[Source: Srianthi Perera, Arizona Republic] -- In school and at college, Lisa Anderson tried out her passion, acting in Broadway musicals, and soon found out that the theater stage wasn't her calling. It was anthropology. But as keeper of Mesa's history at the Mesa Historical Museum, Anderson remains in the limelight. "It's the history of the community that teaches us of the path where we're going as a community," she said. Anderson attended Mesa Community College and finished her bachelor's degree in anthropology at Brigham Young University. She received her master's degree in anthropology and museum studies at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C. Since taking the reins from Tracy Wagner as the executive director in January 2005,Anderson, 38, has established a board, developed a board structure, broadened the scope of the museum to attract new audiences and rejuvenated efforts to preserve the two historical buildings that house the museum and its 80,000-piece collection. Despite challenges, the museum was progressing, until cash-strapped Mesa stopped the annual funding in July 2006 that was the museum's backbone since its inception 40 years ago. It has been a struggle since. What we do here is extremely important. It's just as important as continuing the city utilities," Anderson said. "A museum of our size, and with our collection, needs to be funded at a much higher level than we were operating at even before the crisis hit. Even keeping at that pace, losing the city money was critical for us." [Note: To read the full article, click here.]
