History fan retires from perfect career at museum

In her 38 years working in a museum, Dawna Jolliff was a maintenance worker, a thrift store shopper, an interior decorator and a historian.

It was all part of her job as a curator.

“I’ve spent all my time working behind the scenes where the magic really happens,” Jolliff said.

She recently retired from her position as exhibits curator with the Clark County Museum. Her first day of retirement was Oct. 31, which coincided with the 150th anniversary of Nevada becoming a state.

“I did it on purpose,” she said.

Jolliff was born and raised in Las Vegas. Growing up in the historical Huntridge neighborhood, she took a liking to history.

“I find the whole idea of watching an area transform over time fascinating,” she explained.

Jolliff went to UNLV for a few semesters, but she never finished.

Looking for something to do, she found employment in 1976 at the Southern Nevada Museum, which housed a small exhibit on Water Street in Henderson.

“My mom and I would always go out to the museum,” she said. “I began to notice things were dirty and needed to be spiffed up.”

She asked the curator if she could volunteer to help clean up.

Jolliff would make her way inside the display cases scrubbing the glass and dusting off the artifacts, then gently placing them back where they belonged.

“What a difference it made,” she said.

It wasn’t long before the director of the museum asked her to help change up the exhibit.

“He told me I could do what I want,” she recalled.

During that time, the museum was in the process of being acquired by Clark County.

When the transition happened, Jolliff remained as the curator of the newly functioning Clark County Museum, which started in 1979 and is now known as the Clark County Heritage Museum.

The museum moved out of its old building into a new plot of land off Boulder Highway.

“It was in the middle of nowhere,” she said. “I think the closest thing to it in town was Palm Mortuary.”

With little money, Jolliff and the director used whatever materials they could find to construct cases and get the museum up and running.

The museum also received donations of miscellaneous items such as a caboose and boxcar from the Union Pacific railroad.

Jolliff learned they also were getting a historic home known as the Beckley house, which was built in 1912 and was the home of Will Beckley.

In a brainstorming session talking about how to use those pieces, Jolliff discussed starting a street that featured historic buildings.

From there the street grew to include several houses. Jolliff decorated them accordingly to match each set time period.

She combed through materials from old Sears catalogs to history books to find exact paint colors or designs to make each place as accurate as possible.

Jolliff became a frequent visitor at yard sales, swap meets and thrift stores, searching for vintage objects that might work in the houses.

“It’s great to have people walking into the different houses and recall some of the objects they see,” she said.

She didn’t just decorate them; she also had to deal with weekly upkeep of window washing, cobweb clearing, furniture oiling and floor sweeping.

“I’ve had some volunteers come and try to help,” she said. “After they see what I do, they usually don’t come back.”

Because the houses are made of older materials, it takes time and care to clean them.

While creating exhibits inside and working on the outline for Heritage Street, Jolliff and her husband — always a gracious museum volunteer — also helped set up paths around the area.

“My poor husband has been a volunteer as long as I’ve worked here,” she said. “He is even out here today pulling weeds.”

Jolliff also helped set up two accompanying museums: the Searchlight Historic Museum and the Aviation Museum.

At the Clark County Heritage Museum, 1830 S. Boulder Highway in Henderson, she continued to set up rotating exhibits that talked about a variety of subjects such as the history of household appliances or the chronology of Las Vegas hotels that have been imploded.

“It has been fun getting to dive into the history,” she said. “If I can’t find the information in at least six credible places, I don’t add the information in.”

As soon as an exhibit lived its six-month to yearlong run, it was time for Jolliff to design another one.

“And then all the information I learned about it leaves my brain,” she said. “I wish I could retain it all.”

While Jolliff’s favorite part of the museum has always been Heritage Street, she also enjoyed being able to decorate the different houses for the holiday season.

Though she has her hand in just about every project, Jolliff remained behind the scenes.

In 2008, when the museum started going through difficult times because of the economy, the staff looked for new ways to spread the word about the museum.

Her colleague, Mark Hall-Patton, the administrator for the Clark County Museum systems, began being featured on the reality television show “Pawn Stars.”

“He tried to get me to go on there to be a guest expert several times,” she said. “I told him I like what I’m doing behind the scenes.”

About two or three years ago, Jolliff began to toy with the idea of retirement.

But the idea faded.

“Then six months ago there was a voice in my head that said, ‘It’s time,’ ” she said.

When things settle down after the next exhibit is set up, Jolliff plans to come back and be a greeter on Heritage Street.

In her spare time, she has been making costumes that reflect certain time periods.

“So, I will come and sit outside the different houses dressed as the time period that’s presented inside,” Jolliff said. “That way, if people have questions I can answer it for them.”

Jolliff added that oftentimes, people wanted to get more information about the various houses.

“I think it really could use a greeter,” she said. “I wouldn’t do it every day.”

Jolliff will be missed at the museum.

“We had time to prepare for this; it still seems like we weren’t prepared for her to go,” said Malcolm Vuksich. “I think we were all still shocked. She really was the unifying vision of Clark County Museums.”

Vuksich has worked with Jolliff 13 years, seven of which have been at the Clark County Museum.

He has watched her come up with exhibit after exhibit.

“It would be April, but she was already thinking about the next exhibit months down the road,” he said. “She always met her deadlines.”

After 38 years, the museum wasn’t going to offer a typical sendoff.

“I just wanted cake and ice cream,” she said.

But the museum invited longtime friends of Jolliff for the occasion, and Clark County officials even issued a proclamation.

“So Oct. 24 was Dawna Jolliff Day,” she said. “It really touched me.”

Not even a week after her retirement, she and her husband are volunteering at the museum. She is setting up for the upcoming holiday exhibits on Heritage Street.

“I’m still here. I just don’t have to clock into that dreadful machine at 8 a.m.,” she said, looking at her watch, which reads 11:20 a.m.

“I can go to lunch when I’m finished, and I don’t have to come back after.”

Contact reporter Michael Lyle at mlyle@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5201. Follow @mjlyle on Twitter.