When people think of museums, they think of the artwork, the collections and the interactive displays. But little is known about the behind-the-scenes work that led to these exhibits.
The same can be said for the careers of museum directors.
Take Russell Graham, who oversaw the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences’ EMS Museum and Art Gallery for the past 15 years, a career that closes when he officially retires May 31. He’s being succeeded by Jane Cook, former chief scientist at The Corning Museum of Glass.
Anyone who’s perused one of the museum’s many rotating exhibits — ‘The Lure of the Mine’ and ‘The Bearded Lady Project’ come to mind — know of Graham’s impact. It’s the same for any eager middle-schooler who’s ever created tornadoes with their fingertips or stomped their feet near a gyroscope to force mini earthquakes. Or the adults who rolled up their sleeves — diving wrist deep into the Augmented Reality Sandbox — to create snow-topped peaks and water-filled valleys in the topography exhibit.
Fewer know about Graham’s decades of experience gathering, preparing and maintaining exhibits for the Smithsonian Institution, the Illinois State Museum and Denver Museum of Nature & Science, before coming to Penn State to oversee the transformation to a modern, professional museum.
Or of his most acclaimed discovery, finding stone tools used by the Clovis culture — a prehistoric Paleo-American culture and one of the first people to live in North America — during a dig in Missouri, which to date is the only evidence that the group hunted forest-dwelling mastodons. The site of the excavation has since been transformed into the Mastodon State Historic Site and State Park.
These are just a few of the many aspects of being a museum director that are out of view of the public, Graham said.
“I’ve been working for 42 years, and it’s the diversity and fun that keeps me going,” Graham said. “I’ve had the opportunity to do scientific research and I love discovering new things. You get to interact with the public so you’re not just sitting in your office or laboratory. You’re telling people about the work you do and trying to get them turned on to research and science. From your research, you create exhibits, which brings out your creative side.”