A bit about Don
Don Hall may be the only person to take a speech class at his high school in Columbus, Ohio who has actually made a living giving speeches. Even before this class he was speaking in public, first operating his own puppet theatre, then performing as a magician.
While studying to be a teacher (elementary school and junior high school science) he discovered a small planetarium at Stetson University in DeLand, Florida where he earned his bachelor’s degree. He spent the next 34 years giving speeches under an electric sky, first as assistant director of the Morehead Planetarium at the University of North Carolina--Chapel Hill, where he obtained his master’s degree, then as director of the Strasenburgh Planetarium in Rochester, New York.
In addition to his "stellar" career, Don assembled talks on subjects of interest to him centered on the decorative arts including Depression glass, American art pottery, domestic architecture and strangely, zinc grave markers. In addition to presenting these talks from coast to coast at such places as the Smithsonian Institution and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Don has also written extensively for publications such as the Maine Antique Digest, Art & Antiques, Style 1900, Antique Review, and the Journal of the American Art Pottery Association.
From May through October he is a weekend tour guide at Rochester’s historic Mt. Hope Cemetery where a recent visitor told him that she had no idea that a cemetery tour could be both fun and funny. In fact, all of Don’s presentations show his sense of humor and include lots of light moments.
While studying to be a teacher (elementary school and junior high school science) he discovered a small planetarium at Stetson University in DeLand, Florida where he earned his bachelor’s degree. He spent the next 34 years giving speeches under an electric sky, first as assistant director of the Morehead Planetarium at the University of North Carolina--Chapel Hill, where he obtained his master’s degree, then as director of the Strasenburgh Planetarium in Rochester, New York.
In addition to his "stellar" career, Don assembled talks on subjects of interest to him centered on the decorative arts including Depression glass, American art pottery, domestic architecture and strangely, zinc grave markers. In addition to presenting these talks from coast to coast at such places as the Smithsonian Institution and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Don has also written extensively for publications such as the Maine Antique Digest, Art & Antiques, Style 1900, Antique Review, and the Journal of the American Art Pottery Association.
From May through October he is a weekend tour guide at Rochester’s historic Mt. Hope Cemetery where a recent visitor told him that she had no idea that a cemetery tour could be both fun and funny. In fact, all of Don’s presentations show his sense of humor and include lots of light moments.
