You are not quite sure where to look first. At the large, black taxidermized raven on it back with its stiff feet in the air? The 17th Century brass Persian astrolabe that helped users identify stars? Or maybe the case of freshwater clam and mussel shells (including threatened species) among more exotic mollusks, including the marvelous murex snail and cone snail shells?

Walk through the door to the Cleveland Museum of Natural History’s (CMNH) large, main Collection Staging Area, and it’s a bit overwhelming.

Long folding tables in the center of the room are bordered by open shelving and file cabinets against the walls. In the windowless room with a high ceiling, bright overhead lights illuminate the area about the size of a typical elementary school cafeteria. Except there aren’t any kids with trays and cartons of milk. There wouldn’t be any room for them.

CMNH staging areaIn addition to hundreds of specimens on the tables, larger or odd-shaped pieces of the CMNH’s collection take up floor space, jockey for position in corners of the room and are sometimes tucked underneath tables. It may seem chaotic to the untrained eye, but everything is numbered, tagged and in its (at least temporary) designated place.

For example, an extraordinary grouping of beautiful, ancient scientific navigation instruments, including elaborately engraved sundials and compasses, sits next to shelving with large chunks of minerals. But it all works.

This is the main area where members of the Museum’s Science and Conservation teams are preparing items for public display—primarily for placement in the CMNH’s new Evolving Life Wing and the Larry Sears and Sally Zlotnik Sears Dynamic Earth Wing.

The wings are an integral part of the Museum’s 10-year, $150 million Transforming the World of Discovery project that is scheduled for completion in December. The Visitor Hall opened last October, and museum officials, researchers, staff and construction contractors have been preparing since then.

In fact, most of CMNH’s specimens and objects that will be installed into the Museum’s transformed exhibits are currently being prepared in three Collection Staging Areas—pivotal spaces where the magic of curation begins.

These staging areas allow CMNH researchers to perform vital cleaning and conservation work, design and build new exhibit mounts, and ensure specimens are properly fitted for their future exhibits.

When the wings open, the large staging area and two smaller ones will be relocated to a permanent site.

“This large space was originally designated for storage, but I was able to grab it along with two other smaller spaces that we share with the [taxidermy] mounting team,” explains Meghan Strong, CMNH director of collections, anthropologist, and art historian. “The rooms are perfectly located to make things convenient for us during the construction. Here we handle minerology, earth sciences, taxidermy, fossils, and cultural specimens.”

Writing the script

Strong admits the long, dark room can be a little unsettling when you first enter it and the lights aren’t on. Motionless, mounted creatures stare at you with unblinking artificial eyes, and your imagination can convince you there’s something ominous lurking in a corner.

But turn on the lights, and a less intimidating day in the staging area begins—making certain all specimens in the holding area meet a battery of requirements before they qualify for exhibit status.

Ornithology specimens awaiting installation at Cleveland Museum of Natural History“You make decisions about what you want to show visitors,” says Gavin Svenson, CMNH’s chief science officer. “Each museum has a unique collection. You want to tell a story about these items, but you want them to blend together, complement each other in a way that makes sense.

Svenson explains that only a very small fraction of the Museum’s collection is on display at one time, and some difficult choices have to be made. Once museum staff members choose the selections, decisions about how the objects are displayed and/or mounted are necessary.

It is part of “writing the script” for the exhibits, Svenson says.

“Do you go with four, three, or two species in a case?” he asks, noting that an effective display can draw interest, while a boring one can make someone just walk on by.

Svenson pulls a tray from a drawer in one of the dozens of specimen cabinets lining the wall—showing off a grouping of 124 beetles of various species, colors and sizes—from minuscule to “I’m-afraid-of-that-big-thing” size.

Many people often think the metallic orange, red, blue, and green beetles are the most beautiful, as are the shiny black insects. To Svenson, an entomologist, the diversity and appearance of all the beetles together is all understandably fascinating and he wants to share that enthusiasm with visitors.

It’s not just the insects themselves that Svenson admires. It is the artistic and pleasing way the beetles have been arranged in a circular pattern for display.

He says he sees the beetles display as a fine example of the confluence of art and science—a concept vital to outstanding exhibits, along with effective graphics and labeling.

And don’t ever let anyone tell you that a prestigious museum has no sense of humor. Decades ago, a tiny Volkswagen Beetle toy car was cleverly pinned to a wall display, surrounded by representatives of the Museum’s beetle collection.

Most sharp-eyed visitors who spotted the model car were highly amused. Svenson vows the VW (if not the original, at least a replacement) will return.

Of course, a complex, critical process for getting specimens ready for their public spotlight (either as new acquisitions or those that need some tender loving care) is mandatory. That preparation can involve cleaning, repairing, and scanning for documentation purposes. Confirming that all the information available is current and accurate is also vital.

Haplocanthosaurus delfsi, affectionately known as An example of the latter adjustment is the Museum’s iconic “Happy” the dinosaur (Haplocanthosaurus delfsi), which is the inspiration for the Museum’s well-known logo. Happy was discovered in 1954 in Colorado by a CMNH team and was on exhibit with both real and manmade cast parts for many years with his tail held downwards. Additional research found several discrepancies in the presentation and his tail is now in a raised position.

“Not all of Happy’s old parts were scientifically accurate,” says collections director Strong. “But it’s important that we keep the old ones to document and understand how things were once done with our specimens.

She notes, “There are crates of old Happy parts,” including older representations of his legs.

Strong says she considers the entire staging process to be similar to a triage assessment in a hospital emergency department. The most important items, or those that are the most fragile or vulnerable, get priority. That includes the mount of Balto, the heroic sled dog that led the last leg of a 674-mile journey in Alaska to deliver diphtheria antitoxin to children in 1925.

In preparation for his starring role in CMNH’s new Visitor Hall, Balto spent time in the Museum’s “spa,” where his black fur was restored to its darker shade and luster, thanks to newer, superior non-fading dye pigments.

Additionally, all taxidermy specimens with feathers and fur also must be examined for parasites and other critters that only Svenson would love.

On the other hand, if one of the slabs of Cleveland shale in the collections staging area is in stable condition and is just a bit dusty, it can probably wait a little longer for its beauty treatment.

After all, the slab has been around for about 360 million years.

Outsourcing the makeover

Not every object in the Museum’s collection is prepared on site. Some dinosaur bones require the care of specialized labs that have the expertise and equipment to care for the most difficult conditions. Also, sometimes a trip to an offsite museum “hairdresser” is required because of the size or condition of a specimen.

“Our muskox just came back from getting a blow-dry treatment,” notes Strong, pointing to a thick-coated mount animal that now looks ready to flip its bangs.

Strong, who leads a group of five full-time employees and helps guide the taxidermy crew, says there are two other rooms in the Museum that are designated temporary collection staging areas.

One room contains additional taxidermy specimens, including a snowy owl and other birds, as well as turtles and additional reptiles.

Because amphibians (think frogs, toads and salamanders) “just don’t look good” after a taxidermy procedure, Svenson says those specimens are usually manmade models.

The main area is where members of the Museum’s Science and Conservation teams are preparing items for public displayA model representation

This area also contains pieces and parts of the Museum’s well-known dioramas—three-dimensional models featuring either miniature or full-size objects. Some of the scenes are considered historically or artistically valuable because of what they depict or because of the nationally well-known museum artists who built them decades ago.

“If we couldn’t save an entire diorama, we tried to save at least part of it,” explains Strong. “Some of these are very large and storage is also a problem.”

She notes that the team took cultural sensitivity into account when restoring the works. “There were a couple [dioramas] that were very much related to outdated science. It would not be appropriate to share those anymore because it would be conveying false information.”

Several of those dioramas included scenes depicting Native American tribes and incorrect models of their shelters or showing activities of which they were not actually associated.

“Through the work of archeologists and conversations with living tribal members, we have a much better understanding now,” says Strong.

Botanical dioramas have also been refreshed in this staging area, and the Ohio native wildflowers and fungi that were part of the old exhibits will find new life in the transformed museum.

Fine specimens

Staging area three is also a temporary home for taxidermy specimens. But these mounts, in wooden crates and/or wrapped individually in large plastic sheets, are the largest the Museum owns. A polar bear, grizzly bear, ostrich and others wait to take their places in front of visitors.

An elephant head and trunk are covered with plastic—its ears not far away in a box (this can be a spooky area where you might wonder what goes on there at night when staff is not around).

“The largest animals are in the smallest collection staging room,” says Strong, wondering about the irony of that placement. “But some of the older mounts are pretty heavy. They weren’t created over a polyurethane foam or other lightweight material like more modern mounts.”

Strong notes the older mounts were constructed of full plaster. “I tried to move the crate containing the lion the other day and couldn’t move it an inch,” she admits.

Of course, beauty rarely comes without work. To accomplish museum-quality specimens takes effort, and even Strong sounds astounded when she talks about the extensive time necessary to clean and care for even the smallest of objects.

Organized chaos

That success also demands proper tools and cleaning supplies. Many tables in the staging areas are covered with jars of glue and cans of paint, scissors, X-ACTO knives, plastic bags, protective gloves (for the safety of the worker and the specimens), drills, saws, hammers, pliers, screws, tweezers, paint brushes, tape, markers, drawings, and notepads.

Dr. Meghan Strong inspecting astronomical instruments in collections staging roomsThe overall appearance makes the space look like workrooms shared by shoemaker elves, a mad dentist, welders, carpenters, brilliant scientists, and a preschooler who has yet to learn put his things away after playing.

But in this case, it is easier, quicker and more efficient to just leave everything out on a table and grab what you need. It’s somehow effective.

Some of brackets, frames, and metal mounts used to display specimens are made in-house and customized to fit and hold each specimen. However, because some specimens are too valuable or fragile to handle to make a mount or have a specialist do the work, Strong says almost all specimens are 3D-scanned and an electronic file can be sent to a fabricator who can then laser cut what is needed.

“Also, everything we do can be reversed,” Strong assures. “If we have to take something off a wall, we can do it without damaging the exhibit or the specimen.

We think in terms of 100 years, not five or 10,” she adds, with a nod to the Museums 100th anniversary that was celebrated in 2021.

Svenson emphasizes that the Museum’s Transformation had been a huge undertaking. But it also gave the Cleveland institution a rare chance to re-evaluate much of its huge collection—five million artifacts and specimens—and take a second look at uncatalogued items from years ago that may deserve more recognition.

Beyond transformation

The CMNH is also transforming more than its space. Instead of chronologically-spaced exhibits, an innovative non-linear approach to exhibits has been adopted. That method allows visitors to better understand the connections between all of nature—including the role of humans.

“This opportunity is probably not anything I will ever do again in my lifetime,” says Svenson. “But it has a huge significance for me and all Clevelanders.”