Aces of Trades: Jack Burriss loves the many hats of directing Newark's Heisey Glass Museum

NEWARK – Like so many, he grew up dreaming of going one direction. Then life took a turn, and he went another.

“As a child,” recalled Jack Burriss, “I dreamed of being an architect who designed houses with period details set in wonderful gardens. I enjoyed museums as a child, and indeed all my life, but I never pictured myself working in one.”

Today, Burriss is the managing director and curator at the National Heisey Glass Museum.

“I had visited the museum over the years,” he said. “And my family had always used Heisey so there was an interest in the glass and local history. Good friends encouraged me to apply for what at the time was a part-time curator’s job here, but I keep putting them off saying I didn’t know about being a curator.”

Now 64, Burriss grew up in Delmar, a town in upstate New York near Albany.

“Both of my parents grew up in Granville,” he noted, “so I spent a few weeks each summer on a farm outside of the village.”

He graduated from high school in Delmar in 1977 and went on to earn a degree in architecture from Miami University of Ohio. He then had “a number of career paths” prior to starting at Heisey in 2013.

“In my position I wear many hats,” he said. “And love the fact that each day is different. I oversee a collection of some 8,000 pieces of Heisey and other artifacts related to not only Heisey, but the overall glass industry as well. Plus, I coordinate an excellent staff and a very dedicated group of volunteers to celebrate and share all things Heisey.”

“Jack balances the roles of director and curator with professionalism,” assessed Suzanne Parker, president of the board of directors of the National Heisey Glass Museum. “During his years in museum leadership, Jack continues to exhibit a passion for the purpose of and the content in the National Heisey Glass Museum.”

“We have a nationally known museum here that many locals have yet to discover,” Burriss responded. “So that’s a continuing challenge.”

“I love the people, the history and the Heisey, not necessarily in that order,” he concluded. “And I love being part of the greater community. I feel very blessed to be where I am.”

For more

National Heisey Glass Museum is located at 169 W. Church St. in Newark. For more information, call 740-345-2932, email curator@heiseymuseum.org or log on www.heiseymuseum.org.

Aces of Trades is a weekly series focusing on people and their jobs – whether they're unusual jobs, fun jobs or people who take ordinary jobs and make them extraordinary. If you have a suggestion for a future profile, let us know at advocate@newarkadvocate.com or 740-328-8821.

This article originally appeared on Newark Advocate: Newark's National Heisey Glass Museum director Jack Burris