Interview 2817 – Caption Index: 179
Who were your mentors?… Read More
Who were your mentors?… Read More
Well, Ted, was certainly my mentor. I mean, he didn’t actually tell me I had to write papers. I think that was something that just happened. And it happened because of things that we were doing in the zoo that were really kind of first time things. I mean, first… Read More
And these were just kind of vignettes, they were things that were going on and I thought were really interesting. You can’t get people to write papers now. I mean, it just, I don’t know about other zoos, but I’ll tell you the national, it’s like pulling teeth. We have… Read More
The curatorial position was funded by the Friends of the National Zoo. It was for an 18 month period. These people had to apply for the position. They all had PhDs and they would come in and they would work with our curatorial staff and with the keepers. And they… Read More
Every single one of them went out and got well paid, very, very good positions as curators, general curators. And in some cases, even directors and that program fell apart in the ’90s. And I tried to instigate it again when I came back the second time and we ended… Read More
A question about, as you were under a Dr. Reed and you were doing these trips and so forth to, two parts, did you have mentors at the time, whether it be Dr. Reed or other people who were shaping and talking to you that you respected and who started… Read More
And is it in your opinion continuing today?… Read More
I mean, we put people that are now in major positions, in major zoos throughout the US. Read More
Explain what that is, what’s the curatorial?… Read More
And this was before Ted had decided to look for a facility similar to that for the zoo. And I worked with both Ted and John Perry on looking at sites for Front Royal or what was to become Front Royal. And I mean, we looked at all kinds of… Read More
That helped your professional growth?… Read More
Yes it not only helped me with my professional growth with the National Zoo, but it also got me into being able to talk to other directors at other zoos. I mean, I talked to Conway, went out to Denver, talked to Fry Height, and we had sent Oranga out… Read More
I mean, not only did I learn a lot, but I met a lot of people. He would send every one of his curatorial staff, almost everyone, every single year to either the regional conferences or to the primary convention for the AZA. And it gave us an opportunity to… Read More
And I had been after Ben to get me a grade raise and he wouldn’t give me a grade raise at, I mean, just would not do it. And I remember they had a major issue that happened in the graphics department, and the head of the graphics department left. Read More
So I was the primary go to person for the second renovation of the Elephant House and to a lesser degree in the third renovation of the Elephant House. The second renovation of the primate facility, the Monkey House, I earlier work with Miles Roberts on the renovation or the… Read More
I wanna to ask you a question though about under Ted Reed, are you being able to get out and see other zoos and expand your experiential ability to understand about exhibitry and so forth?… Read More
Yes, and I wanna expand on that too, because Ted was really into his ability to recognize the fact that the people that were working for him really needed to get out and see what was going on in the rest of the zoo world. And we were all sent… Read More
And I was sitting in his office with Jaren Horsley one morning, and we were just chatting about odds and ends and the phone rings and Chris picks up the phone and I can only say it verbatim cause I’ll never forget it, it was, “Hi Dave. Yes, yes. Well,… Read More
Okay, bye.” Hangs up the phone, he turns to us, he says, “Well, they just hired a new director for the zoo and it’s not me.” And it was kind of like, “Are you joking?… Read More
Who did they hire?” “Michael Robinson,” who was then acting, I mean was then assistant director at STRI, which was the Smithsonian Tropical Research Center in Panama. And this guy came right out of the woodwork. I mean, he had never been mentioned. Nobody ever mentioned his name and he… Read More