Joel Bartsch: About HMNS' Pompeii Exhibition

Wednesday, April 28, 2021

About HMNS' Pompeii Exhibition

A recipient of an MA in history of science from Rice University, Joel A. Bartsch has served as president and CEO of Houston Museum of Natural Science since 2004. Under Joel Bartsch’s leadership, the museum has hosted several programs and exhibitions, including "Pompeii."

The Houston Museum of Natural Science is one of t he most visited museums in the United States. Supported by the Consulate General of Italy in Houston, "Pompeii: The Exhibition" opens each year in February and lasts until August. The exhibition explores the lives of past residents of Pompeii who had lived before and after the disastrous eruption of Mount Vesuvius on the 24th of August 79 A.D.

Each year, visitors go back in time to the period when Pompeii was a renowned commercial port and excellent military and trading city through the exhibition's immersive, object-based and media-fortified experience. They get a holistic glimpse into the way Roman citizens lived their lives nearly 2000 years ago.

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About Joel Bartsch

Since 2004, Joel A. Bartsch has led the Houston Museum of Natural Science (HMNS) as president and CEO. In this capacity, he coordinates and leads museum staff and curators in the creation and maintenance of immersive exhibits, implements renovation strategies, and promoting museum-wide leadership. Through these efforts and many others, Joel A. Bartsch has nearly doubled both the institution’s annual attendance and membership base. He also oversaw two major expansions at the museum that added more than 250,000 square feet of space.

Mr. Bartsch began gaining experience in museum leadership more than three decades ago, when he joined the Colorado School of Mines Geology Museum as a curatorial assistant and assistant to the director. He held this role during his last years as a mining engineering student at the Colorado School of Mines in Golden. From there, Mr. Bartsch took on staff roles at the Texas Memorial Museum and HMNS, curator of earth sciences at Lyman House Memorial Museum in Hawaii, and director and curator of the California State Mining & Mineral Museum.

Through these positions, Joel Bartsch gained extensive experience in everything from managing daily operations and directing fundraising efforts to writing corporate grant requests. He drew on this experience when he returned to HMNS as a curator, project manager, and director of earth sciences, the positions he held immediately prior to his current role as the president and CEO.