[Rockhounds] The Vaux collection at the Academy of Science in Phily

[DonH]

Jim Daly wrote:

> There's the crux of the matter. The Academy should never have accepted a bequest with such a restrictive stipulation. 


Such things were common in older days, when museums were building their 
holdings and also when they considered themselves repositories of 
knowledge rather than centers of entertainment and make-believe Jurassic 
park dinosaurs.  The idea of something being "in perpetuity," of being 
enduring for generations, was a noble one.  In response to what Tim J. 
said as well, it is the museum's job to use their trust fund to fulfill 
their obligations.  The geology collection was a centerpiece of their 
collection, something seen by thousands of school children every year on 
class trips and by thousands of walk-in visitors.  Along the way someone 
lost sight of the purpose and value of that collection.  Yet they still 
have hall upon hall of stuffed animals in dioramas--in my view, could 
anything be more outdated and space-consuming?

As I wrote to someone off-list, minerals and geology will become very 
important in the next few decades as emerging economies compete for 
scarce resources and mining in the U.S. becomes cool again.  If Sierra 
Club members want to continue driving their SUVs and once people realize 
that producing ethanol consumes more fossil fuel than it saves, we need 
to explore for resources right here.  That goes for metals as well as 
oil.  Nowadays, most kids get their knowledge of geology from the 
Discovery Channel--we call them the "Discovery Channel generation"--and 
the bulk of them want to be seismologists or volcanologists when they 
start.  When I talk about mining and minerals, they look at me like I'm 
from another planet and wonder what that has to do with geology!  Maybe 
if they had access to a museum with well-planned displays they would 
understand.


Don