John Simmons
John E. Simmons (BS, Systematics & Ecology, MA, Historical Administration and Museum Studies) began his professional career as a zoo keeper, then worked as collections manager at the California Academy of Sciences and the Natural History Museum of the University of Kansas, where he also served as Director of the Museum Studies Program until 2007.
Simmons received the Superior Voluntary Service Award from the American Association of Museums (2001), Chancellor's Award for Outstanding Mentoring of Graduate Students from the University of Kansas (2005), Kansas City Area Archivists Award for Excellence (2006), Carolyn L. Rose Award for Outstanding Commitment to Natural History Collections and Management from the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (2011), Dudley-Wilkinson Award of Distinction from the Registrars Committee of the American Alliance of Museums (2016), and the Spiritus Award for Excellence in Service and Management of Herpetological and Ichthyological Collections from the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists (2019).
John has published more than 150 popular and technical articles and books on museum studies and natural history topics, including Cuidado, Manejo y Conservación de las Colecciones Biológicas (2005, with Yaneth Muñoz-Saba), Fluid Preservation: A Comprehensive Reference (2014), Foundations of Museum Studies: Evolving Systems of Knowledge (2014, with Kiersten Latham), Herpetological Collecting and Collections Management (third edition, 2015), Museums: A History (2016), Things Great and Small: Collections Management Policies (2nd edition, 2018), and Museum Registration Methods (6th edition, 2020, with Toni Kiser) and the chapter on “Collection care and management: history, theory, and practice,” in The International Handbooks of Museum Studies: Museum Practices (2015, Conal McCarthy, ed.).
John is president of Museologica consulting, Associate Curator of Collections at the Earth and Mineral Sciences Museum & Art Gallery at Penn State University, an adjunct lecturer in museum studies for Michigan State University and the Universidad Nacional (Bogotá, Colombia), and a research associate of the Museo de Historia Natural de la Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos (Lima, Peru).