Few people at the Florida Museum of Natural History have had a longer tenure than Elise LeCompte, who retired earlier this spring after 40 years on the job. Yesterday, LeCompte was recognized for her many years of dedicated work during the 2025 Southeastern Museums Conference held in Montgomery, AL, where she received the James R. Short award, given in honor of lifetime (20+ years) service in the field.
LeCompte initially joined the museum when she was a master’s student in 1984 while working with Kathleen Deagan, now curator emeritus of Historical Archaeology. She proceeded to wear — often simultaneously — a variety of research, administrative, outreach and teaching hats over the next several years, contributing her talents and efforts to the museum in countless ways.
Photo courtesy of Elise LeCompte
“Of all her accomplishments, what makes Elise most deserving of the James Short Award is that she is a friend. A friend to museums, a friend to museum collections and a friend to colleagues and fellow museum professionals. Simply put, the museum field has become a better place because of Elise,” wrote an anonymous colleague in a letter nominating LeCompte for the award.
LeCompte started a conservation lab at the museum at the request of Deagan and then went on to split her time between working as the museum’s registrar and managing the General Ethnography collection. She switched to being the museum’s full-time registrar in 1992. Then, in 2007, she took on the additional role of coordinator for museum health and safety. She has additionally worked as an assistant to the chair of the museum’s Department of Natural History, and she’s made significant contributions to the Exhibits and Public Programs department. She took up teaching at the University of Florida in 2008 and for several years led courses on collection management and museum ethics.
Though now retired, LeCompte still works as an independent consultant and plans to volunteer at the museum in the future. When asked about the most rewarding aspect of her long career, LeCompte said it was the people she worked with and the opportunities she’d been given. Those who’ve worked with LeCompte feel similarly.
“Elise has been a mentor for many registrars in the region and has encouraged many people to become involved with volunteering at conferences,” wrote another colleague in their nomination letter. “At heart, Elise is a teacher. She devoted much of her career not only to collections management, but also to sharing her knowledge about it.”
Source: Elise LeCompte, evlecompte2@gmail.com
Media contact: Jerald Pinson, jpinson@flmnh.ufl.edu, 352-294-0452