Mayborn Museum

Transcript

Derek Smith:
Hello and welcome to Baylor Connections, a conversation series with the people shaping our future. Each week we go in depth with Baylor leaders, professors, and more discussing important topics in higher education, research, and student life. I'm Derek Smith, and today, we are talking about Baylor's Mayborn Museum. It's been an exciting time at the Mayborn Museum, and we're visiting today with Rebecca Nall. Mayborn Museum celebrates 20 years of sparking curiosity this year in Central Texas. Founded on the Baylor campus in 2004, this Smithsonian affiliated museum features 143,000 square feet of exhibits, activities, sculptures, and more. And here to talk about it today is Rebecca Nall. She joined the Mayborn Museum in 2007 and serves as assistant director of exhibits, communication, and visitor services. Well, it's been an exciting time and a good opportunity for people to come visit the Mayborn Museum this summer. Rebecca, thanks so much for taking the time to join us today.

Rebecca Nall:
Thanks for having me.

Derek Smith:
And thanks especially for joining us so soon. I know you said you're recovering a little bit from the Gala this weekend. If people haven't been up and down university parks recently, they're going to have to go check out something pretty spectacular that's out in front of the Mayborn now.

Rebecca Nall:
Yes, just this month we installed three life-size bronze mammoths right in front of the Mayborn Museum. Recent visitors will notice that we had reconfigured our parking lot a little bit, so now we have a permanent new entrance that's closer to the Hyres Athletics Complex, making it a pedestrian pathway so people can actually go up to the mammoths. You can take a selfie with them. We have a male, a female, and a juvenile mammoth. And they are beautiful, and really just welcome everyone to the Mayborn.

Derek Smith:
Well, we're going to dive into that as the show goes on, but certainly a highlight for sure. Curious what else? We're going to unpack more of this as well. But, if we pulled up to the Mayborn Museum and just walked inside, what are a few of the cool things beyond the sculptures that we'd see almost immediately if we looked around?

Rebecca Nall:
Well, another member of our welcoming committee is Stan. We have Stan, the T-Rex, on display right in the rotunda. It is a cast of one of the most famous recovered male T-Rexes. And, he's just right there. We greet all of our school groups right under Stan and have a whole conversation about it as we're welcoming to the museum. We have our permanent exhibits, we have natural science and cultural history wing that we are in the process of developing concepts for renovation over the next 10 years, which really, that area tells the story of the natural and cultural history of Central Texas and takes you on a walk through time. During the Cretaceous period, Waco was underwater, so we have ancient marine reptiles, a Pliosaur swimming ahead, Plesiosaur. There's just a lot of great specimens that were found right in Waco of what you might call a sea monster.
We have representations of what homes would've looked like in this area in the 1800s. And then, our hands-on Discovery Center is two floors full of so many things to spark your curiosity, and that's for adults, families, children, school groups. We have a space room with a Merlin engine that was donated by SpaceX. We have a bubble room, which is always the most popular room. Families like to blow bubbles. You can try to get inside a bubble, see if you can make one over the top of your head. And we have a five-under space for our smaller learners, that is a recreation of Waco so you can go shopping at HEB, you can go fishing in the Brazos River, and we're in the process of putting the finishing touches on a taut spot, which is going to be a soft play space for toddlers. And we have some beautiful murals in that room from Beaumont artist, Ines Elvarez, who we worked with quite a bit on temporary exhibits throughout the years.

Derek Smith:
Also stuff for young ages all the way on up all ages.

Rebecca Nall:
Lifelong learning is what we're about at the Mayborn.

Derek Smith:
And doing that for 20 years now, as we visit with Rebecca Nall of the Mayborn Museum. And Rebecca, 20 years, obviously, it's a milestone. What does that mean to you and all your colleagues to reach this market and think about what's ahead?

Rebecca Nall:
Well, I think 20 years of the Mayborn in the community is, I mean so much to all of us. Really, this time is retrospective whenever you think about the passage of time, and having this milestone, and we've been looking a lot back at previous exhibits that we had, and previous collaborations, previous events and programs. And, we worked on a video for the Gala and did a lot of interviews with families, people of different generations that have grown up with the Mayborn. They brought their kids and now their kids are bringing their kids. Or they were volunteers that helped build the Mayborn. They moved from the Strucker to the Mayborn Museum. And, we've just meant so much to people in this community and have helped guide people to careers, and science, and history. And that's what museums do across the world and we're just so excited to be part of it.

Derek Smith:
Rebecca Nall here on Baylor Connections. And, I mentioned at the top of the show, Smithsonian-affiliated museum. Can you tell us what that means? And what that means to not just to the museum, but to those of us here in Central Texas?

Rebecca Nall:
Yes, we were admitted as a Smithsonian affiliate in 2022. And there are only about 200 museums in the country that are Smithsonian affiliates. So, we're very lucky to feel like we're part of that group. That means that the Mayborn reaches those highest standards of what it means to be a museum, be part of the community, and also, really take care of the collections that we're entrusted with. And so, what being a Smithsonian affiliate means is that we are able to borrow the Smithsonian objects, get Smithsonian exhibits, bring the Smithsonian to the Waco community.
So we did have a Smithsonian exhibit in December that was a moon photography exhibit to tie in with the eclipse. Our next large exhibit that's going to be with Smithsonian is going to be in 2026. We're working on the details on that now, but it's about sea monsters I just mentioned, and that's some of the pieces that we have in our collection. These are specimens that were found in Angola, but we're going to work to tie in some of the collections that we have that aren't even on display with that exhibit as well. And then, we are working with the Smithsonian to bring some artifacts in to our exhibit renovations as we're looking ahead to the future.

Derek Smith:
This is Baylor Connections. We are visiting with Rebecca Nall. Rebecca serves as Assistant director of exhibits, communication, and visitor services at the Mayborn Museum, celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. So, I want to talk to you more as people think about summer plans. I want to talk to you more in a minute about the mammoth sculptures and what are some special exhibits this summer. You gave us a great description of what all we might see in the museum at the top of the show. But, I'm going to ask you specifically, what are some of the things that are the constants? Obviously, the Tyrannosaurus stand is always there. What are some other things that are the constants, no matter when you come at Mayborn?

Rebecca Nall:
Yes. So, our Discovery Center, definitely a constant. We've made a lot of updates to that space over the years. There's some new things that you'll see this next year. This summer, we're going to have our Design Den, which is our maker space open a lot more. And, my kids love that space. You can go in, there are materials everywhere, you can make whatever you want. We have an augmented reality room, so you can stand in a room and see yourself interacting with dinosaurs. Our backyard ecology wing opened in 2019, it encourages you to learn about the environment that is in your backyard, how you can work to preserve it. We have live animals that are on display in that area. You can see if you can squeeze as hard as a snake can squeeze. You can learn about Monarch migrations and what you can do to help preserve the monarch population.
There's just so much to do. We have our historic village, which is so beautiful, and actually, not that hot in the summer, because it's down in a valley and you can see the Brazos River off to the side as well as the football stadium. It's a fun place for families to eat lunch. They'll pack a lunch and visit the museum. We just have so much to do. It's enough to spend an entire day.

Derek Smith:
So you've got a lot there. You just described this there permanent, there are a lot of different exhibits coming through. And of course, the mammoth sculptures, that's a new permanent addition as well. And, I want to talk about those now. May 17th, you mentioned, you introduced those officially to the community. People, if you drive up and down university parks, you're going to see them. They really stand out. You mentioned a male, a female, and a juvenile. So tell us a little bit more. Take us inside these sculptures. Obviously, it sounds like obviously a lot of thought was put into the authenticity of them and something that I think is going to become iconic here in Central Texas.

Rebecca Nall:
Yes. Well, we've had a deep relationship with the Mammoth site, now the Waco National Monument, for many, many years. I think a lot of people have heard the story that there were mammoth bones that were discovered along the Bosque River and they were taken to the Strucker Museum, which was the precursor to the Mayborn Museum, and were identified as mammoth bones. And that started the Waco Mammoth National Monument. A dig was commenced, research was conducted, and then in 2009, a dig shelter was built over the mammoth site and it was open to the public for the first time. The Mayborn opened in 2004, and so we had casts of the bones so people could see what was out there. That was the only way that people could experience it before 2009, whenever it was open to the public. And in 2015, it became the Waco Mammoth National Monument part of the National Park system.
We have a lot of the material that was removed from the site and are going to become a repository for the National Park system. So, we have worked very closely with them on the story of the mammoths in our community, and we had a community committee whenever working on building these mammoths, seeing what it was going to look like, what we wanted it to be, and partnered with the paleontologist at the Waco Mammoth National Monument, and the site manager as well. I told you, Tom Tischler was a sculptor. He is a very well-known sculptor. He's great at getting anatomy right. He's very good at animals, just a world-renowned sculptor. And so, he worked with a paleontologist, actually went to the dig shelter, measured the mammoth bones. A male, and female, and a juvenile are all represented there at the Waco Mammoth National Monument. So we truly have Waco mammoths. We use the measurements to inform the mammoths that are at the Mayborn.

Derek Smith:
And you mentioned he measured the mammoths. With all the work he put in and the collaboration with you, what was it like to share that moment with him, with the community, just all this collective work that's gone into making something permanent here?

Rebecca Nall:
It was amazing. And, we just have such a great community here in Waco. And so, it was wonderful to have those conversations. And, Tom Tischler lives in Australia. He's been in Australia for the last several decades, but he is from Texas. He has a relationship with a foundry that's in Bastrop. So, someone a little bit more close by. It's Pyrology Foundry. And so, we got to make several trips down to the Foundry to check on the status of the mammoths, and it's such a cool process to see them from start to finish. So we started with a clay maquette, showing us the vision, where it was going to go, and then they'll print those to maybe a fifth scale.
So they were maybe almost as tall as me, and we got to go see that, and then he puts a layer of clay on top to really get the detailed work in. So, we went to look at that, the staff from the Waco Mammoth National Monument went as well. So we're talking about, "Do they need a little bit more fur on top? How would the wrinkles on the skin look? What about the tail? What about the toes?" And that was great to really look at it at such a detailed level. And then, all of the pieces they cast in bronze and then weld them together. So, the mammoths are made up of 270 pieces that had been individually cast in bronze, then welded together.

Derek Smith:
That's amazing. Yeah, that's amazing. We don't know what all goes into that when we see that from the museum, but that's a great insight to want to put this together, as we visit with Rebecca Nall. And Rebecca, let's shift gears just a little bit. Some of the exhibits that are here now but won't be here forever. Specifically, I know the Etruscan Legacy Exhibit, Sacred Spaces... Well, Sacred Places, I beg your pardon, this summer. Tell us about the Etruscan Legacy Exhibit first, because you know this, much like a lot of what you said, it ties into things taking place in the community, or it ties into people in the community, specifically some Baylor professors.

Rebecca Nall:
Yes, we partnered on this exhibit with the Center for Global Engagement and the Honors College. There's a dig that takes place in Italy every year. And, one of our staff members was able to go, and also, one of our museum studies graduate students went this year and created an exhibit based on her experience, and that was part of her master's project. And we opened it a couple of weeks ago, and it is just a beautiful exhibit that talks about the research that has been done over the last several years in Barberano Romano in Italy. So it's the story of the research, but also of the students that have such an amazing opportunity thanks to this coursework, to be able to spend six weeks in Italy over the summer.

Derek Smith:
And that's David and Colleen Zori. Correct? We've had them on the program before doing that dig.

Rebecca Nall:
Yes. I know that they provide such a wonderful experience for the students whenever they go over there. And we had an opening reception and did a Q&A with them. And the graduate student, her name was Hannah Munch, and she did such an amazing job creating this exhibit. And, I know just had a wonderful time with the Zoris.

Derek Smith:
So you want to check that out. And then, Sacred Places, tell us about that and how it brings sacred places around the world to life.

Rebecca Nall:
We're excited to bring Sacred Places to the museum. We had Sacred Journeys in 2016, that was created by the Children's Museum of Indianapolis through a grant from the Lilly Foundation. And that exhibit looked at pilgrimage sites around the world, and this is the second exhibit to that. It was also developed by the Children's Museum of Indianapolis, and it's a really immersive, interactive exhibit that looks at sacred sites that are all over the world and why they're sacred. You have different greeters for each of these sites that are taking you around and explaining to you why this place is sacred to them, to their community, to their family, and it can encourage families and adults to really consider what makes a place sacred to me. And so, we're hoping to have a lot of conversations around that. And it is such a beautiful exhibit, and I mentioned it's very immersive.

Derek Smith:
Well, this gives us a great look at some of the things you can see if you come to the Mayborn this summer and beyond as we visit with Rebecca Nall. So Rebecca, as we head into the final few minutes, I mean, obviously people can just go visit the Museum of the Mayborn they when they have the time on a Saturday, or a weekday, or whatever, but what are some ways that people can really get involved with Mayborn Museum and be a part of visiting regularly and part of where it's going in its next 20 years?

Rebecca Nall:
Well, there are so many ways. So we have a lot of weekly programs that families dive into. We have Village Wednesdays. I mentioned our Design Den, it's open during the week. So we have a lot of families that will come every week and experience that. We have a wonderful membership program. And so, we know that we have families too. I did a deep dive into the average number of times a year our members come. And, it's 20. So, the average member comes 20 times a year. But we do have some people that are way ahead of the curve. We've had some families that come more than 100 times a year. So we really have groups in this community that see the museum as a second place. So, our membership levels, you can learn about them online. Our general family membership is $95, but we also are participants in the Museums for All program, which means that if you receive SNAP benefits, you can get a membership for just $10 for a year. We have lots of volunteer opportunities. There's just so many different ways to get involved.

Derek Smith:
You can Google Baylor Mayborn Museum, the Mayborn Museum and find that out. And, Rebecca, I know this is a broad question to close it out, but 20 years down now, what are you most excited about as you think ahead to the next 20 years?

Rebecca Nall:
Well, I mentioned that we're really diving into looking at renovation plans. We've worked a lot on keeping the Discovery Center up-to-date, because it is very loved. There's a different play happening in that area, so we've needed to keep up with it. But our natural science and cultural history wing really hasn't been touched much in the past 20 years. So we've been working hard to think about what the next 20 years for that space will be. We have a 10-year renovation plan. We're almost done with fundraising for phase one. So we're hoping to have that new exhibit open sometime towards the end of 2026. We're looking at the people story first for that wing, and are really looking at... If you're in the museum, you see the Texas Lifeways exhibit where you have the different homes that people lived in and the 1800s. That's where we're starting.
We're looking at what stories we're missing from that original telling? How can we tell these stories in a more immersive and complete way? And, we're also going to add an additional 5,000 square feet of exhibit space as part of that first phase one, which is going to connect the two sides of the museum so it doesn't feel like two disparate museums, two separate experiences. We hear so many families say, "Oh, I've just never made it to the side of the museum, because we're just so excited to go to the Discovery Center." And we love hearing that families love the Discovery Center, but we just have so much more to offer. So, we're excited to bring those together and really bring that space up to a more engaging level.

Derek Smith:
Well, that's exciting. We'll look forward to that. And again, people can get involved to learn more just Google Mayborn Museum and you'll find out more. Well, Rebecca, thanks for your time. Congratulations on 20 years. Congratulations on the great event this past weekend and the welcoming of the new mammoth sculptures out front. And thanks so much for taking the time to join us today.

Rebecca Nall:
Thank you. I enjoyed talking with you.

Derek Smith:
Great to visit with you as well. Rebecca Nall, assistant director of exhibits, communications, and visitor services at Mayborn Museum, our guest today on Baylor Connections. I'm Derek Smith, reminding you, you can hear this and other programs online at Baylor.edu/connections, and you can subscribe on iTunes. Thanks for joining us here on Baylor Connections.