The latest chapter: Pioneer Memorial Museum will be rededicated Friday after building is upgraded

Time changes everything: What we do, how we do it, what we use, how we dress, what we see, who we are.

But it's important to remember all those things that came before, the past that made us who we are today.

"If we don't remember, we can't learn," says Bette F. Barton, president of the International Society Daughters of Utah Pioneers. "And if we don't learn, we can't live on into the future in a better manner."

For 60 years, the Pioneer Memorial Museum, operated by the DUP, has remembered, collected, preserved and displayed artifacts that tell us of the pioneer part of our past.

In recent months the museum has undergone an extensive renovation to upgrade electrical systems, replace attic insulation, clean and paint the interior.

It has been a tremendous effort, Barton says. "This building was built in 1950. The electrical system was not made to work with our 15 computers." At the same time, all 264 display cases were moved and cleaned; all the portraits were taken down, cleaned and labeled; some new groupings of displays were put together. All the while, "the integrity of the building was maintained. The lights were not just replaced, for example; they were taken down and rebuilt."

Pioneer Memorial Museum will be rededicated on Friday, with a ribbon-cutting ceremony by Gov. Gary Herbert on the museum steps, beginning at 11:30 a.m., and followed by a day of tours and entertainment.

This extensive upgrade is the latest chapter in what is a rich and significant history, not only of the building, but of the desire to preserve and protect the pioneer legacy.

The formation of the Daughters of Utah Pioneers grew out of the fervor and festivities of the 1897 Jubilee celebrating the 50th anniversary of the entrance of the pioneers into the Salt Lake Valley.

For those first 50 years, the pioneers were too busy forging ahead to do much looking back. But at the 50-year milestone, they paused to acknowledge a remarkable achievement.

In 1901, Annie Taylor Hyde, the daughter of LDS Church President John Taylor, invited 46 women to her home. All were descendants of those original pioneers.

"Ever since the Pioneer Jubilee," she told them, "I have felt deeply impressed with the importance and desirability of the children of the pioneers becoming associated together in forming an organization."