Joel Bartsch: Lyman Museum’s Heritage Gallery

Saturday, September 11, 2021

Lyman Museum’s Heritage Gallery

A CEO and President of the Houston Museum of Natural Science, Joel A. Bartsch has over 40 years in working in the museum field. In 2005, Joel Barsch served as curator of Lyman House and Memorial Mission in Hilo, Hawaii.

The landmark is home to a few galleries including the Island Heritage Gallery. More commonly called the Lyman Museum, it features exhibits and events that focus on the cultures, languages, events, and people that have influenced Polynesian life from settlement to present times.

Visitors will learn about the tools they used, how they fished and farmed, and how they built structures and built canoes. The gallery’s exhibit also explains food preparation, clothing, and jewelry-making.

The gallery also explains how other cultures from around the Pacific, Europe, and the United States impacted Hawaiian civilization.

The gallery features Kipuka, an interactive learning space that features Hawaiian Kapa, tattoo design, mat plaiting, and cordage making. The Kipuka also features various forms of storytelling through hula, petroglyphs, and chants.

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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.