Who Does That?

Walking into the Museum of Natural and Cultural History lobby, the first display case on the right contains a newly discovered fossil of Desmostylian teeth complete with map, illustration and beach rocks. Liz White created that.

She is also responsible for the “Roots and Resilience — Chinese American Heritage in Oregon” exhibit, which contains stories, photos and historic artifacts direct from shop owners in Portland.

White is the exhibitions designer for the museum. That job encompasses everything from the graphic design of exhibit signs, adjusting lighting, creating original maps and illustrations, researching and sourcing photographs, down to the mundane but important task of writing loan contracts. She estimates she’s painted the exhibit hall walls over a dozen times, sometimes working odd hours to get a display finished before opening night.

The display cases and mounted interpretive panels are the most prominent fixtures in the room. White has learned many tricks of the trade to get items to show correctly from heating up Plexiglass rods to creating mounts for objects and hanging art with something everyone has in their junk drawer — Command strips. She also relies on the UO carpentry shop and talented museum volunteers to build items such as puppet theaters.

Ideas for what to put on exhibit next come from all over. Some exhibits are inspired by the collections housed at the museum, but White has also recently worked on several projects highlighting community histories that are collaborations with other educational organizations such as the Oregon Black Pioneers or UO staff and faculty. White does some background research and works with curators, researchers, artists and translators.

White is a double Duck who started out at the University of Oregon in art history and ended with an arts and administration master’s degree. She gathered knowledge with volunteer gigs and internships at various museums and art galleries. At MNCH she discovered she liked the subject matter and the people and when her boss retired, she jumped at the chance to be the full-time exhibitions designer.

Her favorite part of the job is the exhibit opening celebration, where she gets to see everyone enjoy her hard work.

Roots and Resilience is on display through February 2026.

—Jennifer Archer, University Communications