The Luther College Anthropology Laboratory, and by extension the ethnographic and archaeological collections, exist to support the educational mission of the College. The Lab and its collections are used to facilitate learning and provide students, faculty, outside scholars, and the general public with the opportunity for study, research, and individual discovery. The primary mission of the Anthropology Lab is to collect, preserve, and provide access to materials representative of Iowa's cultural history. Central to this mission is an emphasis on student and community education with the goal of fostering a greater appreciation of Iowa's past inhabitants, and the utility of the anthropological perspective.

The Luther College Anthropology Program manages three collections of material culture: archaeological, ethnographic, and numismatic. The ethnographic collections are comprised of over 1,000 objects collected from around the world. Our archaeological collections focus primarily on the prehistoric and historic peoples of Northeast Iowa. Finally, the numismatic collection consists of an assortment of ancient and historic coins and notes from around the globe.