Museum organizational 

 chart, 1984. 



ADMINISTRATIVE FUNCTIONS 



Admlnlacratlve Office 

 Building Manager's Office 

 AucomaClc Data Proceasing 

 Office of Educadon 



rector January 15, 1973, and served until mid- 1979. 

 After postgraduate work at Cambridge University, a 

 two-year stint in the U. S. Army, and one year's teaching 

 at the University of Houston, he arrived at the Smith- 

 sonian in 1957. "It was the dream of a lifetime. The 

 Smithsonian's famed natural history museum, is the 

 Mount Olympus of sea urchin paleontology."** A scuba 

 diver and underwater photographer, Kier is one of 

 those who have studied living animals to bring new 

 knowledge back to the interpretation of fossils; Ripley 

 characterized him as "an innovative researcher of al- 

 most indefatigable energy."^ A decade after joining the 

 staff, Kier succeeded G. Arthur Cooper as the second 

 chairman of the Department of Paleobiology. Following 

 that term, he spent about a year as a full-time scientist 

 before becoming director. 



Kier was the first director to be selected through the 

 mechanism of a search committee, an essential practice 

 under present-day Civil Service regulations. He is also 

 the first department chairman to have been appointed 

 director. While one may quibble as to the distinction 

 between Stewart as first head curator and Kier as first 

 chairman to occupy the office, the difference between 

 the old style and the new style is tremendous. A "green 

 hornet" (so named because of the color of its paper 

 and its thrust) issued by Secretary Ripley in the mid- 

 1960s announced the abolition of the title "head cu- 

 rator." The term of a chairman is not to exceed five 

 years. 



The Museum's exhibits program regained its vigor 

 under Kier. The most obvious public product of his 

 administration, however, is the "Kier testimonial" es- 

 calator leading from the foyer to the rotunda. Its in- 

 stallation was opposed unanimously by the department 

 chairmen. Kier was able to obtain money for it as part 

 of the Bicentennial celebration, arguing — quite rightly, 

 as it turned out — that the escalator would be needed 

 to handle the large crowds. 



Richard S. Fiske 



Kier returned to his echinoids in mid- 1979, and on 

 January 14, 1980, Richard S. Fiske became the fifth 

 director of the National Museum of Natural History, 

 and the ninth man to occupy the southwest corner of- 

 fice. Fiske, like Stewart, received his final training at 

 Johns Hopkins University. After a few years of post- 

 doctoral study, he joined the U. S. Geological Survey 

 in 1964. He spent the next twelve years studying vol- 

 canoes — live ones in Hawaii and presumed-dead ones 

 in Washington State — but he gradually became en- 

 snared in administrative duties. While his colleagues at 

 the Geological Survey saw him as prime material for 

 the administrative post of chief geologist, Fiske left the 

 Survey for the Museum because he wanted more time 

 for research in volcanology.'" 



Upon his arrival in the Department of Mineral Sci- 

 ences, Fiske was swept into the exhibits program, and 

 because of his interest soon became head of a revitalized 

 exhibits committee. One of his early acts as director 

 was to see that the rhinoceros was moved out of his 

 office; the beast was replaced by a series of shelves 

 holding American Indian pots. The eruption of Mount 

 St. Helens in 1980, and the centenary in 1983 of the 

 eruption of Krakatau kept Fiske busy combining ad- 

 ministration and research with lecturing and writing 

 on both events. 



Nothing has been written about the term of the di- 

 rector of the Museum of Natural History, yet somehow 

 it has come to be understood that this position, like a 

 chairmanship, is not a lifetime appointment. On July 

 10, 1985, Dick Fiske stepped down; James Tyler, an 

 ichthyologist who transferred from the National Sci- 

 ence Foundation to the Museum earlier that year, stepped 

 in as acting director. When the next major volcanic 

 eruption occurs. Senior Scientist Fiske will be there — 

 burdened with samples but untroubled by administra- 

 tive cares. □ 



134 



The Museum 



