Harvard museum to dust off old curiosities

As one of the world's oldest museums dedicated to anthropology turns 150, it's undergoing some big changes to showcase its significant role in developing the discipline.

Leaders of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at Harvard University hinted this month at changes to come when they trotted out - for one day only - some of its quirkier, rarely seen pieces as part of a birthday bash marking the day in 1866 when philanthropist George Peabody committed $150,000 to help found the museum.

Among the curiosities was a grizzly bear claw necklace from Meriwether Lewis and William Clark's expedition to the Pacific coast and a grotesque, 19th century "mermaid" made of papier-mache, wood and fish parts that showman P.T. Barnum once took on a national tour.