Preface: curators of natural history and human culture

Moving toward the life of a curator

Beginning a curatorial career

Staking out a field site in Wyoming

Mexico and the hotel NSF

Radioactive rayfins, the fish rodeo, and developing a global research program

A dino named Sue

Adventures of my curatorial colleagues from the field

The spirit of K-P Schmidt and the hazards of herpetology

Executive management

Exhibition and the Hall of Gems

Grave concerns

Hunting

and conserving

lions

Saving the planet's ecosystems

Where do we go from here?