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UPDATE: OCTOBER 10, 2001

Collections Database

Don Halterman has nearly completed work on a specimen database for the museum. This is an ambitious project, but as anyone with a large and growing collection knows, a reliable documentation system for mineral collections is of great value. This is doubly so for museums, which have responsibilities extending far beyond those of a private collector, and which must set up their recording systems so that future generations can access and use them easily. Don has expended much time and effort to ensure the preservation not only of basic information on the characteristics of each specimen, but also details of specimen history, acquisition, significance, and, of course, fluorescence. The goal, fast becoming reality, is the long-term preservation of every detail of knowledge we possess about each specimen.

UV Inspection Facility

	Don Halterman at work on the new UV inspection facility.

The museum's facility for studying fluorescent minerals under controlled conditions of ultraviolet light is coming along well. Shown in the photograph at right is the basic structure, minus its legs and overhead UV lamps, which will be added later. As noted before in this space, the examination bay will employ a bank of four TripleBright ultraviolet display lamps (shortwave, midrange, longwave 352 nm, and longwave 368 nm), any one of which can be positioned over a specimen so that its response can be recorded. The angled part of the table will support a computer keyboard and monitor for entering observations into a database. Upon completion, the UV inspection facility will be moved to a 16 x 8 ft room adjacent to the Warren Museum.

Buckingham Collection

We were fortunate in August to be able to select nearly two dozen specimens from the collection of Russell Buckingham of Croton on the Hudson, near Peekskill, New York. Several significant pieces were added to the museum reference collection from this source.

Franklin Mineral Show

	Fluorapatite. Dassu, Baltistan, Pakistan. 1.6" x 1.2" (4 x 3 cm). Sharply formed, hexagonal crystals of fluorapatite with minor feldspar. The color of fluorescence is typical of manganese-activated fluorapatite.

The 47th annual Franklin Mineral Show was held the weekend of September 29-30 at the Franklin Elementary School. Two cool, blustery days that heralded the arrival of autumn scattered mineral labels and sent people scurrying for warming cups of coffee. The Warren Museum entered a case of recently acquired specimens in the fluorescent exhibit area, as did two other local museums, the Franklin Mineral Museum and the Sterling Hill Mining Museum. Several of the specimens displayed are illustrated on this page.

Minerals acquired for the Warren Museum during this show include a fine lazurite specimen from Balmat, New York; an intriguing sample of yellow-fluorescent yttrian fluorite from Innhavet, Nordland, Norway; and a perfectly formed, yellow-fluorescent uvite crystal from Brumado, Bahia, Brazil. Photographs of some of these specimens will be shown in a future update.

Kyanite. Willis Mountain, Virginia. 5" x 4" (13 x 11 cm). Large, white-fluorescent blades of kyanite in a matrix of quartz. The activator is unknown. Fluorescent kyanite probably is not rare but has been reported from few localities, and to date appears restricted almost wholly to white or colorless kyanite as opposed to the more familiar blue.		Vlasovite. Kipawa complex, Temiskaming County, Quebec, Canada. 5.5" x 4" (14 x 10 cm). A large (5 cm across) grain of yellow-fluorescing vlasovite showing pronounced "sieve texture", in a matrix of agrellite (fl. pink) and feldspar (fl. deep red), with minor calcite (fl. green).

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