WOOSTER, OHIO — The Geology Department at Wooster has received many donations of rocks, minerals and fossils over the years. Collectors are always passionate about their specimens, so when they decide to donate their treasures they want them to go where they will be most useful. What better place than a college? We put collections to work right away in our teaching labs and display cases. Because rocks are so durable, these are gifts which serve for decades.
About a third of the rock, mineral and fossil collection recently donated to the Geology Department at Wooster. Here they are in their original home.
Today Meagen Pollock and I visited the Ohio family of a geology alumna and began the process of transferring their donated specimens to Wooster: gorgeous crystals, an amazing diversity of fossil shells, and spectacular dinosaur bones. There are so many boxes that we will have to make a second trip in a cargo van to transport the rest. It is the largest donation we have ever been given.
An exceptionally complete collection of fluorescent and phosphorescent minerals is part of the donation.
Our teaching will be improved by access to these new specimens, and they will stimulate the imaginations of generations of students. We hope to post later on how this collection is being used in our labs and hallways.
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What better place than a college indeed? These rocks are the physical manifestation of a lifetime (I’m guessing) of acquired knowledge, at least a particular niche of knowledge. When students examine them it will almost be a metaphor for learning.
On a more practical side, I’m wondering where you put them. This is more or less how we got our monkeys — a gift that has kept on giving (literally, as they reproduce) and that has had significant implications for our physical space!
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