Joel A. Bartsch has an extensive career in history and science that has culminated in his current position as CEO with the Houston Museum of Natural Science and as director and curator with the California State Mining and Mineral Museum Park. Before these appointments, Joel Bartsch was the curator of earth sciences at the Lyman House Memorial Museum in Hilo, Hawaii.

In addition to being a museum, the Lyman House Memorial Museum is also hub of learning opportunities. The structure was originally built in 1839 for missionaries David and Sarah Lyman but was transformed into a museum nearly 100 years later in 1931. The actual building where the museum exists was built next to the Mission House, and today houses a collection of artifacts and hosts natural history and special exhibits.

The museum offers Hilo resident a few educational opportunities to learn about Hawaiian art and history. For example, the Patricia E. Saigo public program hosts lectures, demonstrations, story sessions, book signings, performances, and presentations regarding Hawaii-related topics. These events are typically held on Monday evenings throughout the year.

The museum also hosts tours and workshops for the public as well. The museum host tours for pre-Kindergarten through university-level students that can be geared toward classroom curriculum. Finally, two times a year the museum provides workshops on traditional Ni’ihau shell style jewelry-making, and during Christmas, the museum offers classes on parol-making. The museum also offers other craft type workshops throughout the year.

Texas resident Joel A. Bartsch serves as the CEO of the Houston Museum of Natural Science (HMNS) in Houston. In this role, Joel Bartsch is responsible for organizing exciting exhibits at the museum.

The museum hosts topics ranging from the complexity of the galaxy to the wonders of the living beings and plants that exist now and have existed in prehistory. In September 2020, HMNS hosted the Gunther von Hagen’s Body Worlds & the Cycle of Life exhibit.

The exhibit featured the machinery of a human body, placing emphasis on how good and poor health combined with lifestyle choices can affect the body. The showcase placed more than 100 preserved human specimens on exhibit, which showed visitors the resiliency, fragility, and complexity of the body through disease, distress, and good health.
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The exhibit placed human health and well-being throughout time at the forefront of conversation. Visitors viewed the plastinated organs, joints and bones in various states of condition, which for many, was a reminder to remain healthy.

This exhibit was so popular with Houston residents that the HMNS received several inquiries regarding the return of the exhibit. In fact, according to a press release sent out in September, this particular exhibit was the most frequently visited in the museum’s history.