Volunteers
Kristen Collins
I started volunteering at the paleontology lab in early 2005. My training is as a dentist, which I worked at for many years. I love working with my hands, fixing things and at the same time making them as esthetically pleasing as possible. This fall I shall be starting my second career teaching high school chemistry and biology.
Volunteering at the museum and working with the highly renowned scientists and the musuem's vast bone collection has been extremely rewarding.
Bill Evans
After I retired from a long career as a computer design engineer in the aerospace industry I found myself looking around for interesting volunteer opportunities. I have a life long interest in science, especially the physical sciences which served me well in my career, but I had had little opportunity to spend time in the area of the natural sciences.
One day I chanced to be in the neighborhood of the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History, and stopped in to see what was there.
I found room after room devoted to nature, minerals, animals, fossils, birds and fish. In addition there were other fascinating exhibits on Native Americans, California history and meso-american pre-history. One thing led to another and I soon became a docent after completing their training program. This gave me the opportunity to share these interests with school children (again since my own had by now grown up). Dinosaurs became a special interest and when I learned that our dinosaur curator, Luis Chiappe, had an opening for help involving his computer related activities I volunteered there though still continuing the docent work.
Twice I left the computers behind to go on field trips, once to Kansas (see photo) collecting fossil fish and once to Wyoming for a Triceratops dinosaur. Back in the office I continue to support Luis who is very active in his research and publications in whatever way I can.
Don Glut
A volunteer fossil preparator since 2000, I've been "into" paleontology since I was seven year old (back in that Cenozoic year of 1951). Although I pursued various professional careers in media and the arts (writing, film directing, music, etc.), I did go on to author numerous books on paleontological subjects, culminating with a continuing series of "dinosaur encyclopedias".
Working in the lab has allowed me the luxury of discussing paleontology on an ongoing basis with such dinosaur experts as Dr. Luis Chiappe, while also giving me "hands on" experience with the remains of the animals I've been writing about. It's always a thrill to clean the matrix away from a fossil bone, knowing that mine are the first eyes to se that bone after so many millions of years.
More recently, I've been more involved in non-preparatory duties, primarily working in the collections, thereby discovering the true wealth of original dinosaur material housed in our museum.
Publications
Herb Schiff
The great thing about volunteering at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County is the amazing diversity of things to do. I began as a Docent, taking schoolchildren on tours of the galleries, Cenozoic Mammals, Dinosaurs, American History, Minerals, Birds, to name but a few. Now I am a volunteer for the Dinosaur Institute.
Here I am working on “Thomas” the T. rex and having the time of my life! They say that the brain is like a muscle and that if you use it you will not lose it. With all the things there are to do here at the museum, losing my mental acuity is not a problem. Getting this hunk of compressed clay away from this fossil, that is another matter!
Glenn Robertson
I was crazy about dinosaurs like so many little kids, but that interest directly led to a career in geology and environmental science. As a child, my parents often brought me down to the Natural History Museum and it fondly remains one of my great influences. I finished a B.S. degree in geology at Cal State University Long Beach in 1981, then worked at a variety of jobs in a tough job market--U.S. Geological Survey, Chevron, consulting--until the environmental cleanup/hydrogeology field opened up for us. Since 1989, I have worked as a water-quality regulator (engineering geologist) for the State of California, Regional Water Quality Control Board office in Riverside.
I grew up in Whittier, a Los Angeles suberb, and have been back living there since 1990. My M.S. degree in Environmental Studies at Cal State University Fullerton (1993-99), focused on planning efforts to preserve our local Puente-Chino Hills. In recent years I've had chances to wander the American West. In 2002 I joined a paleo crew based in Casper and studied under one of my longtime heroes, Robert Bakker, at Como Bluff, Wyoming. Last digging season, this crew joined Luis Chiappe's NHM volunteers in southeast Montana to extract more of one of the most complete T.rex skeletons ever recovered, the sub-adult "Thomas." I realized that I should continue contributing to LA, back home in LA, helping to clean the bones of this specimen.
Volunteering at NHM has given me a chance to reconnect with my wonder of vertebrate paleontology where it all started. I see it as joining in the revitalization of downtown LA. I'm privileged that my cleaning any assigned fossils can contribute in a small way toward helping Luis and Doug Goodreau--among other dedicated Museum staff--establish a new Dinosaur Hall. I hope it can present Earth history with a collection that finallly puts LA on the map with other great North American museums in this regard, with "Thomas" mounted as the centerpiece. Go see the Hall of Minerals--it's already the best anywhere!
Susan Russak
I am married with two grown children and found myself with much more spare time than I’ve had in many years. I asked myself, “how should I utilize this precious commodity?” My husband and I are art collectors and have spent much of the last 20 years around people, museums and reference material that express our interests and passion in collecting. After much deliberation I concluded that the activity that excited me the most was the thought of being in this environment. While trying to decide how best to pursue this goal I came across a newspaper article that was essentially searching for volunteers to Docent at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. After several days of thinking about the possibilities of such a choice I became more convinced that this might be the perfect fit for my quest. I set up an appointment to interview for the position and I must tell you that, after one afternoon of strolling around the different halls and exhibits, there was no doubt in my mind that this was for me.
The pure delight and joy of looking at wonderful examples of now long extinct creatures, that roamed our planet many years ago, just left me breathless and awestruck. I have now been at the museum for two years and have learned that the main attraction, almost without exception, to the student classes that I tour with is the Dinosaur Hall. By virtue of spending so much time focused on this subject it is not difficult to explain why this has become my favorite pursuit as well. As a result I decided to devote a few extra days a week to working with, and broadening my knowledge of, the ancient creatures in the Dinosaur Institute’s Lab. The thought of sitting in the lab and holding the bone of a once living dinosaur, millions of years old, is truly mind boggling. In the process of cleaning and preparing these fossils it is possible to learn of their behavior, size and habits. By further expanding my knowledge of these animals I bring more excitement and enthusiasm to the students I interact with. I strongly recommend this wonderful and unique experience for anyone who is fascinated with, and wishes to know more about, these remarkable creatures that once roamed our Earth.
Anna Yori
Preparing a fossil is like opening a present, only it takes a very long time! When I start a project, I try to envision what it will look like when it is finished. It may take weeks, or it may take months. I love the feel of the tools in my hand as the matrix is carefully stripped away from the bone. When the bone appears, it is like looking back in history. I try to imagine the dinosaur when it was alive. When I touch the millions' year old bone, it is like traveling back in time. The feeling is even better when we have more pieces of the same animal in the lab. It's fun to mentally put the dinosaur back together. I also hope that someday this specimen will go on display somewhere for all to see.
This is my 5th year volunteering for the Vertebrate Paleontology Department. It started innocently enough, on a fossil hunting trip with the museum. My son and I went the Red Rock Canyon, and my son found some nice little specimens. The next thing I know, I'm hooked on fossils and looking for a way to be around them. That's when I found the volunteer department.
I have had a very positive, enlightening, educational experience here. I hope to continue for many years to come. As long as they keep letting me touch these wonderful bones!
