Peabody Museum Tour

Attendees: Groundhog Dave, Mikey and Lynn Sian Wright, Mike “Pie Man” Dunton, and Dan and Linda Sackerman. Friends of Mineralogy NJ Chapter was certainly treated to a spectacular front and backstage tour of the Peabody Museum, courtesy of Friends of Mineralogy National, Peabody Museum Board Member, Gail Spann, and Curator Stefan Nicolescu. Six of us were granted a tour of David Friend Hall and the museum galleries, backroom offices, workshops and classrooms. We saw unbelievably aesthetic mineral specimens of all forms, big and small, donated by Gail and Jim Spann, James Zigras, Mark Poposil and several others. Enormous Fluorites, mesmerizing Elbaites, beautiful Amethysts and incredibly aesthetic Beryls, Smithsonites, Stibnites, Arsenopyrites, and a host of others, rounded out the front stage tour portion. Also notable were several of Gail’s most cherished miniatures displays, honoring several individuals close to her. The backstage tour was astounding to say the least. We were shown a variety of 19th and 18th century minerals, collection catalogues, scientific literature and even field geology instruments and tools. Seeing James Dana’s original rock hammer and Goniometer was a real thrill, as well as his first writing of the Dana System of Mineral Classification. Stefan also thoroughly schooled us on several of the notable collectors of the past whose specimens were acquired by the Peabody, notably Givot d’Orsy, Benjamin Silliman, and George Gibbs. Numerous other names were mentioned in addition to the cast of collectors whose samples became the first that the Peabody ever acquired. We also were shown blueprints for the proposed 4th floor addition to the Museum, which will soon be underway. We wrapped up by briefly touring the rest of the Museum, walking through the Birds and into Dinosaurs studios, and taking group pictures.Attendees: Groundhog Dave, Mikey and Lynn Sian Wright, Mike “Pie Man” Dunton, and Dan and Linda Sackerman. Friends of Mineralogy NJ Chapter was certainly treated to a spectacular front and backstage tour of the Peabody Museum, courtesy of Friends of Mineralogy National, Peabody Museum Board Member, Gail Spann, and Curator Stefan Nicolescu. Six of us were granted a tour of David Friend Hall and the museum galleries, backroom offices, workshops and classrooms. We saw unbelievably aesthetic mineral specimens of all forms, big and small, donated by Gail and Jim Spann, James Zigras, Mark Poposil and several others. Enormous Fluorites, mesmerizing Elbaites, beautiful Amethysts and incredibly aesthetic Beryls, Smithsonites, Stibnites, Arsenopyrites, and a host of others, rounded out the front stage tour portion. Also notable were several of Gail’s most cherished miniatures displays, honoring several individuals close to her. The backstage tour was astounding to say the least. We were shown a variety of 19th and 18th century minerals, collection catalogues, scientific literature and even field geology instruments and tools. Seeing James Dana’s original rock hammer and Goniometer was a real thrill, as well as his first writing of the Dana System of Mineral Classification. Stefan also thoroughly schooled us on several of the notable collectors of the past whose specimens were acquired by the Peabody, notably Givot d’Orsy, Benjamin Silliman, and George Gibbs. Numerous other names were mentioned in addition to the cast of collectors whose samples became the first that the Peabody ever acquired. We also were shown blueprints for the proposed 4th floor addition to the Museum, which will soon be underway. We wrapped up by briefly touring the rest of the Museum, walking through the Birds and into Dinosaurs studios, and taking group pictures.

Location: Peabody Museum, Yale University, New Haven, CT, ,