Joel Bartsch: The Alfred Glassell Hall at the HMNS

Thursday, January 27, 2022

The Alfred Glassell Hall at the HMNS

A longtime resident of Houston, Texas, Joel A. Bartsch holds a master's degree in history and history of science from Rice University. Joel A. Bartsch leverages his extensive expertise in the museum sector to inform his role as president and CEO of the Houston Museum of Natural Science (HMNS).

A Houston businessman captured the world's largest black marlin, weighing in at 1560 pounds, on August 4th, 1953. Film director Francis Ford Coppola utilized footage of the capture in his 1958 film The Old Man and the Sea, which starred Spencer Tracy. The fisherman, Alfred Glassell, Jr., was also a well-known philanthropist. He devoted a significant portion of his time to the conservation of large game fish species. Alfred C. Glassell, Jr. Hall at HMNS is named after him.

Black marlin, the species that set a world record, is featured at HMNS' Alfred C. Glassell, Jr. Hall. Over 40 game fish specimens from over a dozen different species were on display. The majority of these were brought from the coast of Cabo Blanco in Peru.

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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.