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THIS UPDATE: MAY 2004

Note: Posting of this update was considerably delayed by a problem involving, shall we say, malfunctioning components of aging computer wetware. Apologies to all: although we like to keep you in the dark, this is not quite what we had intended. But please read on to see what we’ve been up to . . .

Hesselbacher Room

The Hesselbacher Room of the Warren Museum is finally open to the public! The new room features 16 new exhibits, 10 of them in small “shadow box” cases along the south wall. These cases contain the finest specimens from the collection of George E. Hesselbacher, Jr., a good friend, and the man who financed the creation of this newest addition to the Warren Museum. George passed on in late 2001, but his minerals serve as a (literally) glowing tribute to his integrity and generosity. Other display cases nearby are devoted to (a) the multicolored fluorescent sphalerite specimens from the Horn Silver mine in Utah, (b) unusual to rare fluorescent species, and (c) the fluorescent minerals from the Ilimaussaq complex in Greenland. In preparation are two more exhibits, one showing that a substance that is utterly transparent to visible light may be opaque to ultraviolet light, and the other demonstrating that the fluorescent light given off by some minerals is strongly polarized.

The Other Rooms

The other two exhibit rooms in the Warren Museum were completely revamped over the winter to give the museum a fresh look. The museum was originally designed for visitors to enter from the east, but later it was decided to bring in our tour groups directly from the mine, on the west. This meant that the exhibits, as originally placed, were not in the order in which we had intended them to be viewed. That problem has now been corrected.

As visitors enter the Warren Museum from the mine, the first showcase on their right contains various nonmineral items that fluoresce—items such as drinking glasses, golf balls, marbles, plastic toothpicks, lengths of climbing rope, etc. We wanted this case to be viewed first, to remind visitors that fluorescence is not confined to minerals but is a property of many other materials as well. Along the opposing wall, the three cases devoted to activators of fluorescence are now together. In the next room all of our single-species displays are in a row, starting with calcite and progressing through scheelite, willemite, fluorite, and sphalerite. The sphalerite case is new to the museum and has received very positive reviews from those who have seen it.

For the moment, at least, we have retired the large fossil display and the northeastern U.S. display. The fossil case lives on in another permutation, in the form of a smaller but more diverse display in the new Hesselbacher Room. Some of the specimens from the old northeastern U.S. display are now in a case devoted to the Balmat-Edwards district of New York. For fans of lapidary materials, those items once more occupy a full-size case in the main room.

One of our most popular exhibits has been the Greenland case, which contained some outrageously fluorescent minerals from the Ilimaussaq Complex. These specimens were loaned to us by Bill McMullen, who generously allowed us to exhibit them for two years, up to the end of the last museum season. In the meantime, thanks to the continued generosity of Mark Cole (MinerShop, Miami, Florida), the museum acquired enough fine Greenland material to make a permanent Greenland display a reality. This new display is one of the highlights of the Hesselbacher Room. Incidentally, for those intrepid souls who wish to collect their own fluorescent minerals in one of the world’s finest “playgrounds” for such things, Mark offers trips to Greenland through his web site at www.minershop.com.

Children’s Exhibit

A fluorescent exhibit especially for children has just been completed by Lea Anderson, one of our tour guides. This exhibit is housed in a small, enclosed room adjacent to the Hesselbacher Room and includes an erupting volcano, spinning pinwheels, planetary mobiles, a ghostly pirate ship, and much, much more. Lea used to be an art teacher, and it shows—the new display is colorful, kinetic, enchanting, and just plain fun. This is the first of what we hope will be an ambitious series of displays designed to broaden the appeal of the Warren Museum to the public. Read on for another . . .

Fluorescent Art

An alcove adjacent to a short passage connecting the Hesselbacher Room to one of the older rooms of the museum is now devoted to a display of fluorescent art. This is an exhibit in progress, one that will expand considerably in the future. For now it contains two fluorescent throw-rugs on the side walls, and two of the fantastically fluorescent “expansion” paintings by Nick Padalino (Electric Ladyland, Amsterdam) directly ahead. Other art works will follow, but some have to be cleaned, framed, stabilized, and/or slightly restored before hanging. In years past we were hesitant to include artwork in the Warren Museum because the environmental conditions had not yet been stabilized, but those problems have been put to rest.

Roof Extension

Although the old mill complex that houses the Warren Museum was covered with a corrugated steel roof two years ago, some pesky leaks still occurred along the south wall of the Hesselbacher Room during periods of heavy rain. Yards of concrete and bucketloads of tar later, the leaks still persisted. However, that problem ended—we think—on Wednesday, February 11, when a roof extension was installed by R.S. Phillips Steel. Twelve linear feet of new showcases have now been placed against the south wall and fitted with new ultraviolet lamps.

Fluorescent Mineral Society Meeting

About 30 members of the Fluorescent Mineral Society gathered at the Warren Museum on December 6, 2003, to sell and trade specimens, compare notes, and listen to several fine talks on fluorescent mineral localities. The weather, a shortage of personnel, and a conflict with another evening event conspired to prevent night collecting on the Mine Run dump, but few seemed to mind being denied an opportunity to freeze in the dark. Last year’s event was held at the Franklin Mineral Museum, and we expect to alternate between these two venues from time to time.

Those Belgians, Again

In early March, Earl and Maureen Verbeek made another pilgrimage to Antwerp to meet with Axel Emmermann and Paul Van Hee, both of the MKA (Mineralogical Club of Antwerp). Axel had previously mailed to us a nice selection of fluorescent fossils for the museum, and on this trip he presented us with half a dozen fine photographs of fluorescent minerals that will be framed and hung near the museum entrance. An active trading program is underway between the Warren Museum and the MKA to enhance the mineral collections of both institutions. Incidentally, the MKA web site at www.minerant.org is a treasure-trove of information on minerals and includes, among other things, some fine stereo photographs of fluorescent minerals.

The Texas Connection

The Warren Museum recently assisted members of the Hill Country Geoscientists in designing a permanent exhibit of fluorescent minerals in the Kerr Arts and Cultural Center in Kerrville, Texas. Five specimens from the Warren Museum were also donated to the KACC for the new display, which features an audio track that explains to visitors what is happening to the minerals as they are bathed in shortwave and longwave ultraviolet light. The KACC publicity director commented that “Traffic has been unbelievable” since the new exhibit was installed. Photographs and a description of the new KACC display made the front page of the February 2, 2004 edition of the Kerrville Daily Times.