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Thursday, May 2, 1991 / University Daily Kansar
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Museum collection manager puts life into biology lectures
By Katie Chipman
Kansan staff writer
Thorvald Holmes, collection manager at the Museum of Natural History, spends most of his time with skins and scales.
Holmes has been the collection manager at the KU museum since 1988. As manager, he cares for the museum's 150,000 mammal specimens. The collection is the fourth largest in North America.
It was that collection that drew Holmes to Kansas from California in 1980.
"I came here expecting a good collection, and when I went there, it was awesome. I mean, it was just fantastic," she said.
Holmes said his job included ensuring that the animals were being treated well, so that they would last long and helping the many visitors that come to use the mammals for research.
"I've been interested in animals for the whole ride," he said. "When I was a kid, I used to bury cow heads in the backyard to get the bones. I was always interested in them." The cattle snake, but snakes and lizards and what weird things bees are."
Holmes grew up in Southern California and earned a master's degree in biology from Humboldt State University in Arcata, Calif.
"Biology is important because everyone has one of these that goes like this," he said, bending his elbow back and forth. "That's biology. Your heart goes pitper-pat your main squeeze gives you a kiss. That's biology."
"When I was a freshman in college I was an English major because it never occurred to me that you could actually get a degree in animals," he said.
At the University of Kansas, Holmes worked to earn a doctorate from the department of systematics and ecology.
"But I wanted to make an impact and get them to think about living things and to see this stuff interconnected."
Holmes said that he knew that most of the students he taught were there only to fulfill a class requirement but that he wanted to teach them that biology was directly related to their lives.
"Sometimes you ask yourself, 'The world is going to hell in a hand basket, and what am I doing? I'm thinking about it.'"
Holmes, in addition to being collection manager, gives lectures about mammals to student groups who visit the
Bob Timm, museum curator and Holmes' supervisor, said that in April, Holmes received KU's employee of the year award for his work at the museum and for going above and beyond the call of duty to get the job done.
Timm said that not everyone could keep the attention of elementary school students during a lecture but that they were always interested.
"He's a spectacular lecturer." Timm said. "He uses a variety of techniques to grab the attention of the audience."
"A lot of things he does smoothly so that they come across as jokes and fun, but what he's really doing is not just about humor. It's also about connection."
But Holmes does not lecture. He talks to the students and commands their attention with his energy and enthusiasm about learning.
"That's the game for me," Holmes said. "Keeping their attention is the most fun. The trick is to get them to listen to you, because if you're lecturing and they're not listening, then everybody's wasting time."
"Junior high and high school students don't want to be there. They've got a lot better things to think about and do. So when some fat, bad balk get up and starts talking, they say, 'C'mon man, what's this guy doing?' "
The students from Unionton High School attended one of Holmes' lectures during a trip to the Natural History Museum.
They filed into the room and stared at the man at the head of the room, who had a ponytail and wore a T-shirt and jeans.
By the end of the hour-long lecture, Holmes had won the students over with his charisma. The students were delighted.
Gary White, sophomore at Uiontown, said, "That was actually fun. He made it interesting."
Holmes said, "I'll work any room; I don't care what age group. I really enjoy working with children, just because they have no social conventions."
Holmes also has been working with Elderhotel, a community group for disabled people that offers classes and activities for the elderly.
"I like that a lot more than I expected to," he said. "It's very weird to stand up in front of this room full of people, and they all know more than you know. And you're trying to tell them how the work works."
Holmes' wife, Elaine, said her husband did not do many things that were not related to biology.
one of those vacations included a trip to Alaska last year with the American Society of Mammologists.
"Biology is the key, he loves it so much. Even our vacations are spent doing things related to biology."
She said that often guests who visited their home commented on its similarity to a museum because of the many skulls, fossils and rocks that her husband had collected.
"He establishes such a good rapport with the students he talks to," she said. "He doesn't just stand up and lecture, but he gets the audience involved."
Thorvald Holmes also has a variety of pets — three cockatiels, four lovebirds, a parakeet, four finches, an assortment of field mice and some voles that he found in the vard.
Biology is the key, he loves it so much. Even our vacations are spent doing things related to biology.
One of those vacations included a trip to Alaska last year with the American Society of Mammalogists.
Elaine Holmes said, "Biologists are pretty gross, but it's pretty interesting being married to one."
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