The Permanent Art Collection (PAC) at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire began in the 1930s, with regular donations made by members of the public beginning in the 1960s. Materials acquired by the PAC were housed across campus in the Haas Fine Arts building and McIntyre Library. Dr. Karen O’Day identified a group of African artworks in the fall of 2023. Since July 2024, researchers have worked to study the provenance and condition of the 46 Ghanaian metal objects in the University's possession through the lens of art history, geography, materials science, and archival research. Questions fell into function, cultural use and meaning, and the acquisition of the pieces by the University. Research was also done into the material composition of each of the pieces using an X-Ray Fluorescence machine through the Materials Science department of the University. Creation of administrative practices for materials acquired by the PAC is guided by methodologies of exhibition, archival collection management, and public history within the discipline of museum sciences. This research aims to develop and implement a standard of acquisition within UWEC’s Permanent art collection, emphasizing interdisciplinary collaboration to develop robust, publicly available catalogs of material objects owned by the University.
