SIGNATURE SPECIMEN
The newest kid on the block as far as columns in Rocks & Minerals are concerned is the one we’re calling Signature Specimen. It features one iconic specimen for which a museum is best known, the specimen that immediately comes to mind when that particular collection is mentioned. The column first appeared in the September/October 2023 issue (Denver Museum of Nature & Science), then in the January/February 2024 issue (Los Angeles Museum of Natural History, and most recently in the March/April 2024 issue (Mineralogical & Geological Museum, Harvard University). Carl Francis, of the Maine Mineral & Gem Museum, organizes and coauthors the column; curators wanting to participate should contact him ([email protected]).
LITHIUM DISPLAY
The Maine Mineral & Gem Museum, in Bethel, opened its new exhibit, Batteries and Beyond: Why Lithium Matters, in early November 2023 in the Discovery Gallery, where viewing is always free. The seven-panel exhibit explains what lithium is, where it is found, how it is extracted and processed into batteries, and how it can be recycled. It explores the current trajectory for a global supply chain centered around mineral resource extraction while providing an objective exploration around lithium. The exhibit continues through 2024 and is serving as a resource as public discourse increases on this important contemporary topic.
VERMONT DISPLAY COMING
Vermont Rocks!, an exhibition on view at the Bennington Museum from 20 June through 10 November, will highlight the historical and cultural significance of Vermont’s “mineral wealth.” Vermont is the only state with three official state rocks: granite, marble, and slate, all of which have been used to build monuments and buildings throughout the world. Vermont has also been a leading producer of asbestos and talc (the state mineral) and is home to world-famous grossular garnets (the state gem). The exhibition will explore these topics, and others, in-depth via historic and contemporary works of art, photographs, archival materials, and material culture. Also featured will be a selection of exceptional minerals from the state, including world-class specimens of grossular garnet from the Belvidere Mountain Quarries in Lowell and Eden. They will be on loan from private collections and major museums, including the Mineralogical & Geological Museum at Harvard University.
COLOR SPONSOR for the Museum Notes column in 2024 is Laura Delano of LLD Productions, Inc.
New lithium exhibit, taking up one entire wall at the Maine Gem & Mineral Museum.
Grossular garnet on diopside with minor calcite, 5.6 cm high, Lowell quarry, Lowell, Orleans County, Vermont. David Schorsch specimen, Fine Minerals International photo.
Quartz on matrix, 5.5 × 4.6 × 4.0 cm, collected by Richard Ransom in 2013 in Mendon, Rutland County, Vermont. Kenneth Carlsen specimen, Jeff Scovil photo.
Pyrite on chlorite schist, 5.5 × 4.0 × 5.5 cm, Carlton quarry, Chester, Windsor County, Vermont. Matthew Lambert specimen, Mark Kielbaso photo.
Caroline Im, now at the Perot Museum of Nature and Science.
AT THE PEROT
This past September Caroline Im joined the Perot Museum of Nature and Science, in Dallas, as director of gems and minerals. In her role, she oversees and manages all aspects of the museum’s gems and minerals program as well as the Lyda Hill Gems and Minerals Hall. Im’s background includes several years at the Harvard Mineralogical & Geological Museum as the collections and database manager; following that she spent eight years in the Gems and Minerals Department at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, and she also worked at the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art in California.
M.E.H.
Rocks & Minerals welcomes museum news items and photographs for this column. Correspondence should be sent to Marie Huizing, 5341 Thrasher Dr., Cincinnati, OH 45247; [email protected].
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