Archived Meetings

Tuesday, Dec 06, 2005
Speaker: Ted Johnson; Dealer/Collector
Topic: Italian Volcanoes
Desc: Our December speaker returns to the Boston Mineral Club with tales of his recent collecting trip to the volcanoes of Italy. Ted Johnson is a well known mineral collector and dealer from Connecticut with an active interest in travel, related mineral collecting, and with the ability to tell a good story. Professionally, Ted is an engineering specialist for Northeast Utilities, but has found time to collect in many of the US states as well as Russia, Greenland, England, Greece, Italy and Canada. He started collecting minerals in 1960 around Paterson New Jersey, and this October found him in southwestern Italy. His talk will cover:
Part 1,

Part 2, Volcanoes of the Aeolian Islands off the North Coast of Sicily

This should be a fascinating view of two active volcanic landscapes, both settled by the Greeks some 2600 years ago, one of which is a large metropolitan area today.

To complement the presentation club members are encouraged to bring in mineral specimens from their collections from Italian or other volcanic sites.

Tuesday, Nov 01, 2005
Speaker: N/A
Topic: Annual Specimen Competition plus Annual Business Meeting
Desc: Instead of our regular monthly BMC meeting and presentation, we will have our annual specimen competition as well as the annual business meeting. Keep an eye on the competition page for more information about entering the competition.


Tuesday, Oct 04, 2005
Speaker: Rick Cowley
Topic: The William Wise Mine, Westmoreland, New Hampshire
Desc: Our October speaker comes from the ranks of the Boston Mineral Club. Rick Cowley joined the BMC about a year ago, but is no newcomer to the mineral scene in New England. Rick is a long time mineral collector, mineral photographer and an archivist of mining lore. He will address the Club on the minerals and mining history of the William Wise Mine, Westmoreland, Cheshire County, New Hampshire.

The Wise Mine is renowned for its distinctive "apple green" flourite. The mine produced flourite for use as a flux in steel production. It was started in the 1890's and closed for commercial production about 1919. It has been worked intermittently since for specimens. The current owner Bob Borofsky is cutting some flourite for gemstones (beautiful but soft). The mine has also produced unusual sceptered quartz crystals

Rick inherited the slide collection of the late Don Wyman , North Shore Club, who had been active with the Boston Miners in reopening the Wise Mine for specimen collection. Rick has his own photographs of the mine and its minerals, and has assembled stories and a lot of other information about the site.

To complement the presentation club members are encouraged to bring in mineral specimens from their collections from the Wise Mine and other nearby New Hampshire flourite localities.

Tuesday, Sep 13, 2005
Speaker: BMC Members
Topic: Annual Show and Tell
Desc: The September meeting is traditionally an evening of show and tell, and continuing in this tradition club members are encouraged to bring stories and specimens from their Summer collecting on Club trips and on their own. There is often a lot of information exchanged during these presentations; as a group we have considerable historical knowledge and perspective, and it comes out as we talk about the trips.

If you have something you found earlier in the year, or if you bought something you think the Club would find interesting, bring it along.

And for the bug-free Fall collecting season, field trip leaders will make brief presentations about their upcoming trips

The September meeting is also a convivial time to catch up with friends we may not have seen all summer. Though we are still without an official Refreshments Czar or Czarina, we will again have food and drink provided by members who feel the calling. This worked out very nicely at the June meeting. Anyone who would like to bring something, please do, and please email the President that you'll be doing so.

Tuesday, Jun 07, 2005
Speaker: TBA
Topic: TBA
Desc: TBA

Tuesday, May 03, 2005
Speaker: Vandall T. King
Topic: The Real and True History of Mining at Mount Mica
Desc: For our May speaker we are fortunate to have Vandall T. King visit us on his way home to Rochester from the Maine Mineral Symposium where he is an annual presenter. At this year's the Mineral Symposium he will address "Pegmatite Mining in Maine During WWII and the Korean War." Van is the author, editor or co-editor of A Collector's Guide to Maine Mineral Localities; Mineralogy of Maine Volume 1: Descriptive Mineralogy; Mineralogy of Maine Volume 2: Mining History, Gems, and Geology and several other books and articles. He was formerly Staff Mineralogist at Ward's Natural Science. He has written and lectured on many topics related to mining and mineralogy. He will speak on "The Real and True History of Mining at Mount Mica." Mount Mica, located in Paris, Maine, has been mined for tourmaline since 1820, producing many beautiful specimens, some of which can be seen at Harvard, and after a recent hiatus is now productive again. To complement the presentation club members are encouraged to bring in mineral specimens from their collections from Mount Mica.

Tuesday, Apr 05, 2005
Speaker: Dr. John Ebel; Director Weston Observatory, Boston College
Topic: Earthquakes in New England and the World
Desc: George Ehrenfried closed his March Geological lecture with tales of deep rumblings in the earth from Aroostook County in northern Maine to Moodus Connecticut. Our April speaker Dr. John Ebel will expand on this theme in his presentation entitled "Earthquakes in New England and the World."

John Ebel is a Professor in the Department of Geology and Geophysics at Boston College, and the Director of Boston College's Weston Observatory. He received an A.B. degree in physics from Harvard in 1975 and a Ph.D. in geophysics from CalTech in 1981. Dr. Ebel says that he speaks Geology with a physics accent. We will request that he speak slowly and translate as necessary.

Dr. Ebel's research interests are in the areas of earthquake hazard, earthquake source mechanisms, earthquake prediction, wave propagation studies and determination of lithospheric structure. Since 1981 he has been in charge of the New England Seismic Network of Weston Observatory of Boston College. This network, currently comprised of 12 seismic stations spanning the six New England states, is used to detect, locate, catalog and study all earthquakes that occur in New England and vicinity.

Dr. Ebel's research has focused on studying the causes and effects of earthquakes in New England and vicinity, although he has also published papers on earthquake activity in other parts of the eastern United States and Canada, California, Europe, Mexico and the southwest Pacific.

To complement the presentation club members are encouraged to bring in mineral specimens from their collections that they believe are associated with faulting and seismic activity.


Tuesday, Mar 01, 2005
Speaker: George Ehrenfried; BMC Member
Topic: Geological Ramblings Around New England
Desc: Continuing our theme of winter indoor travels through New England, our March Speaker BMC member George Ehrenfried will bring us from northern Maine to the Hudson Highlands of eastern New York without leaving the lecture hall.

George joined the Boston Mineral Club in 1947 before many of us were born. A Chemistry major at Harvard, he was inspired by a Mineralogy course taught by legendary Professor Charles Palache, though his interest in rocks and minerals started well before this. During college, George worked in the summer of 1934 surveying and prospecting for asbestos for the Great Northern Paper Company around Moosehead Lake. His professional work included stints at the Kodak research lab, the radiation lab at MIT and after the end of WWII at Polaroid. His last job was as an assistant to a consulting geologist. He remains active, with many interests in geology, mineralogy and the natural sciences.

George notes that New England has a greater variety of geological features than any other comparably sized portion of the United States. There is a long mining history, a great deal of scientific investigation, and a lot of stories. George has been on the scene for a long time, and will reintroduce us to an area we know pretty well, but through his eyes.

To complement the presentation club members are encouraged to bring in New England mineral specimens from their collections that they would be willing to show again at Mineral Madness. Since we currently have no display cases, they will not be available for your specimens. By the March meeting we will know what will be available for Mineral Madness, and this will help determine what quality of specimens we want to share with the kids.

The Harvard Mineral Museum should be open starting at 7:00 PM. At 8:00 we will hold a brief business meeting and plan to start the presentation by 8:15. Parking is in the DEAS parking lots, entrance off Oxford Street across from the museum. We can park anywhere in these lots.


Tuesday, Feb 01, 2005
Speaker: Jim Cahoon; BMC Member
Topic: Collecting in the Conway Granite, White Mountain Magma and Related Series
Desc: The weather outside is not perfect for field collecting, but just right for an evening of New Hampshire geology, mineralogy and war stories. Our February Speaker, BMC member Jim Cahoon, will bring us to the White Mountains (in the lecture hall) and help us see this area through his eyes.
Jim is a past President of the BMC, the current President of the New England Micromounters, and an experienced field collector. He has had considerable success over the years through a combination of research, planning, good field skills (reading the rock), the right tools and a lot of hard work.

An earlier talk of Jim's about five years ago introduced me to the whole idea of a contact zone between country rock and igneous intrusions. Jim showed that through research (geological maps, government surveys, academic reports) you could increase your chances of finding something interesting in the field. And has continued to demonstrate this.

The White Mounmtain igneous province is a geologically complex and mineralogically interesting area two or three hours drive to our north. Jim will lead a club field trip to the White Mountains this summer, and the February meeting will be a good introduction to the area.

To complement the presentation club members are encouraged to bring in minerals from the Conway Granite, White Mountain Magma and related rocks from their collections. We will make the club display cases available to display your specimens if we can find them.

The Harvard Mineral Museum should be open starting at 7:00 PM. At 8:00 we will hold a brief business meeting and plan to start the presentation by 8:15.

Tuesday, Dec 07, 2004
Speaker: Dr. Carl Francis; Curator of the Harvard Mineralogical Museum

Topic: Fluorite from the Northern Pennines Orefield, England
Desc: At the December meeting the Boston Mineral Club welcomes Dr. Carl Francis, curator of the Harvard Mineralogical Museum and long time friend of the BMC. Carl is active in many aspects of the mineral world, across North American and overseas. We are fortunate to have him in our neck of the woods, and particularly fortunate to spend an evening in the museum with him.

Carl will discuss "Fluorite from the Northern Pennines Orefield, England". This will be a gallery talk, and we will have a chance to see specimens from this area as well as Illinois fluorites from the Bannister Collection.

The current Nov/Dec issue of Rocks & Minerals has two related articles, "Fluorite from the Northern Pennines Orefield, England" and "Properties of Fluorite from the North Pennines, England, "both by Jesse Fisher. The web site, rocksandminerals.org, has photographs, but to read the articles you have to buy the magazine. Perhaps club members who subscribe might bring in this issue to share with the rest of the club.

Carl will talk a little about current developments at the museum, and we should explore with him ways in which the BMC can help him and the museum.

To complement the presentation club members are encouraged to bring in fluorites from their collections, from England if you have them, but from anywhere. We will make the club display cases available to display your specimens.

The Harvard Mineral Museum should be open starting at 7:00 PM. At 8:00 we will hold a brief business meeting and plan to start the presentation by 8:15.

Tuesday, Nov 09, 2004
Speaker: N/A

Topic: Annual Specimen Competition plus Annual Business Meeting
Desc: Instead of our regular monthly BMC meeting and presentation, we will have our annual specimen competition as well as the annual business meeting. Please see the competition page for more information.

Tuesday, Oct 05, 2004
Speaker: Jeff Fast
Topic: Connecticut Mineral Collecting Localities
Desc: TBA


Tuesday, Sep 14, 2004
Speaker: BMC Members

Topic: Annual Specimen Collecting Show and Tell Night
Desc: All members are encouraged to bring specimens acquired during the past year to display and discuss during this meeting. This is a fun time to see what folks have been doing out in the field, as well as, at the shows.


Tuesday, Jun 01, 2004
Speaker: Ernie Schlichter; BMC Member

Topic: Establishing a Well Equipped Laboratory for Specimen Trimming and Preparation
Desc: At our May meeting we heard a series of interesting and useful short presentations by BMC members about different aspects of field collecting, focusing on planning and research, tools and how to use them, and the power of electronic topo maps. Jim Cahoon, Ed Norton, Steve Towne and Paul Young shared a lot of good information with us.

At the June meeting the Boston Mineral Club will again draw on the experience of our members and welcomes as our speaker Ernie Schlichter of Sudbury, Massachusetts. Ernie is a genuine renaissance man in minerals. He is an avid collector, tool designer, mineral dealer and even display case builder. He has a national reputation as one of the best, and anyone seeing his wares at a mineral show can not help but be impressed with the high quality of his specimens. He has had a lot of success as a field collector over the years. In 1981 at Mt. St. Hilaire in Quebec, Canada he punched into a dream pocket that produced a large quantity of world-class serandite crystals of such high quality that the Canadian government bought the three best.

There may be a few reasons why your specimens don't look like Harvard's, but one of them probably involves differences in preparation for display. In his talk, Ernie will describe the resources neeeded to equip a lab for the trimming and preparation of mineral specimens. He writes,

"The basic equipment is commercially available. I have built a number of special purpose tools, and tweaked some of the available items, as the need arose over a period of 25 years of trimming and prep. I will illustrate my talk with slides and describe some of the techniques that I have developed. I will have several examples of trimming and prep available for "show and tell".

This will be our last monthly meeting until September, and I hope you can all attend. The Harvard Mineral Museum should be open starting at 7:00 PM. At 8:00 we will hold a brief business meeting and plan to start the presentation by 8:15.

Tuesday, May 04, 2004
Speaker: Jim Cahoon, Ed Norton, Paul Young, Nate Martin et al.; BMC Members

Topic: "Field Collecting"
Desc: At our May meeting we will kick off the field collecting season with a series of short presentations by BMC members about different aspects of field collecting. We have a lot of collecting expertise in the club and this will be an opportunity to share some experience and tips.

The presentations will deal with different aspects of field collecting, including planning and research, tools and how to use them, field features of mineral deposits (what are we looking for?) collecting practices and preparation of specimens.

Jim Cahoon, Ed Norton and Paul Young are veteran New England field collectors who have had considerable success over the years through a combination of research, planning, good field skills (reading the rock), the right tools and a lot of hard work. You may not care to follow them everywhere (say, over a cliff in a harness), but you can learn a lot from these guys. Jim and Ed will focus on tools and gear, Paul will discuss how he goes about getting information on collecting areas, sources, contacts, and references.

Nate Martin is the most recent past President of the BMC, our current Field Trips Czar, and an avid field collector. A more recent convert to personal fulfillment though mineral collecting than Jim, Paul and Ed, his systematic approach and considerable enthusiasm has produced good results. Nate will focus on specimen handling and preparation. He will have a trimmer with him, so if you have a specimen you need trimmed, bring it along.

The Harvard Mineral Museum should be open starting at 7:00 PM. At 8:00 we will hold a brief usiness meeting and plan to start the presentation by 8:15.

Tuesday, Apr 06, 2004
Speaker: Robert Whitmore; Owner, Collector and Historian

Topic: Palermo Mine, Rumney, New Hampshire
Desc: At the April meeting the Boston Mineral Club welcomes back Robert Whitmore of Weare, New Hampshire. Bob is an avid collector of the minerals of New Hampshire. He is owner of the Palermo Mine, Rumney and North Groton New Hampshire. Palermo is renowned for its phosphate rich pegmatites and its diverse assortment of minerals . Many of us at the BMC have enjoyed Bob's hospitality in New Hampshire and we have a chance to reciprocate April 6 .

The following description of the mine is drawn from Bob's article in "The Granite State Geologist," Newsletter of the New Hampshire Geological Society, January 1995.

The Palermo Mine, located off Route 25 in Rumney, NH, has been operating off and on as a source of mica, feldspar and beryl for over 125 years. Quarrying operations started in 1863, when Charles E. Kellog began mining sheet mica (muscovite). In 1888 the Palermo Mining Company purchased all mineral rights and the operation became the Palermo Mine.

At this time, mining changed completely, Workers went from hand drills and black powder to steam drills and dynamite. A crew of 85 local farmers were hired to work underground, and a trimming shop employing twenty-five women was set up at the surface.

Near the end of the nineteenth century, the Palermo Mining Company went bankrupt. In 1914 the General Electric Company bought the mineral rights and resumed mining mica underground during World War I. In 1944, GE leased the mine to the newly formed Ashley Mining Company of Rumney, NH. which produced 4,222 tons of feldspar, 495 tons of scrap mica, and 49 tons of beryl in one year. Subsequent owners produced mica, crushed quartz from the core of the pegmatite, facing for the Prudential Insurance Company building in Boston, and another 40 tons of beryl.

In 1973, Peter Samuelson leased Palermo solely for the production of gem beryl and mineral specimens. It was at this time that Professor Paul B. Moore, of the University of Chicago, Department of Geophysical Sciences, began investigating the numerous phosphate minerals that had been exposed by the blasting of the triphylite pods in the quarry part of the mine. A new mineral, Bjarcbyite, was found at this time.

In May 1974, all mineral rights to the Palermo Mines were purchased by Robert Whitmore and Forrest Fogg, calling themselves Palermo Mine Enterprises. During the five more new phosphate minerals found. These were Foggite, Goodhenite, Samuelsonite, Shoonerite, and Whitmoreite.

Today, Robert Whitmore is the sole owner of the property. To date there have been 110 minerals found at this locality, with the Palermo Mine being the type locality for ten of them.

Find the full article on the web at: http://www.gsnhonline.org/publications/TGSG.12.html

To complement the presentation club members are encouraged to bring in minerals from Palermo from their collections. We will make the club display cases available to display your specimens.

The Club will sponsor a trip to Palermo in the coming collecting season. Come and get a preview April 6. The Harvard Mineral Museum should be open starting at 7:00 PM. At 8:00 we will hold a brief business meeting and plan to start the presentation by 8:15.

Tuesday, Mar 02, 2004
Speaker: Dr. Anthony N. Mariano; Consultant Minerals Exploration Geologist


Topic: Gem Exploration with the UN - Colombia, Pakistan and Kashmir
Desc: At the March meeting the Boston Mineral Club welcomes back Dr. Anthony Mariano of Carlisle. Tony's work as an Exploration Geologist has brought him to 45 countries. His experience is broad and deep and we are fortunate that he can join us Tuesday, March 2nd.

He will speak to us about his work with the UN in Pakistan, Kashmir and Colombia in which he gave technical support to the development of their natural resources including gems, mineral specimens and economic mineral deposits.

His work includes the utilization of cathodoluminescence as a guide in gem exploration.

In his last visit to the BMC, Tony discussed his work in rare earth pegmatites in northern Canada.

To complement the presentation club members are encouraged to bring in minerals and gemstones in matrix from Pakistan, Kashmir and Colombia from their collections. We will make the club display cases available to display your specimens.

The Harvard Mineral Museum should be open starting at 7:00 PM. At 8:00 we will hold a brief business meeting and plan to start the presentation by 8:15.


Tuesday, Feb 03, 2004
Speaker: Professor Sarah Stewart; Harvard Department of Earth and Planetary Science

Topic: Mars Geology and the Harvard Shock Compression Laboratory
Desc: The February meeting of the Boston Mineral Club will feature a presentation by Professor Sarah Stewart of Harvard’s Department of Earth and Planetary Science. Dr. Stewart will address Martian Geology, water on Mars and will show us her new laboratory next door.

Professor Stewart’s field of study includes the composition and evolution of planets and small bodies such as asteroids and comets. In her recently constructed Shock Compression Laboratory, her research group conducts experiments on the dynamic response of rocks and minerals to measure fundamental material properties.

At her web site she writes:
"Shock-wave data are essential for all studies related to collisional processes, including planetary accretion and impact crater formation. Impact experiments provide fundamental data on the physical properties of planetary materials and ground truth for numerical simulations of large-scale impact events and collisions in the solar system."

"Current areas of research in the Shock Compression Laboratory include: shock-wave measurements in basalt and basalt-ice mixtures to determine the outcome of impact events on Mars; magnetization and de-magnetization of minerals during shock with application to meteorites and lunar samples."

"Many craters on Mars have ejecta blankets that appear to have been fluidized. Dr. Stewart has studied how the presence of ground ice alters the crater excavation process and produces a layered ejecta blanket with significant quantities of water allowing for fluidized flow. The resulting ejecta morphology may be used to infer the distribution of ground ice on Mars."


Professor Stewart received her Ph.D. at Cal-Tech in 2002 in the field of Planetary Sciences, with a minor in Astrophysics. She returned to Harvard last fall, having earned her B.A. in Astronomy & Astrophysics and Physics here in 1995.

I encourage everyone to check out Dr. Stewart’s web site at http://www.fas.harvard.edu/%7eplanets/sstewart/, particularly the laboratory and research areas.

To complement the presentation club members are encouraged to bring in Martian specimens from their collections (just kidding). Maybe basalt. We will make the club display cases available to display your specimens.


Saturday, Jan 10, 2004
Speaker: N/A

Topic: Annual Boston Mineral Club Auction
Desc: Instead of our regular monthly BMC meeting, we will have our annual auction. Please see the auction page for more details.


Tuesday, Dec 02, 2003
Speaker: Professor Lee Groat; University of British Columbia

Topic: Emerald Mineralization in the Northern Cordillera of Canada
Desc: The December meeting of the Boston Mineral Club will feature a presentation by Professor Lee Groat of the University of British Columbia. His topic is "Emerald Mineralization in the Northern Cordillera of Canada". Professor Groat is in Boston to give a presentation to the Fall meeting of the Material Research Society. Jerry Carter was instrumental in arranging for Professor Groat to come speak to us while he is in Boston. Here is an introduction to his presentation:


"In September of 1998, Bill Wengzynowski made the find of a lifetime.

While exploring the Finlayson Lake district of southeastern Yukon, when he noticed a curious green mineral. He recovered a kilogram of material over the next hour. On returning home, he immediately called a former professor, Lee Groat of the University of British Columbia, who confirmed his suspicions that these were, in fact, emeralds -- beryl colored green by chromium and / or vanadium. The next summer, small-scale test mining and systematic exploration began. In 2001, True North Gems acquired a 50% interest and began serious development of the property. Just last year, the first gem quality emerald was announced. And just months ago, Lee Groat reported finding the far rarer, dark blue beryl crystals elsewhere in the Yukon.

This is an exciting and rapidly developing story and Professor Lee Groat has been there from the beginning. He brings over two decades of experience studying mineralogy and crystal chemistry. He has made many contributions to our understanding of numerous mineral structures. For systematic collectors, he may be better known for publishing new mineral species such as Kampfite, Peterbaylissite, Jensenite, learcreekite, Bigcreekite, and many others.

Lee Groat is by no means new to the world of gemstones. He got his first professional taste while studying the sapphires of Montana. The discovery by one of his graduate students of gem elbaite in the Northwest Territory further whetted his appetite. This time, he's prepared to dig in...literally."

To complement the presentation club members are encouraged to bring in specimens from their collections that are from localities in Canada (all mineral species are encouraged). We will make the club display cases available to display your specimens.

We are also requesting that members bring in specimen donations for the January Party and Auction. A box will be provided to receive your donations and Dan Downey will be photographing them. Although the auction is not until Saturday, January 10th, we need to get donated specimens turned in as soon as possible in order to advertise them on our website. Since this is our last meeting before the auction, please make a special effort to bring some donations to the meeting.

The Harvard Mineral Museum should be available to us starting at 7:00 PM. Refreshments will be available starting at 7:30 PM. At 7:45 PM, we will hold a brief business meeting and will try to start the presentation at 8:00 PM.


Tuesday, Nov 04, 2003
Speaker: N/A

Topic: Annual Specimen Competition plus Annual Business Meeting
Desc: Instead of our regular monthly BMC meeting and presentation, we willhave our annual specimen competition as well as the annual business meeting. Please see the competition page for more information.