face economic and environmental wreckage can learn from the Museum of Peoples and Cultures’ most recent exhibit, “New Lives: Building Community at Fourmile Ruin,” to see how they endured difficult times.

Artifacts from the Fourmile Ruin are on display, showcasing a time when a 25-year drought pieced people within the Southeast region together in eastern Arizona, combining their unique ideas, traditions and cultures.

At Fourmile Ruin, immigrants struggling with natural disasters built a community by merging their different ways of life to accommodate and support each other.

“I like the pottery wall because they could tell people were from different places by all the different pots,” said Alexa Hysi, a junior majoring in geography.

The different visuals and displays in the museum allow the visitors to relate to how people of Fourmile Ruin survived in dire times.

“The point of the exhibition is to see how people respond in economic crisis ... by looking at these cultures in the past we can look forward to the future,” said Heather Bullock, a BYU graduate student.

By linking the past and the present, many generations can benefit from the exhibit because it becomes more applicable and important to the individual.

“They tried to apply it to our lives by making a connection to ancient history … to understand and appreciate [their culture] is really our mission,” said Jaime Bingham, 22, a graphic designer for the museum.

With this particular exhibit, the museum coordinators had a different vision to educate and draw their visitors in, by making many of the different displays kid friendly.

“The kids really like the games and to find things and I like to identify things and teach them,” said Hysi, who enjoys giving museum tours and being involved with the children.

“They took a lot more risks to show things and were more specific … I think it’s one of the more creative exhibitions,” said Bullock.

Most of the artifacts displayed were donated in 2006 by the Terrance and Jean Reidhead family.