Curators: Behind the Scenes of Natural History Museums

Over the centuries, natural history museums have evolved from being little more than musty repositories of stuffed animals and pinned bugs, to being crucial generators of new scientific knowledge. They have also become vibrant educational centers, full of engaging exhibits that share those discoveries with students and an enthusiastic general public.
 
At the heart of it all from the very start have been curators. Yet after three decades as a natural history curator, Lance Grande found that he still had to explain to people what he does. This book is the answer—and, oh, what an answer it is: lively, exciting, up-to-date, it offers a portrait of curators and their research  like none we’ve seen, one that conveys the intellectual excitement and the educational and social value of curation. Grande uses the personal story of his own career—most of it spent at Chicago’s storied Field Museum—to structure his account as he explores the value of research and collections, the importance of public engagement, changing ecological and ethical considerations, and the impact of rapidly improving technology. Throughout, we are guided by Grande’s keen sense of mission, of a job where the why is always as important as the what.
 
This beautifully written and richly illustrated book is a clear-eyed but loving account of natural history museums, their curators, and their ever-expanding roles in the twenty-first century.
 

• Inside the Lost Museum: Curating, Past and Present
• The Lost Species: Great Expeditions in the Collections of Natural History Museums
• The Naturalist: Theodore Roosevelt, A Lifetime of Exploration, and the Triumph of American Natural History
• Dry Storeroom No. 1: The Secret Life of the Natural History Museum
• The Art of Naming (The MIT Press)
• The Future of Natural History Museums (ICOM Advances in Museum Research)
• Dry Storeroom No. 1: The Secret Life of the Natural History Museum
• End of the Megafauna: The Fate of the World's Hugest, Fiercest, and Strangest Animals
• The Curator's Handbook
• 101 American Fossil Sites You've Gotta See