New museum executive director selected

Michael D. Hall, a veteran of the museum profession, has been selected as the new executive director of the National Atomic Testing Museum, according to an announcement Monday by Nelson Cochrane, president of the Nevada Test Site Historical Foundation.

Hall replaces Jim Braun, who served as director for six months after former Executive Director Allan Palmer retired last year.

In his last position as the head of a museum, Hall was executive director of the Roswell Museum and Art Center in New Mexico.

"While there, he led efforts to successfully create a wide range of educational art, history, science and space science programming with a focus on improving services to families from diverse economic and social backgrounds," the foundation's announcement says.

Hall's career includes 15 years with the Montgomery County Historical Society in Indiana. He managed five National Register historic sites in the Indiana State Museum System.

The Nevada Test Site Historical Foundation oversees the National Atomic Testing Museum, which opened in 2005 at 755 E. Flamingo Road. The museum is one of 36 in the United States designated by Congress as a national museum.

Displays, artifacts and exhibits at the museum affiliated with the Smithsonian Institution document the nation's effort to develop a nuclear deterrent during the Cold War with an emphasis on the former Nevada Test Site, now called the Nevada National Security Site, 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

Contact Keith Rogers at krogers@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0308. Find him on Twitter: @KeithRogers2