John E. Simmons

John E. Simmons (B.S., Systematics & Ecology; M.A., Historical Administration and Museum Studies) consults, teaches, and does field work in the US, Latin America, Asia, and Europe. Simmons 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 in 2001, the Chancellor's Award for Outstanding Mentoring of Graduate Students from the University of Kansas in 2005, the Kansas City Area Archivists Award for Excellence in 2006, the Carolyn L. Rose Award for Outstanding Commitment to Natural History Collections and Management from the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections in 2011, the Dudley-Wilkinson Award of Distinction from the Registrars Committee of the American Alliance for Museums (2016), and the Spiritus Award for Excellence in Service and Management of Herpetological and Ichthyological Collectoins from the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists (2019). Simmons has published more than 150 papers and articles on natural history and museum topics. His publications include 8 books: "Museums: A History" (2016); "Herpetological Collecting and Collections Management" (3rd edition, 2015); "Fluid Preservation: A Comprehensive Reference" (2015); "Foundations of Museum Studies: Evolving Systems of Knowledge" (with Kiersten Latham, 2014); "Things Great and Small: Collections Management Policies" (2nd edition, 2018); "Cuidado, Manejo y Conservación de las Colecciones Biológicas" (2005, with Yaneth Muñoz-Saba), "Museum Registration Methods" (6th edition, with Toni M. Kiser), and "Best Practices in the Preservation and Management of Fluid-Preserved Biological Collections" (with Dirk Neumann, Julian Carter, and Oliver Crimmen). His recent papers include "La vida secreta de los museos universitarios" (2016); "Collections management: history, theory, and practice" (in The International Handbook of Museum Studies, 2016); "Overview of the herpetofauna of the unexplored Cordillera del Cóndor of Ecuador" (2014); "Application of preventive conservation to solve the coming crisis in collections management" (2013); "Observation and distillation—preservation, depiction, and the perception of nature" (with Julianne Snider, 2012); "When Father Chimborazo took the frogs away" (2009); "Whither Museum Studies?" (with Kiersten Latham); and "Museum Studies" (in Oxford Bibliographies in Anthropology" (with Kiersten Latham). Simmons is currently a writer and consultant for Museologica (a museum consulting company).