By TOM FINK
Claremore Progress
As the new curator for the Will Rogers Museum, Jennifer Holt hit the ground running.
On the job since Oct. 22, Holt’s first two week on the job have been busy ones.
“My first week here, the Friends of Library of Oklahoma (FOLIO) were here in an event that declared the museum an ‘Oklahoma Literary Landmark’,” Holt said. “And my second week here was Will Rogers Days —
it’s been quite an initiation.”
Born in Tulsa, Holt grew up in Alderson, Okla. in the southeastern part of the state.
After graduating from high school, she attended Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, where she studied and graduated with a degree in history.
She then attended the University of Oklahoma, where she entered the school’s library and information studies program.
“I’d always loved libraries and that’s that was what I was wanting to do for a career,” she said. “I graduated from the program with a Master’s degree in Library and Information Studies, but as part of the program, we had to take a class outside our department — I found out that I was really fascinated with museum studies — all that went on ‘behind-the-scenes’, and the thought of working directly with something that’s a part of history — that really appealed to me.”
So much so that Holt returned to college, this time, to Baylor University in Waco, Texas, where she earned a Master’s degree in Museum Studies.
“For a while, my mom thought I was never going to be done with school,” joked Holt, “but after Baylor, I got my first museum job, working in research and collections, at the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural
History in Norman.”
At Sam Noble, Holt worked directly under the museum’s conservator, monitoring past activity and new specimens.
“My office was called ‘Isolation’ which sounds a little sad, but everything new that would come to the museum would come to my office to be inspected for mold, pests, etc. before it was allowed in the building,” she said.
One of the more unusual aspects of Holt’s job at Sam Noble involved preparing skeletons for display.
“We had an on-site colony of ‘dermested beetles’ which were basically flesh-eating beetles,” she said. “Whenever we would get an animal specimen in, to ‘skeletonize’ it, we would have to keep it frozen for a few weeks to kill off any possible active pests or parasites, then process it for the beetles.”
“Processing it,” Holt said, involved pulling off skin and meat from bone before turning the remainder over to the beetles, who would “finish the job.”
“It sounds pretty gross, but it was cool at the same time,” she said.
“Probably the biggest creature we ever had to do that with was an 11-foot, seven-inch alligator — and some of the graduate students even used the meat from it in the museum’s chili cook-off. The few people who tasted it said it was good, but not many people did.” After three years at Sam Noble, Holt found herself wanting to move forward with her career, leading her to apply for the position of curator at the Will Rogers Memorial in Claremore.
“Sam Noble is a wonderful museum — there are more than 100 full-time staff members there and 11 different collections in the building — but it’s so large, everyone there has a very well-defined job, very specific roles,” she said. “My training had prepared me to do more than what I was doing there, and I was ready to grow professionally.”
Holt’s opportunity came when she was hired as the new director of the Will Rogers Museum — a position she feels is a “perfect fit.”
“I love the area and found the idea of living in Claremore very attractive,” she said. “This institution has a wonderful history to it and to be the curator of such an impressive museum is a tremendous opportunity for me.”
Museum director Steve Gragart is equally impressed with Holt’s credentials and expertise.
“We’re very pleased to have Jennifer here — her experience in conservation and restoration will make her a valued member of the staff,” said Steve Gragert, Will Rogers Museum director. “We’re fortunate to have her.”
Holt said she’s looking forward to inventorying the institution and working towards getting the museum accredited through the American Association of Museums.
“There are a lot of things I’m looking forward to getting started on — we’ll be reviewing our procedures and policies, updating all of our collection data and starting a conservation project,” she said. “It’s an all encompassing process that I’m eager to get started.”
Outside of work, Holt said she enjoys reading (”I’m a huge nerd,” she admitted), but first, she plans to “catch her breath” after FOLIO and Will Rogers Days, then getting straight to work — with no flesh-eating beetles anywhere in sight. “I don’t think I’ll have to deal with any flesh-eating beetles here,” she laughed. “If I do, then there’s a big problem somewhere.”