Larry Hutchings completed his first history project while in grade school. He reconstructed the skeleton of a dried-up mouse.
"I found it and cleaned it up, and then I put it together with Elmer's Glue," Hutchings recalled. "At the time, I planned to be a paleontogist. I was really proud of it, but my mom took it away from me. She was afraid I'd crush it so she put it on top of the TV. But I got hold of it, and she was right. I did break it."
Thankfully, Hutchings, 52, learned how to take better care of his things since then. In fact, he's an expert in the field. For the past 10 years, he's been curating, and exhibiting the vast collections at the Carver County Historical Society and Museum in Waconia. Before that he spent 14 years at the Stevens County Historical Society and Museum in Morris, Minn.
Friday, Dec. 2, is his last day at the Carver County Historical Society. After 10 years as curator of collections and exhibits, he will head his own company - Museology - where he'll consult with museums on their collections and exhibits.
"I've been making exhibits and things since I was a kid," Hutchings said. "Table top exhibits, dinosaurs. I was always off on my own tangent."
He was always interested in the aforementioned paleontology as well as archeology, anthropology and Native American studies, as well as the more arcane pursuits such as medieval music theory. He received a bachelor of arts degree in music performance at the University of Minnesota, Morris.
"I played the euphonium [a tenor tuba]," Hutchings said, "but not well."
Hutchings thought he'd be a high school band director, but changed his mind in mid-major.
"But I didn't change my major for anything employable," he said.
About the time he graduated, he learned that the Stevens County Historical Society in Morris was looking for a staff person.
"How difficult could that be?" Hutchings thought. "At the time I didn't think it would be."
He got the job, and learned first-hand how challenging it can be. He was there for 14 years, learning all about curating a mu-seum's collections, and creating displays and exhibits.
He freelanced for three years as an exhibit consultant and made furniture. He learned about a job opening at the Carver County Historical Society through a friend.
"Fred Livesay was the curator here," Hutchings said. "I knew him because we had taught some workshops together and we e-mailed back and forth occasionally. When he was ready to leave, he told me about the opening, and I thought I'd rather be working for an institution than be on my own. Leanne Brown hired me in June 2001. It's gone by fast."
RARE SKILL SET
Brown, the former executive director of the Carver County Historical Society and Museum, now is executive director at the Li-brary Foundation of Carver County.
"Larry's the type of person who has a vision and can make it into a reality," Brown said. "He can actually make it happen. That's what qualifies him as unique. There aren't a lot of people with his particular skill set. And to think we were able to have him for more than 10 years."
Brown said the state's legacy grant money has created opportunities for people like Larry.
"Museums are in a better position now to hire someone like Larry to create exhibits," she said.
Current executive director Wendy Petersen-Biorn described his exceptional attention to detail and eye for color.
"He'll bring in a color which I wouldn't have thought of at all," Petersen-Biorn said, "but then I'll see it in the exhibit and think 'Ooh. I trust him 100 percent."
Petersen-Biorn sees the Veterans Gallery as the feather in his cap.
"I don't think we thought it would ever happen," Petersen-Biorn said. "The collection is immense, and it was costly. One of our discussions was, 'What do you want to get done?'
"We talked about the Veterans Gallery, to show respect to and highlight our Carver County veterans and those who fought in the wars. The concept was his," she said.
She's sorry to see Hutchings leave.
"We're very happy for Larry and for the other historical societies who will be utilizing his skills," Petersen-Biorn said. "And we wish him well."
Mike Fahey, of Carver, has served three terms on the Carver County Historical Society's board of directors. Fahey, the former Carver County attorney, is now a judge in the First District, which includes Carver County.
"Larry's ability as curator has been outstanding," Fahey said. "The Veterans Gallery, the look of the overall museum. It's been great to have someone who knows how to preserve, catalog and access our collections better and professionally.
"In addition to his own work, he's always been receptive to having other exhibits come in, like the Smithsonian's traveling show last year. It encourages an appreciation of history."
Fahey pointed out that the communities of Chanhassen, Chaska, Norwood Young America and Watertown have affiliated with the Carver County Historical Society," Fahey said, "helping to further enhance the museum's reputation. It's been a real honor to see the changes he's helped make during my nine years as a member of the Carver County Historical Society."
EXHIBIT ONE
When Hutchings began in June 2001, he felt the museum had a good start on its exhibits. His job would be to further the profes-sionalism.
"My first exhibit was "Carver County 2000 - The Year in Pictures," Hutchings said. The photo show reflected the turn of the cen-tury and new millennium. "The photos had been taken," Hutching said, "but I got to select the photos and had them framed and exhibited."
"Akta Dakota, our Native American exhibit [part of the museum's permanent exhibits] is one of my favorites," Hutchings said. "But don't ever build a curved display case," he added wryly.
"I used Plexiglas so I could bend the display. For some reason, I thought the exhibit had to have circles. But I think it worked. The native people who've seen the display have liked it. It's always challenging to work on something that is not about not your own culture. We had an advisory team that worked with me and it was thoroughly vetted."
In addition to bending Plexiglas, Hutchings sculpted a bison out of polymer clay.
"When I originally baked it, it was almost too large to fit into our stove here in the museum," Hutchings said. "So sometime be-fore I leave, I've got to refire it."
His sculpting skills are also on display in the Veterans Gallery, where he created heads for the display mannequins.
Over the years, his skills have come to be admired by other museum professionals, and he's been consulting on his own time. The good thing is that he's been kept busy. The bad thing is he couldn't keep up a full-time position, and do his other exhibit work.
"You have to be a generalist to work a small museum," Hutchings said. "That's what led me to be on my own, to be a specialist again."
FUTURE IS BRIGHT
Although he won't miss the commute from Minneapolis, he will miss Carver County.
"After 10 years I finally feel I'm getting a handle on Carver County," Hutchings said. "To get at the real story takes time. The nice thing is, I think I'll have an opportunity to come back to do contract work [with the museum]."
"It was fun to take on an institution with a good collection and a good foundation and take it to a new level," Hutchings said. He ranks Carver County's museum as part of the upper end of the spectrum.
"And in general, the level of professionalism everywhere is increasing by leaps and bounds. It seems more young people are get-ting into the field, getting their master's degree and going to county museums. We need to be relevant. County museums no longer are the community attic. We have to be more than that.
"The best museums have both young professionals, and are intergenerational," Hutchings said. "We need the wisdom and background and knowledge and historical knowledge. That's why a volunteer base is important.
"The volunteer base in Carver County is tremendous," he said. "We have a half dozen that come in once a week or more. And right now we have volunteers who range from being skilled craftspersons to those with master's degrees and Ph.D.s."
Title: Carver County Historical Society curator of collections and exhibitions
Background: Bachelor of Arts, music, University of Minnesota, Morris; Curator at Stevens County Historical Society and Museum, Morris, Minn., and curator at Carver County Historical Society and Museum, Waconia, since 2001.
Hidden talent: Plays the euphonium - it's a tenor tuba.
What's next: Owner, Museology, a firm that does museum consulting and exhibit work. His staff includes former Carver County Historical Society education coordinator Erin Andersen, currently finishing a master's program at George Washington University, and Brett Pearson, a volunteer who donated hundreds of hours to building the Veterans Gallery.
Walk down memory lane
Just a few of the projects Curator Larry Hutchings has worked on at the Carver County Historical Society:
* "The Veterans Gallery" telling the story of local soldiers
* Carver County Government Center probate judge exhibit
* Historic log granary installed at Carver County Fairgrounds
Eve Weipert has accepted the position of curator. Weipert has 20 years of experience and comes to us from Lansing, Mich. She was last employed as the state Curator of Collections and Exhibits at the Michigan Historical Museum. She is tentatively scheduled to start Dec. 12.