Meet your museum colleagues from sites around New England! It’s often too easy for colleagues to feel isolated in their own institutions—we hope this feature will help close the gap. We also hope that it reinforces your own joy in your work and encourages you to recognize your own positive impacts.
Below is a member profile interview of Larry Ralph who recently retired (September 2019) from the Museum of Science after being there for 44 years! Ralph was most recently the Director of Exhibit Administration & Collections, and previously held the roles of Director of Education Enterprises and Temporary Exhibits, Associate VP of Exhibits, Director of Exhibits, Director of Exhibit Design & Production, Director of Facilities, and Coordinator of Technical Services & A/V. The interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
How did you get into the museum field, and what was your first role at the Museum of Science?
As a young child I enjoyed frequent visits to the American Museum of Natural History in New York and the Stamford Museum and Nature Center in my hometown. I had a strong interest in natural history, the natural sciences, collecting and displaying anything nature related in my own “home museum,” and handling live animals, especially reptiles and amphibians.
I loved playing with model trains, rockets, chemistry, geology, and electricity. I built all kinds of contraptions, took things apart, and experimented with just about everything. My 22 visits to the 1964-1965 World’s Fair in New York further stimulated my interest in culture, scientific discovery, and invention.
I continued to explore nature at every opportunity I could, spending my afternoons in the woods, and learning animal husbandry working with livestock as a Junior Curator on the farm at the Stamford Museum. I also joined the Boy Scouts, advancing through the ranks to Eagle (as one of the first scouts in my town to earn the computer merit badge.)
Over summers, I worked as a nature counselor at a camp and accepted a job working at the Stamford Museum & Nature Center teaching visitors about reptiles and amphibians and caring for their living collection. I also helped manage the Museum’s outdoor theater, and I assisted in staging city-wide art and theater festivals. In high school and college, I was active with both the mountain club, continuing to explore the outdoors, and the student theater group, where I did technical design, lighting, and sound.
I graduated from Tufts University with a BS from the College of Engineering in 1975. In October that year I took a position as an exhibit technician in the Exhibits Department at the Museum of Science, working with audiovisuals, lighting exhibits, building electromechanical devices, and doing computer programming. I thought it was the perfect job for me, merging my love of engineering, nature, and theater—and I would be working in the coolest place possible.
How long have you been a member of NEMA? What’s your best experience thus far?
It’s been at least 30 years since I first joined NEMA as an individual member. But I have actually been involved in NEMA activities for more than 40—since the early 1980s, shortly after the “New England Conference of Museums” became NEMA and moved into their offices at the Charlestown Navy Yard. I first worked with NEMA on issues regarding technology since about 1983, and chaired NEMA’s Non-Print Media Committee from 1986 to 1992. At the request of NEMA’s executive director, Pam Brusic, I chaired a session, Interactive Electronics in Exhibits: A Clinic on Technical Design and Production at the 1986 Bretton Woods NEMA conference. I also oversaw the video awards and introduced interactive video and other electronics projects at the conference’s “Electronic Living Room.” I worked with NEMA’s conference planning committee for the next few years to bring more technology related topics to the table. Over the next decade, I coordinated, chaired, and presented NEMA workshops and conference sessions on exhibit hall lighting and acoustics, safety in museums, interactive computers in exhibitions, and exhibit production techniques.
In the early 90s, I served for two years on the NEMA Board Nominating Committee, on the Long-Range Planning Committee, and at the request of then-NEMA director, Laura Roberts, I participated, organized, or led many activities related to promoting interactive multimedia in museums. I enjoyed being part of these early organizing efforts and helping to promote technology in our New England museums as the NEMA organization reimagined itself. Although I eventually expanded my networking activities to AAM and the National Association for Museum Exhibition, I continued to maintain strong ties to my New England Museum Association colleagues, providing advice and consultation on technology, lighting, exhibit production, safety, and facility related issues.
Can you give us an overview of what being the Director of Exhibit Administration & Collection entailed?
My career at the Museum of Science spanned multiple areas of the Museum’s operation. In each role I acted as a problem solver and troubleshooter, working towards solutions with a can-do, nothing-is-impossible attitude. As in theater, “the show must go on,” so solutions (sometimes quick ones) are a must. I worked with my colleagues, stakeholders, and outside collaborators to get results. In my many roles at the Museum, a few of my significant responsibilities included managing and overseeing Facilities during the construction of the 110,000 square foot northeast wing and Omni Theater, and implementing many infrastructure and utility improvements. Over the course of the next three decades I oversaw exhibit design, exhibit production, temporary exhibits, exhibit sales, and the Museum’s collections.
My most recent duties prior to my retirement included financial oversight, such as management of restricted and endowment funds, and contract management, along with overseeing operations of the Collections Department, updating the Museum’s collection policy and supervising several projects related to collections storage and display. I also dealt with many other administrative issues ranging from responding to visitor comments and complaints to finding new homes at other institutions for several iconic exhibits, such as our Giant Grasshopper and the Virtual Fishtank, which needed to be removed to make room for upcoming projects.
In your leadership role, how did you motivate your staff, interns, and volunteers?
Motivation of staff is influenced from the top leadership down. In my leadership role, I worked closely with my colleagues in management to maintain a healthy working environment, build staff morale, and to empower project staff to make decisions, allowing for creativity and greater ownership of projects. As with many non-profit institutions, financial incentives are not always possible, but trying to keep each project fun and rewarding are always great motivators.
Museum employees often range in their tenure at a site, what made the Museum of Science such a special place to be employed at for 44 years?
I always looked forward to each new challenge no matter how big or small, always approaching each with a “how to achieve the best solution” approach. Each project was a new challenge, with new technologies, new stakeholders and external collaborators to work with, and new knowledge to acquire. Over my 44 years at the Museum I have been fortunate to have had the opportunity to manage, oversee, or participate in hundreds of projects that touched upon every area of Museum operation. Despite occasional failures, there was always a new challenge to look forward to, as I did for all 44 of my years there. Although I most particularly loved the more hands-on aspect of exhibit development, I still relished the challenge of negotiating contracts or creating complex spreadsheets to monitor funding.
Can you tell us about a highlight from a project you have worked on?
It’s difficult to pick out a single project over my 44-year career, but a few stand out. One very challenging project involved coordinating with the architects and engineers to bring proposed solutions to the table to add the Museum’s northeast wing and Omni Theater construction to the existing facility. This was the Museum’s largest construction project to date, and the challenge was how to interface the new facility with the existing infrastructure, utilities, corridors, elevators, delivery docks, and exhibits present in the earlier building. Other career highlights include a year-long project to bring the resources of The Computer Museum to Science Park, researching and co-authoring a 64-page commemorative guidebook of the Museum, rebuilding our T-Rex dinosaur model and bringing in a fully articulated real triceratops fossil to our collection, and organizing a series of cultural heritage exhibits such as A Day in Pompeii, for which I coordinated with dozens of international and domestic collaborators to pool exhibit resources to create a fresh version of this popular touring exhibition.
Was there an object in the collection or a specific exhibition that inspired you or made you think differently about how you approached your work?
One of the largest pieces in the Museum’s collection is the fully articulated fossil skeleton of a triceratops, which was acquired in 2008 and given the name Triceratops Cliff. The challenges involved with this acquisition were many, and included such matters as where and how to best display the specimen, what story to tell about the fossil, how to assemble the heavy specimen when no instructions were provided, and following up on important matters of provenance. Triceratops Cliff brought many collection, exhibit, and administrative issues together for me to address, and that inspired me to do further research on these prehistoric specimens.
What lessons did your work life teach you?
Over my career I learned there are often many solutions to each challenge. Weighing the pros and cons and balancing design and production issues with financial and scheduling issues is critical in arriving at the best solution. All projects require successful team collaboration and creative staff who are knowledgeable in a broad area of design, content, and production skills, and willing to take risks. Lots of elements must come together to make a successful exhibit happen, no matter what the challenge, our project teams have always found workable solutions so that the show could go on.
What current trends in the field are you most excited by?
Technology is changing how we develop exhibits every day, and keeping the technology updated both behind-the-scenes, and front and center is critical. It’s hard to envision where we will be in ten years, but I look forward to seeing how these changes manifest themselves.
Is there a piece of advice that you would give to someone new in the field?
Network, collaborate, and keep an open mind. Join and participate in local and national museum organizations and related professional affinity groups that represent their region, their museum’s discipline, and areas of their own personal interest.
Now that you are retired, what is on your museum bucket list (things to do, places to visit)?
Over the years I developed an interest in early American life and historic structures and I purchased a first period (c. 1675) house to restore, which I have lived in for the past 30 years. Now that I am retired I have time to work on “deferred maintenance” on my antique house and to work in my garden.
Also, my love for the outdoors has been sustained by over a dozen month-long cross-country trips, camping in and exploring our National Parks during the past 40 years. These excursions exposed me to a wide swath of American culture, and gave me the opportunity to visit many of our wonderful museums across the U.S. I will continue to explore the great outdoors by bike, hiking, cross-country skiing, and more. Although most of my past travel has been in the United States except for a tour through Europe as a youngster, and later a month in Nepal, I know there is a lot in this world to see, and I intend to do so.
Is there anything else you would like to add?
I hope to always stay engaged in the museum field through volunteer work at various institutions. I have been involved in the past with my local historical society creating exhibits, and I would like to continue advising my colleagues in the field on projects of interest, and working on other civic projects in my hometown. I have recently assisted with installation of the Virtual Fishtank at the McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center in Concord, NH and have also been a guest lecturer at a Museum Studies course, sharing my knowledge and experience with those interested in entering the field.