About Us

Donald M. Kerr, a native of Portland, Oregon, was very aware of the preciousness of the High Desert landscape and its abundant life and fragility. He was a teacher to the core and felt strongly that if people were provided with good information, they would make wise decisions about this place he loved.

He determined that the best way to help people see what he saw and feel what he felt, to become stewards of this place and its resources, was to create the High Desert Museum. When he set his sights on something, the word “no” dropped from his vocabulary.

But it kept showing up, especially among potential donors. When Don told Robert Chandler, editor and publisher of The Bulletin, what he planned, Chandler said, “You need to get a real job. This’ll never work.” Don persisted and Bob Chandler became one of the Museum’s strongest supporters.

When the Museum opened in 1982, not even Don Kerr could he have imagined how those seeds of wonder, discovery and connection to place that he planted would blossom and grow, educate and enrich, hundreds of thousands of children and adults who come from near and far to experience what Don created.

Gail Hayes Davis

Julie Drinkward

Jim Franzen

Ryan Hagemann

Maria Hall

Peter J. Hall

Margi Heater

Andy Jordan

Connie Kearney

Albert Kennedy

Shana Laursen

Randy Miller

Romy Mortensen