His interest sparked by the purchase of a single, contemporary piece of Pueblo Indian pottery for his home in the winter of 1981-82, Jack Morgan '37 bought five more pieces that spring and began reading extensively about Pueblo pottery traditions. A Wichita University and Harvard graduate who had retired as president of the Butler Manufacturing Co. in 1974, Morgan deepened his knowledge through participation in seminars in Santa Fe, N.M., and on field trips organized by the Crowe Canyon Archaeological Center. While his collecting focus remained contemporary pottery, his attention broadened to include the history of the Pueblo Indians and their antecedents, the Anasazi, a sedentary, farming and pottery-making people whose occupation of the American Southwest dates back more than 2,000 years. Through the years, Morgan's objective became building a collection that represents most of the pueblos currently or recently producing pottery. Today, his goal is sharing this collection so that others have the opportunity to learn more about the Pueblo peoples and their many achievements.
