Angelica Docog
What does 7-year-old Aaron like best about the State Museum of Pennsylvania? He leaves no doubt.
“The dinosaurs!” he shouts.
That is music to the ears of Angelica Docog, the museum’s new executive director.
“You can see the same thing on your phone or your computer, but when you actually see it in person, it makes a difference,” she said. “Museums are in competition with the internet, but I’m a firm believer that nothing can replace the real thing.”
Meet Docog, appointed in March. Her lifelong association with museums has taken her across the country and around the world. Now, the State Museum is planning major upgrades, and her job is shepherding a Midcentury Modern museum’s transformation into a more inclusive and engaging institution for the 21st century.
Exhibits at the State Museum
Authentic Way
Good history museums do many things well, but first, they deliver value and validation, said Docog. Value, as in presenting authentic and trusted information. Validation, as in telling community stories in conjunction with the communities that actually lived them.
“Museums can help equalize communities—not only people, but also the stories that are told,” she said. “Some of them are, as we know, not all positive stories, and so, we’re able to present it in the most authentic way.”
Docog is the daughter of a Filipino father and Mexican mother. The family moved around during her father’s 35-year career as a U.S. Navy dentist. The household spoke three languages, never drawing distinctions among cultures.
“We thought everybody was everything,” she said.
As the family moved, it also seemed normal to immerse in local culture through visits to museums, archeological sites and historic places.
But it took a nun at Seton Hill College (now University) to open Docog’s eyes to a career in history.
“You love museums so much,” the nun said. “Why don’t you work in one?”
“And I’m like, ‘You can work in one?’” Docog recalled. “We always saw people there, but I didn’t realize they got paid.”
With a bachelor’s degree in early American history and a master’s in museum studies, she pursued a career path through curating, community outreach, strategic planning, education and leadership. She has worked at the Polish Heritage Center in Panna Maria, Texas, the University of Texas at San Antonio’s Institute of Texan Cultures, Charlotte (N.C.) Museum of History and Hezekiah Alexander House, History Colorado and the Arizona Museum of Natural History.
The State Museum of Pennsylvania draws Docog back to her roots in the mid-Atlantic, where she spent youthful years living in Norfolk, Va., and visiting family on the East Coast. With the museum’s galleries devoted to Pennsylvania’s places, people and natural history, Docog now revels in telling the “wonderful cross-section” of Pennsylvania history.
“We’re able to tell the whole story, from the environment to the climatic changes to the people to the industry and transportation,” Docog said. “What we are telling is the American story here, and for me, that’s exciting. Very, very exciting.”
The State Museum is “tasked with telling the rich, complex history of the commonwealth from its very beginning to the present,” said Andrea Bakewell Lowery, executive director of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission.
PHMC’s current strategic plan includes revitalizing connections to once-overlooked communities. At the museum, it’s there in the “Place for All” permanent exhibit on racial integration and in dialogue infusing the perspectives of Native American nations into a revamped Anthropology and Archaeology Gallery.
Docog’s range of experience, Lowery said, “really ties into what we’re doing here.”
Learning Experience
The State Museum’s popular Mammal Hall presents stunningly detailed dioramas of Pennsylvania’s native creatures in their natural habitats, but on TheBurg’s visit, Docog was eager to show off an adjoining, and equally intriguing, exhibit on the hall’s 2018 restoration.
She marveled at the talents involved—taxidermist, diorama stager, muralist—in accurately posing the long-dead creatures, molding leaves, and creating snow that looks like actual snow. Her job is providing the resources that help staff “make the exhibits come alive.”
“It’s like making a movie, because you’ve got so many people behind the scenes creating this story for you,” she said.
The museum’s educational mission was the attraction for young Aaron and his family, visiting the museum on that summer Friday. Aaron’s grandmother, Lisa McManuels, of Swatara Township, paused in awe by a majestic mountain lion under plexiglass, poised to pounce on its dinner.
“He’s beautiful, but he’s dangerous,” McManuels said.
“You don’t realize how long they are,” Docog agreed. “And look at the paws!”
McManuels brought Aaron and her granddaughter, 14-year-old Aaliyh, to the museum for “a good learning experience, since school is out and they could get out and see some of the things that the museum has.”
“I just thought it was a good experience for them, especially since Aaron is into a lot of science,” said McManuels. “I thought that would be right up his alley.”
Besides, Aaron “had 50 million questions” at the planetarium, McManuels added with a laugh, and “I can only answer but so much.”
Where to find those 50 million answers? At the museum, said Docog. The multidisciplinary and multisensory aspects of natural history museums accommodate all learning styles, whether visual, auditory or tactile.
“For me, that is the ultimate good,” she said. “I see myself as an educator but in a non-traditional classroom.”
In the age of misinformation, disinformation and AI, Docog stakes her work on authenticity. Movies and series with a historical twist are in vogue, putting museums in competition with the networks and streaming services keeping us glued to “Bridgerton” and “Outlander.”
“They do history in a much more elaborate way but not always authentic,” said Docog. “That increases our responsibility to make sure that the information we deliver is authentic, is correct.”
A Lead Role
Big changes are coming this decade. Under the museum’s sweeping master plan, a free ground-floor exhibit will engage visitors in history without the barrier of admission fees. Exhibit renovations will incorporate more technology, with film, sound and immersive environments. An observation level in the now-vacant archives tower will provide a sweeping vista for exploring the history of urban planning.
“Having Angelica step in right now as we’re poised to launch that really big initiative, it’s great to have fresh eyes and her depth of experience to help us shape that project,” said Lowery.
Museum galleries will be redeveloped “to push into new technologies and different ways of approaching material that visitors will find 21st century in their delivery,” she said.
Docog said that she will “continue to tell the stories” in an interactive, truthful fashion. Master taxidermist George Dante, animal restoration artist of the 2018 Mammal Hall rejuvenation, is expected to return for livestreamed touchups. Visitors to the annual “Art of the State” exhibit will be invited to contribute their stories. Planning has begun for collaborations celebrating—brace yourself—the nation’s 250th birthday in 2026.
For now, Docog is pursuing her Ph.D. and familiarizing herself with the Harrisburg area—riding the Pride of the Susquehanna riverboat, visiting Armstrong Valley Winery, exploring the culinary diversity and agricultural history of the Broad Street Market (pre-fire) with her visiting mother and niece.
In the 1950s and ‘60s, museums felt compelled “to play a lead role in sharing history,” said Lowery. Today, they are supporting players, offering assistance and guidance to communities and people seeking links to their pasts.
Docog once shook things up at the Institute of Texan Cultures, one of those “lead role,” circa-1960s museums. When she joined its staff, the institute paid tribute to the first 25 ethnic groups of Texas’ origin stories.
But where, Docog asked, were the people instrumental to Texas’ growth and culture in the 50 years since? There was pushback, she said, but engaging communities and people in telling fully integrated stories is what she does.
The State Museum gives Docog five stories of space to do the same for Pennsylvania.
“We’re helping to preserve stories and preserve the history of the state and really making people aware that it’s just not our responsibility,” she said. “It’s their responsibility, too.”
The State Museum of Pennsylvania is located at 300 North St., Harrisburg. For more information, visit www.statemuseumpa.org.
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