Tracey Tomme is the President and CEO of the Dayton Society of Natural History—the organization behind the Boonshoft Museum of Discovery and SunWatch Village.
With a fascinating background in education and non-profit leadership, Tracey shares how hands-on learning, conservation, and cultural stewardship come together to preserve the past and create the future right here in Dayton, Ohio.
Listen Now:
Episode Transcript:
Evelyn Ritzi:
Welcome to Creating the Future. I’m Evelyn Ritzi.
David Bowman:
And I’m David Bowman,
Evelyn:
And today we’re joined by Tracey Tomme, President and CEO of the Dayton Society of Natural History, the parent organization for the beloved Boonshoft Museum of Discovery and SunWatch Village. Welcome to the podcast, Tracey!
Tracey Tomme:
Thank you for having me.
Evelyn:
Thanks for being here. So let’s start off with you and your story. What first inspired your passion for education and led you to where you are in nonprofit leadership?
Tracey:
That’s an interesting story, at least. It might not be interesting for the reasons you think however. So I grew up in Texas and was going to manage a horse ranch, because it is true. You go with what you know, and we lived out in the country, and I had a horse that I worked very hard to be able to feed and take care of, because that was how we were raised with, not with a lot of means. So I thought, I’m going to get this animal science degree. And I went to school at Texas Tech to get an animal science degree. And then I met Ed, my husband, and he was in the military as an Air Force pilot, and so that was the end of that. So as we moved around, I needed to be either a nurse or a teacher in order to be able to get jobs wherever he was stationed. So I went into education. So it was completely by accident. I did not grow up thinking, I just want to be a teacher. So I went into education. I taught elementary school, I taught middle school. I got certified in a lot of states and even overseas for the Department of Defense, as we lived in Germany, and then we moved to Colorado Springs, and we’re going to stay there forever. So I was able to think about what I might want to do outside of the classroom, and I went into the nonprofit side and started doing education at a place called Challenger Learning Center, which there is one here in Dayton as well. So that was amazing. And I decided that is the type of education that really rocked my world. And from there, I shifted to museums. So when you think, what does it take to be a museum director? How did you prepare? I have no idea. I have no idea you have to be able to raise money and not lose your mind. Really, that’s the two things. That’s all you need, yeah.
David:
So the Dayton Society of Natural History. It’s got such deep roots in our community. Can you share a little bit about its history? You told us your history? How about its history, and how it all began, and then what it’s grown into today? I think it would surprise for folks.
Tracey:
It is very interesting as well. So the museum actually started at the top of the library downtown, moved around downtown to several different locations, and survived the flood 1913 because the collections were up on that top story. So that was nice. We lost one canoe because they tried to take it to go get help. Shouldn’t use an antique canoe for that sort of adventure. It did sink, but the people were okay, that’s good. And then about 1950s after the war, people were coming home. It was hard to find funding. It was hard to find staffing. The museum was more closed than open. They had an amicable, amicable divorce and sort of separated. The museum became its own Dayton Society of Natural History, and moved over to a location off of ridge Avenue. And then from there, it grew and expanded in the 1990s and then in the two early 2000s we’re working on some things today as well, but now they moved the opening when they expanded the 1990s to Dewees Parkway, so now it’s on DeWeese. So people will say, I remember when it was on ridge. I’m like, still there. That’s just the staff entrance and not the public entrance, but the building’s the same. And so it’s, it’s actually grown and doing very well.
Evelyn:
That’s great. And you’ve been a big part of that, that growth as well, too. Well.
Tracey:
I’m trying. I am a small piece of the larger history of that museum, but I hope to be able to leave with a positive reflection of what we were able to do while I was here.
Evelyn:
Absolutely something that people might not realize is that the Boonshoft museum also operates a zoo, the discovery Zoo, and as someone with an animal science degree, I’m sure that’s a passion point. For you, too. So could you share a little bit about the animal ambassadors that are there and how they connect to the mission? Maybe what types of animals visitors could expect to see when they come?
Tracey:
Absolutely. So the animal science degree did help with understanding animals and owning or running a zoo. It’s a very different philosophy, I will say so in animal science, we learned how to ethically raise animals for food, for clothing, for, you know, wool fibers and that type. The Aza approach is more animals for conservation, building empathy, taking care of animals. So on the animal science side, animals work and support us. On the zoo side, we work to support the animals, which I have learned a lot, and it’s fascinating, and I enjoy it. We have a collection of about 250 indoor animals, all different taxa. So we have reptiles, birds, amphibians, mammals, I think that’s about it. And you can come there and meet a tortoise, or meet our toucan, Frida, who’s amazing. She’ll come right up to the window and play. She’s beautiful and doesn’t look real. So we have all indoor animals, and in order to be able to get the right ones, we try to find animals that are very different, that maybe children and families don’t see all the time, but also can handle being inside with our noisy environment, and have, you know, not acres of exhibit area to live in.
David:
yeah, and it’s my experience with it. It’s always been, it’s, it’s such an intimate kind of zoo experience. You know, when you go to, you know, one of the big zoos, there’s several within a short drive of here, but it’s kind of an all day adventure. And you know, you’re dragging the kids around, and everybody’s tired, and there’s cool things to see, for sure, but you’re at a far distance from most of the things you’re looking at, and it’s equal parts exhaustion and awe, right? It’s great, but it’s an outing, whereas at Boonshoft, it seems very you’re right up close and personal with all the animals, which is really fun and unique.
Tracey:
So all of our animals do have a little place they can go hide if they’re not feeling it. We don’t force them, but they do enjoy both watching the people and of course, people enjoy watching them. They are in smaller enclosures where you can see them. And on days like today, when it’s snowing outside, it’s perfect, because you can go to the zoo and not have to bundle and Trundle through the weather. And it’s also nice. I’ve heard from people I think that our zoo could encourage you to go to bigger zoos, but it’s really nice, because for the ticket price, you get the value of having seen everything if you feel like being there for a couple of hours, versus coming in only seeing a few things and leaving a little frustrated because you’ve run out of time, energy, daylight, we’re closing, you know, whatever is happening. So I think people do appreciate that small intimacy.
David:
And the Boonshoft Museum has always been about inspiring curiosity and discovery and so in a time when so much learning happens on screens, why do you think that providing a hands-on Sensory Learning Experience is still so powerful for kids and adults alike?
Tracey:
I think when you touch something, smell something, see something, it’s just very different and sticks with you in a much more inspiring way than if you read in a book. So I taught seventh grade science for several years, and I enjoyed it a lot. Seventh grade is interesting. You’ll understand my personality better, because I really enjoyed it. You can be very sarcastic in seventh grade. You can’t do that with elementary school kids. They cry, so I had to stick with the ones I could make jokes with. But when we you know, we were doing whatever we were learning about, let’s say it’s the water cycle, or some if you’re just reading that in a book and studying for the test, it’s people don’t like science. It’s very flat. It’s there’s not much there. That’s how I learned history, and I never enjoyed history. Now I work in a History Museum. I love history. I want to learn more. I’m like, Why did I not like this before? Well, it was because it was all in a book. It was just like books, and you remember the last few pages with the bulleted points, and you had to, like, those were going to be on the test, right? So you had to study those. So I feel like, when you come to the zoo or a science center like we have, and you get to touch things and see things, we have the new mastodons in the lobby, I’ll tell you about those on a different question, probably, but you know, that’s something that people who walk in have literally never seen anything like that before. And while they’re not alive and you can’t touch them, they’re so interesting to look at, so they will leave being like, wow.
David:
Wow, yeah, I think it’s that. Again, it’s engaging so much more of your brain, the human experience, right where there’s tactile elements, there’s olfactory elements, there’s engaging with other people at the same time, and what are they seeing and doing, and how are they reacting? That just it just makes it a lot more fun.
Tracey:
It does for our littles, like they learn how to take turns. They learn how. To have somebody else have to share with them, because maybe they live in a household where they don’t have to share their toys or the thing or the whatever. But when you have a line of people and you know other people want to do the thing, you have to share so and they do get to do if they’re holding back and they see someone else doing something, they might learn how to do that thing, just from watching another child or another person do whatever the activity is.
David:
We could get more adults to the booth off, maybe today for to learn those things again.
Tracey:
We do work on that a little bit. It is can be interesting. There’s, yeah, the adults have more challenges there, I think, than some of the children.
Evelyn:
Well, you mentioned bringing history to life. You also oversee the sun watch village, which offers such a fascinating window into the lives of indigenous peoples from our region here in Miami Valley. So for listeners who might not be familiar with sun watch, can you tell us a little bit about what it is and what makes it such a special place to visit.
Tracey:
SunWatch is fascinating. So it is a village that’s around 800 more years old. It is tied with indigenous people. For sure, which tribe you could ask? Many, most likely, there are at least 62 that we are doing consultation work right now with some NAGPRA work that we’re doing at SunWatch. So that’s a Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, and it is a federal law that we are required to follow. So we run a zoo, we have a children’s museum, but we also do this heavy work, and SunWatch was heavily excavated in the 1960s at first by amateur archeologist and then by our curator at the zoo at the museum. So Jay Heilmann was out there. The city owns that property, and they were going to use it as part of the wastewater treatment site. It’s the same property as the wastewater treatment site. And Jay was able, along with Virginia Kettering, to convince the city, please don’t destroy this site. There’s so much happening. And the city said, you know, keep that in mind, but we have to get this done, because we need this space. So they told Jay he could have three weeks notice, and then they would destroy the site and bring in the heavy equipment. That’s it. So they excavated everything that they could, which was more excavation than really needed to happen to really understand the site. But it did need to happen to try to save these so with that, we now curate ancestors, human remains and their burial objects, that they were, their belongings that went with them, and then also like trash pit objects and different things. So from that site, we have over a million objects that were excavated now that can be everything from corn kernels to pottery shots. So it’s a wide variety of objects, but it’s extensive, and we’re still reading that collection, which means going through, taking measurements, giving everything a number and cataloging everything. But we’re working with the tribal nations, and the ultimate goal would be to return those ancestors, along with their belongings, to where they came from, at SunWatch, and that is quite a process. So we have a grant right now through the National Park Service to help pay for some staff, time, for travel, for travel, for the tribal leaders to come in and to be able to help us with this consultation work. It’s not just anyone who is of the Native community. You have to be part of their government and authorized to do this work with us. So it’s government to government. Work fascinating. So I’ve learned a lot in that, and also the city has been amazing to work with. I asked the one of the nation’s consultant asked us, they said, is the land protected? I’m like, of course, it’s protected. It’s got a fence, it’s got cameras. Like, then they’re like, no, no. Like protected. Protected, like federal property is protected, like big parks, you cannot come in and just bulldoze them and like, I guess, I don’t know, so I went back and found out that the three parcels that make up the wastewater treatment site and sun launch, our side was still part of those same parcels, so it was zoned as commercial. Oh, wow, which is not protected right at all. So the city has put new zoning on it to make it zoned open space, and then we’re working with them to get another name that better fits that space, which doesn’t exist, like a traditional cultural property or something along those lines. It’s not historic, it’s not prehistoric. So it’s just careful, like learning the different language and how that fits. That’s fascinating. So lot, lot happening at SunWatch. It is an eight, 800 year old village, and the house patterns are still there. So while we have reached. Constructed houses. We don’t know for sure if that’s what they look like, but we know exactly where the Poles were that held up these structures. So we based that on these house patterns and the stockade pattern. Anything that was in the soil, we know exactly where it was, but what was above it is a little more questionable. The center pole is based off of a cedar. So they knew it was eastern red cedar based on what they found in that hole. And it had to be very tall to be that round. And that is why it’s called Sun watch, because that center pole, the shadow at the different times of the year, marks the different seasons when you would plant corn, when you would harvest, the shortest day, the longest day. So it’s, it’s really fascinating. It’s very technologically, you know, advanced that we don’t think about 800 years ago they were worried about, you know, but they were doing everything we do. So it’s pretty neat to learn that.
David:
That’s amazing, and thinking of how they thought of time differently, right of, here’s when we’re supposed to do this thing, but not it’s 130 and I have a meeting, right? Yeah, where it mapped to, I guess, a different rhythm for human culture, right?
Tracey:
It’s possible. I mean, I think if we try to put our perspective on their time and their life, I don’t know that it works, right? So, but that is what we naturally try to do. And I think what you can say is that they lived and thrived, had commerce and trade, you know, fed their families, took care of their homes, and did many of the things that we do. So I don’t know. I don’t know if 130 was when we go to work and do our pottery, right? Yeah, it could be. I I wasn’t there. I don’t know, but I know that they definitely had systems and technologies that I don’t know, that we always give people credit for.
David:
Oh my gosh yeah, that’s fascinating. For those who haven’t visited Boonshoft in a while, what’s something new or surprising that they might encounter when they when they show up, when they first walk in.
Tracey:
Yeah, this is when I get to talk about my mastodon. Yes. So we have a paleontologist on staff and an archeologist. And so our archeologist is a registered archeologist, that’s Jill, Craig Crocco, and she is our head curator. So she, along with our paleontologist Ray, were able to work with a company out of Minnesota called Blue Rhino. And they used bones from our collection that were found at Carter bog, which is just like 50 miles from here in Darke County. So these are basically daytonian mastodons. So they used the bones in the collection, including a juvenile skull. And they modeled these, what we call flesh models. They look like a hair on sort of taxidermy version, instead of just the skeleton and the bones of the mastodons. And the juvenile skull is only one of three ever found. It was found at Carter bog with this female skull as well and bones. And so they put together all the different measurements, how they would look, how they would walk, what their how they would hold their head, the whole thing. And then the company of blue Rhino did a fantastic job. Highly recommend them. And they built these sculptures, if you will, of these mastodons. So they made tabletop clay models. And then when everything was right, and everybody agreed, they took the clay models and they scanned them, and then with that 3d scan, they’re able to cut them out of foam, life size. Then they take the foam, they fix it up a little bit, they wrap it with fiberglass, and then they hand apply this hair. So the hair comes from, like, Hollywood, if you’re going to make Chewbacca, the same kind of, like, synthetic hair, but it, of course, it doesn’t come in like a mastodon kit, right? So they get the hair, and they have to cut it and color it and place it and sculpt it and do everything. And when you go in there and you think about that, like, how they did the tail hairs are so different than, like, oh yeah, trunk. And it’s really fascinating. So just to me, the making of them is fascinating, and then when you look at them now, they are the most accurate representation of actual mastodons in North America on display, like we have them here in Dayton, Ohio, which I just absolutely think that’s fantastic. Many museums will have the hair on models of mammoths, but not mastodons. So the mammoths are bigger, so I guess they’re cooler, but we have mastodons. They were found here, and that’s what we’ll take. And we still do have the bones in the collection, so if anybody wants to see them, or take a behind the scenes tour, happy to show you they’re not even fossils. They’re 12 to 15,000 years old. They’re still actually bone. That’s incredible, right? So if you think about dinosaurs, they’re millions of years old. These are only 10s of 1000s of years old, and they roamed right here, living alongside people right here, where we live today, the clay models I wanted. So I’m like, can I please have the clay models? Because I’m kind of attached to it, the clay models, because we kept getting. Pictures and deciding, you know, no, that’s not right. And they said, no, they’re too soft. They won’t travel, but we could get bronzes made. So they did bronzes the same the clay models, and they added a human. So we have those in the lobby. So maybe you have low vision, or you just like touching things to learn you can touch them and see that they are to scale with the human and what they would look like and feel like. So it’s fascinating. I like it.
Evelyn:
One of the other newer rooms or exhibits is, I think it’s called the room of wonders. My little nephews are obsessed with that room. Can you tell us a little bit about that one, too?
Tracey:
So that’s the Beiser room of wonders. It’s named for the Beiser family, Irv Tracy and Sydney Beiser, they helped us put that together. It is a throwback to when the museum was at the library. So there are images of the Museum of the library, this Victorian Age kind of open cases and dark wood, and you could see all the different objects on display. And I wanted to bring that back, so I worked again with Jill, and we came up with a design, and we turned it into four quadrants that represent the 1.8 million objects in our collection. That room has about 500 on display, and that is anthropology, astronomy, biology and geology. So that’s our four big areas. So you can go in there, we can trade things out more frequently than we could if it was a big permanent exhibit, bigger cases with a lot of text. So this is smaller cases, not a lot of text. They have a number and a brief name, a book in that quadrant, where, if you want to know more, you can go look them up. And then if you really, really want to know more, you can ask us and dig into our past perfect software and really see what’s in the collection book. So that’s fascinating. It’s also a little quieter. It has a different feel. We made a tiny door that matches the big doors. So it says, you know, in a subtle way, like, yes, children are welcome. Please bring your child in. Because a lot of people look in that type of room and they’re like, I mean, you’re not going in there. It’s fancy, like you’re going to destroy everything, but it is made for families. So the couches are commercial grade. The benches are bolted down like everything is safe and ready. There’s a chess table that’s always being used. Someone’s always playing chess in there. And it’s, I think it turned out to be a really nice space. It’s held up really well in the floor and the floor. So the floor has this divot, this little area that goes under the floor, and that became the Ordovician sea. But what it was before we used to have, and some of you who’ve been there over the years, there was a giant snake named Rajiv, and he lived in that room. He had his big glass enclosure and a heated floor, and there was a sump pump and a pond that was his pond. So for the people who remember Rajiv even go in there, I’m like, this was his pond. And they’re like, Oh, now I know where I’m at I am because it looks so different, so different.
Evelyn:
You know, if folks are beyond visiting, which everyone should pay a visit, whether you’re an adult or child, bring them all — if you are interested in getting involved as a volunteer or supporter, what are some of the ways that they could do that?
Tracey:
Absolutely so we have teen volunteers. There’s an application on our website where you can go in and fill out an application, but we take teen volunteers. We have summer camp volunteers. We have adult volunteers who come in. There’s a one lady who’s been volunteering there for a year. She just helps process memberships and helps us do things like that. We, it depends on your skill set and what you’re looking for. If you want to volunteer, because you’re like, I just want to play with Kevin the sand cat, probably not going to happen unless you have your rabies shots and you actually had experience, you know, working in a zoo. But if you want to volunteer to help cut vegetables in the prep kitchen for animals that you could probably get trained on. And then any other type of volunteer work, everything from back office to being on the floor, engaging with our guests as they come through, or maybe telling them something about Kevin the sand cat. You know, those types of positions are very important for us as well.
Evelyn:
Yeah, lots of fun events. You know, we talked about the laser light shows in the planetarium, and there’s lots of fun, like annual fundraisers you do too. So people can support from that respect as well, right?
Tracey:
Absolutely, we need all your money, all your money. So some people come there and they think that we’re just well funded. They’re like, Oh, I mean, this is my tax dollars at work. Why are you even charging me a ticket? And the ticket? And the reality is, if we don’t have tax dollars so we’re not funded, we have a $5 million budget. We employ around 100 people more in the summer, with summer camps, 2 million of that is philanthropic donations, and that’s just for operations. When we’re doing projects like we’re doing now to change out the water table and the climb on structure and really tell the story of Dayton’s Natural History, where you can get in there and play and learn those are beyond that. So that’s a whole different campaign. If you would like to support us, you can go online, there’s a Donate button. And then also we have bash in the fall, in August every year, it’s. Super fun. It’s, it’s a nice party, but it is about raising money and awareness and getting adults into the building who might not normally be there, just get to know who we are and where we are. And then we just recently had ABC night. We tried to do that twice a year, and that’s a bourbon fundraiser by board chair is amazing, Jason Trimbach, so he donates all the bourbon and has everything. You can just have these little taste and he’ll bring, like, 100 bottles of bourbon and give out these little taste of whatever you’re interested in. And then we also have charcuterie from our chef in the cafe nails makes up of great spread. And then, of course, you know some beer and wine and soda. If you don’t want bourbon, you can still be there without being a bourbon aficionado. So we do that, and that’s you know, all of these just add up to really helping us keep going do what we do,
David:
Knowing that you’ve lived many different places throughout your career. You mentioned growing up in Texas, you mentioned Colorado Springs, and you were never going to leave but you ended up here. What stands out to you about Dayton, Ohio and the community here?
Tracey:
I love Dayton, and we have we moved 17 times while Ed was in the military, sometimes back to the same places, but we moved a lot. So I’ve seen some things I’ve never lived north of the Mason Jackson line. So this is new for me, very far north, but I love it. The people here are different. I think people here are truly obviously innovative. If you look at everything that’s everything’s made came from Dayton at some point, was created here. But very innovative, very creative thinkers, but also so helpful and supportive of everyone around them. So if anyone says, I want to learn how to throw glass, there’s someone who will teach them how to do that. If you’re like, No, I just want to, you know, write a book, and somehow, yes, they will help you. It’s just, it amazes me, you can’t even be out in your yard, like doing yard work, without someone being like, Do you need my tractor? Because I could pick that tree up for you and it I just think it’s incredible. And they mean it. So I’ve lived in places where people are surface level friendly, but then when you’re like, you said you were going to call me, and they’re like, oh, make it nice, right here, they mean it. And I just think there’s opportunity here. I think it’s a big community, community, but it’s also small enough that if you want to make a difference, you have room to make a difference. If you want to get engaged and learn something or be involved in something, you can definitely do that. It’s not closed. It’s not so super Clicky. It’s like very open, and it’s just so welcoming of anyone who’s curious and wants to do something.
Evelyn:
Yeah, one last question that we ask all of our guests is, what’s the future you want to create, Tracey?
Tracey:
I was thinking about that question because I knew you were going to ask me that one. That’s a hard one. I think the future I want to create is where organizations, because I’m super focused on what I’m doing, so it’s all about me, but organizations like the Boonshoft Museum and other arts and cultural institutions, which Dayton has many, and that’s also what makes it amazing. So we all work together and we help each other, but I would love to get a future where you could trust the management to do all the right things, which I feel like we have a good group that you can and they we could get funding, like operational funding built in, where you don’t have to have maybe as much stress as, like, just survival, and that is a real stress, especially as larger companies have moved out, philanthropy is not necessarily such a big deal for some of our generations. I won’t point anybody out specifically, because that would be wrong, but you know, it’s just not baked in as much. Nobody wants new taxes. So it’s like, okay, well then, how do we put a new roof on the Schuster Center. How do I fix my HVAC units? How do we do these things when these buildings and organizations have been around for so long, you have to be able to make repairs and do not just keep it going, but also thriving for the next generations coming. And that, to me, is a real struggle. I think we’re doing it, but I would love to leave it in a better place, where the person who replaces me doesn’t have to be as focused on just how do we get through next year’s budget?
Evelyn:
I think visiting, if you’re listening, paying a visit, and seeing all the amazing things going on at the Boonshoft, is a great place to start.
Tracey:
Absolutely yes, and I hope everybody will. We’re actually the second most visited museum in the Dayton region, behind the Air Force Museum. So a lot of people do, yes. We saw 270,000 people last year. Oh my gosh. So yeah. So bring more. Bring more. Thank you. We’ll keep doing our part well.
David:
Thank you so much for spending. Time with us today. Tracey.
Tracey:
Thanks!
