A lot of potential

New director, Tom Mesnik, sees potential for growth and community building at Carbon County Museum

Within the walls of the Carbon County Museum, a variety of exhibits await for visitors to offer a glimpse into the history of Rawlins and the county itself. A 55-foot long fire truck powered by a tractor motor, a sandstone bathtub and a concrete marker from the Old Lincoln Highway are just a few of the highlights.

On October 5, however, the main point-of-interest was the new director of the museum, Tom Mensik. Standing over six-and-a-half feet tall, Mensik isn't hard to spot in a room. Though his height may seem daunting, the Denver native is welcoming and easy to talk to. Something that likely comes from his extended time in the museum industry, specifically helping museum patrons.

"Been in the museum background since about 2009 in various roles," said Mensik. "I acquired my Masters Degree in Museum Studies from the University of Oklahoma in 2017."

Prior to becoming the newest director of the Carbon County Museum on September 19, Mensik most recently worked at the Wings Over the Rockies Air and Space Museum in Denver. He has also worked for the Denver Firefighters Museum, the Colorado Railroad Museum and Historic Georgetown in Georgetown, Colorado.

"I've had a long and varied career and I decided I wanted to move up in the museum field instead of just working in visitor's services," said Mensik. "I've been looking for something outside of Denver to broaden my horizons. I realized I had lived 15 minutes from the hospital where I was born for my whole life."

While Mensik said there's a similar theme to be found between Rawlins and Denver-such as outlaws and railroads-there was also a bit of culture shock. That shock mainly comes in the form of population, with Denver having grown to over 2.5 million people while Rawlins has a population of 8,200.

"Having been involved in a large museum like Wings Over the Rockies[...] I'm a fan of smaller museums. I feel like you can work together as a team and there's more to accomplish," said Mensik. "The second I walked in I saw a ton of potential."

With the winter season approaching, Mensik hopes to work on that potential during the cold months by putting a number of his ideas into place. Once the snow thaws, Mensik said, he wants to reintroduce the Carbon County Museum to the community and work on outreach. Not only does the new director want to do this through events in the spring and summer, but he wants to utilize multimedia platforms as well.

"I want to make the museum available to the outside world via YouTube and podcasting. I think that's a big push right now in the museum world and it's something that is very easily done and very inexpensive to do," said Mensik. "It's another element of outreach to anyone with an internet connection and an interest level."

With that venture into multimedia, Mensik said he hopes he could use new platforms to benefit the other museums in the county as well and go beyond the county seat. For him, this would be a way to strengthen the ties between the museums in Carbon County.

"I wouldn't just focus on Rawlins. I want to hit all the towns in Carbon County, all the different museums (and) get their stories as well and use that as a start-off making an inclusive community of museums," said Mensik. "I don't see museums as competing with one-another. We're a cultural institution and we need to work together and interpret the communities' history."

Along with all the potential Mensik sees in Carbon County Museum, there is one thing it has that no other museum has: shoes made from the skin of outlaw "Big Nose" George Parrot

"I can't even think of anything that was as macabre as that in any of the other museums for sure. I had heard about that somewhere even before I started," said Mensik. "Actually seeing it in person is kind of shocking, but interesting and cool as well."

 

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