University archivist Anne Turkos maintains the university’s most sacared heirlooms in Hornbake Library, including the original Testudo.

Even a simple salad from Steak Escape is a part of the university’s 150-year history.

Keith Swaney, a master’s student studying history, was uncovering his steak salad at lunch yesterday with university archivist Anne Turkos when she randomly interjected:

“Did you know that the founder of Steak Escape is a university alumnus?” Turkos said. “And did you know the co-founder of Outback Steakhouse is also a university alumnus?”

Her co-workers sitting around a table in a room tucked away in Hornbake Library weren’t surprised that she knew this random fact. With the university celebrating its 150th anniversary this year, her reputation as the university’s human encyclopedia is more valuable than ever.

Turkos heads the team of historians working within the walls of Hornbake Library who’ve been researching the university’s extensive archives for the past two years looking for facts and photos to use in the 150th anniversary celebration. The anniversary is like Christmas for the university archivists.

“We’ll never have a chance like this for a long time,” Turkos said. “It really is our time to shine.”

But it’s also time for the staff, which consists of three staffers and three graduate assistants, to work like robots – almost 60 to 80 hours every week – sifting through thousands of files and photos.

The university officially kicked off the celebration at the men’s football game against Navy in September. Since then, the job hasn’t slowed down as the researchers work to produce a 128-page photo book and video detailing the past 150 years that will be released in March.

“Anne Turkos and her team are just instrumental to the 150th anniversary,” said Deborah Wiltrout, director of university marketing. “This is one of the biggest historical celebrations of the university. It’s a chance of a lifetime for them to be so involved in everything.”

Though researching through decades’ worth of data may sound boring and tedious, there are days when project archivist Liz McAllister is completely stressed out. The archivists maintain the university’s records and researches the about 30 questions that pour in from students, faculty and staff every day, Turkos said.

“It’s like you’re on a treasure hunt,” McAllister said. “You’re looking for that one document or that one photo that someone’s trying to track down.”

Behind the pristine Maryland Room in Hornbake, where visitors aren’t allowed to bring in anything that could ruin the books, lies the archivists’ treasure trove. Boxes filled with university memorabilia and artifacts stretch for more than a mile and a half, all organized by a filing system the historians half-jokingly call “The Beast.”

But students shouldn’t feel intimidated of the room that almost seems too sterile to move comfortably. The archivists know how to locate almost anything a student could be looking for, and they jump at the chance to help any student conducting research.

In the vault lies the university’s most precious items, including the original Testudo, which is the model for the bronze statue in front of McKeldin Library. The real Testudo is an 8-inch long terrapin turtle preserved through taxidermy that has two small holes punched into the back of its shell.

For the unveiling of the statue in June 1933, officials wove black and gold ribbons connected to a curtain covering the statue to Testudo’s shell. As the little turtle walked, the curtain revealed his bronze counterpart.

“It’s our most prized possession,” Turkos said, as she gently held Testudo. “We love turtles.”

But obsessed is the better word, the historians joke. Turkos has hundreds of turtles in her office, from crocheted turtle bookmarks, figurines, statues and posters.

The archivists have tons of other trinkets hidden in boxes – blue wool cadet uniforms that at one point students had to wear every day, cadet swords, lettermen jackets from the ’50s and former university President Harry Clifton “Curley” Byrd’s good silver.

There’s also a culture within Hornbake that binds the historians, who eat lunch together every day and celebrate each other’s birthdays with lots of candy. Turkos likes to sing the Maryland Victory Song at the end of the day before every football and basketball game, while everyone else watches and smiles.

Turkos jokes that she’ll never leave the university – even in death.

“I’m going to be cremated and put into a green jade turtle vase in Hornbake,” Turkos said with a laugh. “I’ll be the first ghost to haunt Hornbake.”

Contact reporter Laurie Au at lauriedbk@gmail.com.