NIU has more than 10,000 anthropological artifacts in its storage space in the lower recesses of Cole Hall.

NIU’s Anthropology Museum, located in Stevens Building’s north wing, is officially staffed by one person, Ann Wright-Parsons. The museum is the premier medium with which to show this massive archive.

“There are a small amount of revolving exhibits per year and only a few permanent exhibits in the Anthropology Museum,” said Wright-Parsons, director of the museum.

One of the seasonal exhibits, “Gods and Demons, Monkeys and Men: Masks of Southeast Asia,” which displays more than 80 performance masks, is open in the museum 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays until Sept. 21.

“There will be an open house from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. September 21, when experts will be at the exhibit to answer questions concerning history significance and cultural relevance,” Wright-Parsons said.

The exhibit displays ornately-decorated papier maché masks from Thailand, part of NIU’s collection, and a large collection of wooden Indonesian masks and many more borrowed from Kathy Foley, a professor in the Department of Theater Arts at the University of California – Santa Cruz.

There has been a long correspondence between Wright-Parsons and Foley since the 1970s, especially concerning the emphasis NIU put on its Southeastern Asian program – Foley’s scholastic emphasis.

In the 1970s, NIU was home to the Peace Corps training program for Malaysia. The program and NIU’s monetary abundance allowed its anthropology professors the freedom to collect and study graciously.

“Two-thirds of the 10,000-piece collection of anthropological artifacts is Southeast Asian,” Wright-Parsons said. “The faculty and administration were interested. It all depends on the faculty’s interest.”

The masks from Foley were brought to NIU because of a desired Venture Grant approval.

The collection has integrated class work, and field trips are often taken by neighboring elementary and middle schools to the museum for exhibits.

NIU Theater students appreciated the cultural similarities, especially in regards to exercises in becoming a character, during their visit to the museum.

Also displayed in the museum is the exhibit “Anga-FakaTonga means the Tongan Way.”

This display will close Sept. 22, after NIU anthropology professor Giovanni Bennardo’s demonstration of the interactive database of his Tongan research village from 12 to 1 p.m.