The 1947 fiscal year appropriation had reactivated the museum laboratory by funding exhibit preparation for four museums already built. The only new construction of museum facilities before 1950 came through a gift from Julius F. Stone, an Ohio industrialist, who offered the American Pioneer Trails Association $10,000 toward a memorial to William H. Jackson. The association proposed that the memorial take the form of an addition to the Scotts Bluff National Monument museum, which commemorated the Oregon Trail. The Park Service agreed, and the association donated its significant collection of Jackson material for the new exhibit room. Included were sketches that Jackson had made of landmarks and activities along the Oregon-California Trail embodying his recollections from personal experience as a wagon driver in the late 1860s and photographer accompanying exploring expeditions in the early 1870s. Some of the sketches he had made as a young man, others the association had commissioned more than fifty years later. The museum laboratory added explanatory maps and labels, then sent a small crew to install the memorial exhibit in August 1949.15

In the 1950 fiscal year appropriation, for the first time since World War II Congress included funds to build park museums. The appropriation provided for completion of the museum building at Ocmulgee National Monument, interrupted by the war, and enabled the Service to build a museum at Custer (now Little Bighorn) Battlefield National Monument. During the same period donated funds added two more substantial exhibit designing and building assignments to the laboratory workload, one for Hawaii National Park and the other for Federal Hall National Memorial.16 With exhibits still to build for the Chickamauga museum and several smaller jobs on hand, the Museum Branch would have to increase its rate of output.

Ned Burns responded by recruiting additional staff. Frank Urban, who had worked for him when the laboratory was in Morristown, returned as a skilled model maker and craftsman to whom he could entrust critical tasks. Carl Christiansen was hired to model diorama figures and do expert casting. Gardell Christiansen (no relation to Carl) had worked at the American Museum of Natural History and qualified as a competent diorama sculptor. David Lillis had a background in commercial art and combined manual skills with resourcefulness and an unflagging willingness to work at whatever tasks were assigned.

Expansion continued in January 1951. Willie Liggan, an ex-Marine who transferred from the Armed Forces Medical Museum, carried the civil service title of illustrator but devoted his considerable talent almost exclusively to hand-lettering exhibit labels. Two other preparators were engaged as exhibit workers to perform routine jobs that required less exacting skills. Mary Sartor contributed effectively, but Juichi Kamikawa resigned when it became evident that he could not be kept usefully busy. Curator Floyd A. LaFayette in effect filled Harold Peterson's position. Like Peterson he came from the University of Wisconsin but with training as an art teacher rather than a material culture scholar. Bringing solid museum experience gained under John W. Jenkins at the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, he devoted his exceptional abilities to the Service's museum program for the rest of his life. Another curator, John Willett, used his experience with the National Museum to give good help in gathering data and exhibit materials during this period of special need.

Because the museums initiated in 1950 would contain more dioramas than usual and include subjects demanding sculptural skills, Burns sought another good sculptor. He chose Edwin Pearson, a mature artist from Hyde Park, New York, who worked sensitively and meticulously at the miniature scale required.

Beginning in October 1950 the Museum Branch rearranged its L Street space to accommodate the growing staff. Work included enclosure of a small area for a darkroom and conversion of the largest office into a paintings conservation laboratory (the subject of further attention in a later chapter).18 Managing the laboratory became more complex as the number and variety of employees increased. The capabilities of each new preparator had to be matched with the tasks that fitted his or her skills, requiring an assessment of individual aptitudes and close supervision until performance measured up to Service standards. With several artists and craftsmen working simultaneously on the same exhibit, each had to keep on schedule to avoid costly delays. Fortunately Burns had the experience and interest to handle these challenges. He knew how far to overlook foibles and clashes of artistic temperament and when to call a halt. He could advise and criticize to good effect, for his standing as a diorama artist commanded the respect of the staff. Although he always exercised professional concern for the quality of laboratory output, the exhibits in the 1950 projects engaged his personal involvement to an unusual extent. He spent less time at his desk in the Interior Building and more with the preparators, in some instances taking part in actual production.