JMU Houses Mineral Collection Spanning State History

An array of color speckles the JMU Mineral Museum as you walk through the exhibit. The highlight of the tour is a collection of minerals originating from an abandoned mine in Franklin, N.J.

These rocks, while under normal flood lights appear characterless, dazzle in a spectacle of fluorescent light under high-intensity ultraviolet rays. Lighting up in a bright yellow to a neon green, the colors would give any well-highlighted textbook a run for its money.

The JMU mineral collection was scant in size when it began in 1976 compared to the collection now housed by the university. Before the opening of the new museum in Memorial Hall in 2007, mineral specimens dotted the old earth science and mineralogy department in Miller Hall.

“We have a special case there, because — a friend, Douglas Howard, a retired faculty emeritus — we made several trips down to Elmwood [Virginia] dealing with minersto surreptitiously acquire these specimens which, if the miners found salt specimens, they would be fired,” said Lance Kearns, curator of the mineral museum, JMU professor of mineralogy and Scanning Electron Microscope Regional Facility Director.

According to Kearns, the museum was originally founded through generous donations from the University of Delaware and Bryn Mawr College from the mid 1970s to the early 1980s.

Miller Hall used to be spotted with glowing minerals mounted along the wall, giving the building a quiet, museum-like feel. The collection was moved in 2007 from Miller to Memorial Hall.

The new room glows in a rare earth spectacle. Before renovation, the room where the Mineral Museum currently sits lacked heating, water and air conditioning. While the room now has all of these things, its the state-of-the-art security equipment is the most impressive addition.

Hidden inside are video surveillance and motion sensor equipment. Each case encapsules weighted pressure plates and individual security identities attached to their doors. Kearns, happy with this, said that even the sound of breaking glass will alert the police.

While not a Smithsonian collection the collection ranks in the hundreds of thousands price-wise, according to Kearns.

Kearns’ highlights of the tour are the minerals native to Virginia. The locality of these stones, and forms of such, are to be found little to nowhere else in the world. Paramount examples of these are the Apophyllite and Prehn.

These specific minerals, while useless apart from scientific curiosity, are native to Northern Virginia, and have yet to be known worldwide for their peculiarity.

The white Apophyllite from Alexandria, Va. appears green when dug up in India.

Yet Kearns’ capstone for the exhibit is his blue turquoise crystals.

“If I had to get rid of every single specimen in this collection, the last one I would get rid of would be that blue turquoise,” said Kearns explaining his fascination. “For many, many years turquoise was never found as a crystal.”

For many years, according to Kearns, there was only one place in the world where the crystal coated rocks were found: the Bishop Mine in Lynch Station, Va.

Proud to display this unique collection of minerals, the Mineral Museum allows students to visit anytime while it is open. According to Kearns, hundreds of students from elementary schools to JMU visit the museum daily. Even large mineral clubs will come through.

Around every February, Kearns puts on a free lecture for those clubs. This lecture, given at JMU, highlights the museum’s features.

Within the Department of Geology and Environmental Science, the introduction to geology class draws around 300 students a year. Part of their “getting to know geology” is going through the Mineral Museum during class.

Outside the museum, the department holds field expeditions to help students learn about mapping, structure building and finding fossils.

Every year, the department holds trips to Ireland and the Bahamas to engage students in hands-on learning.

According to senior environmental science major Katie Meierdiercks, there are many field trip opportunities, including those required for classes, as well as optional ones.

“I took an ecology and geology of the Bahamas course where, over spring break, we visited the Bahamas,” Meierdiercks said. “We spent a lot of time snorkeling to look at the reef and ecosystem; [and] a lot of the class time we talked about how the islands were formed and the ongoing processes that continue there.”

Meierdiercks’ trip was sponsored by JMU, yet there are countless other possible trips within the United States and abroad. Plenty of trips started by the Department of Geology and Environmental Science are in local Virginia spots along the Shenandoah River and Appalachian Mountains.

Senior geology major Claire Morris, preparing to apply to graduate school, was drawn to geology by its hands-on learning approach that gives students a knowledge on problem solving while also applying school lessons and coursework on the field.

“The ability to problem solve with little materials on your person because you are out there making predictions and thinking through issues without sitting at a desk with a computer,” Morris said.

She fondly remembers the positive experience similar to the one she had doing field work and a geology field trip to Ireland.

“I have never met people that were so nice before, they were so welcoming and the scenery was gorgeous,” Morris said. “And I learned how to apply what I learned in class outside. Which is what I think the purpose of why geology majors go on field trips — we have field experience to apply what we learned in the classrooms in real life.”

Contact Chris Kent at kent2cm@dukes.jmu.edu.