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The Joseph Moore Museum, Earlham College, Richmond, Indiana
  
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Jamison Brizendine




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PostPosted: Nov 18, 2016 15:50    Post subject: The Joseph Moore Museum, Earlham College, Richmond, Indiana  

On the weekend of October 14-16th, I went to visit Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana for my 10th year reunion. I thought since we had several threads dedicated to other natural history museums, it would be fitting to create a thread dedicated to one of the smaller and lesser known museums in the United States and share it with the forum. This museum is the Joseph Moore Museum, located on Earlham College’s campus in Richmond, Indiana.

The historical information below is a summary of the history behind the Joseph Moore Museum and is from Earlham College’s website.

The Joseph Moore Museum had its humble origins in the 1870s. Joseph Moore was an avid natural historian, professor and collector who taught at the Friends Boarding School (the Society of Friends are better known as the Quakers), later to become Earlham College. Joseph Moore was particularly fascinated with animal fossils, but mostly collected specimens to supplement his teaching material. Like most collections, it innocently started off in a cabinet, then grew into a small room off of Earlham Hall. This was just the beginning of the collection though…

In 1873, Thomas Pierson discovered a portion of what would become the iconic specimen of the museum, the Randolph Mastodon. The mastodon, discovered on the Ross Reed Farm in New Paris, Ohio was not a complete skeleton, but Joseph Moore decided to purchase it anyways as it was a unique opportunity to expand his collection. This purchase would be the tip of the iceberg that would transform the “cabinet curios” into a serious collection.

In 1887, Earlham College built Lindley Hall. An entire wing on one of the lower floors was given to Joseph Moore to house his collection. This move would later sow the seeds to Joseph Moore’s dream; an actual museum to display and house his personal collection. Two years later in 1889, Joseph Moore acquired a fossil of a giant beaver, but he also acquired his second signature specimen: Ta’an, the Egyptian Mummy. A few years later he acquired a skeleton of a former circus elephant named “Tippo Sahib”, who was shot because “it had gone mad”.

Although Joseph Moore was happy with these three acquisitions, one thing nagged him and that was his mastodon was still incomplete. An opportunity arrived in 1895 when another mastodon skeleton was found on Bookout Farm, Randolph County, Indiana in 1895.

Joseph Moore then wrote to the Earlham College Board of Trustees for funds to buy the Randolph skeleton so he could finish the mounting. As expected the Board of Trustees denied Joseph Moore his request and turned to his friends in Indianapolis, friends in Richmond and donations. With these additional funds, he was able secure the skeleton. In the summer of 1895, he and a recent graduate, Caswell Grave mounted the skeleton. Joseph Moore in his journal wrote that he didn’t like the initial mounting, so he rebuilt it the following year in 1896 and in 1905 Joseph Moore passed away. Dr. Allan D. Hole was named the next curator of Joseph Moore’s museum and begun to systemically organize the collection.

On October 23, 1924, Lindley Hall caught on fire, which included the wing of Joseph Moore’s collection. Allan Hole and his students wasted no time and tried to rescue as many of Joseph Moore’s specimens as possible. Ta’an the mummy, the giant beaver and miraculously, Joseph Moore’s mastodon, managed to escape the inferno, but the skeleton of the elephant Tippo Sahib was destroyed.

For the next 28 years, Joseph Moore’s collection was stored in various buildings around campus until a new building could house the collection. In 1952, Dennis Hall was built with a wing to specifically house Joseph Moore’s legacy. 3 years later the Randolph Mastodon was remounted along with the other artifacts, where you can view them today.

The museum’s focus is primarily the biological sciences. There are a few exhibits including fossils from Indiana and two cabinets with minerals. If you are considering driving through Richmond, try to stop by the museum (and as a bonus, admission is free).

One thing worth mentioning is that the students play a heavy role in the daily operation of the Joseph Moore Museum.

The second post will be the rocks and minerals in the Joseph Moore Museum's collection.



Joseph_Moore_1_0_250x361.jpg
 Description:
Professor Joseph Moore, first curator of the Joseph Moore Museum between the 1870s - 1905. Photo in the collection of Earlham College, Richmond, Indiana.
 Viewed:  8772 Time(s)

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Joseph_Moore_with_Mastadon.jpg
 Description:
Joseph Moore with the Randolph Mastodon, circa 1895. Photo in the collection of Earlham College, Richmond, Indiana.
 Viewed:  8770 Time(s)

Joseph_Moore_with_Mastadon.jpg



Lindley Hall, S.H. Knox and Company.jpg
 Description:
A postcard image of Lindley Hall. One wing of the lower floor was where Joseph Moore's collection was stored. The building was destroyed by a fire in 1924. The original postcard was published by the S.H. Knox and Company, Richmond, Indiana.
 Viewed:  8809 Time(s)

Lindley Hall, S.H. Knox and Company.jpg



Lindley_Fire_Article_250x323.jpg
 Description:
A newspaper clipping of the destruction of Lindley Hall on October, 1924. The original copy was published by The Paladium Item, Richmond, Indiana. Photo in the collection of Earlham College, Richmond, Indiana.
 Viewed:  8753 Time(s)

Lindley_Fire_Article_250x323.jpg



03638520014775988062228.jpg
 Description:
Mammut americanum, or the American Mastodon lived around 12,000 years ago during the Pleistocene. The American Mastodon inhabited wet, lush ice-age forests and ate plants (branches, bark, cones, leaves, etc.). The estimated weight of a typical mastodon was approximately 10 tons. The major theory of its demise was over-hunting by humans. It should be noted that mastodons did live alongside mammoths, though they are different species.

This specimen is one of three “signature specimens” of the Joseph Moore Museum. According to the history of the museum, the specimen was originally assembled by Professor Joseph Moore and his student Caswell Graves in 1895. The mastodon is in fact, built from 2 skeletons, one from New Paris, Ohio (directly east of Richmond, Indiana) and one from Randolph County, Indiana. The mastodon was then housed in Lindley Hall on Earlham College’s campus. Ten years later, Joseph Moore passed away and Allan D. Hole was named curator.

On October 23, 1924, Lindley Hall caught on fire and the students and Curator Dr. Hole rushed to save as many specimens as they could. Amazingly, the mastodon was saved from falling debris by a steel beam. In 1955, the mastodon was remounted in its current location off Dennis Hall.

In the case directly left of the mastodon, is the exhibit containing the giant beaver, another one of Joseph Moore's signature specimens.
 Viewed:  8781 Time(s)

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07262210014775979204065.jpg
 Description:
Megalonyx jeffersonii, or the Giant Ground Sloth lived around 12, 190 years ago and would have stood 10.5 feet (3.2 meters) tall and weighed 4,500 pounds (2041 kilograms). The claws were used for digging roots. It was the largest and northern-most species of ground sloth. Giant sloths were common in Indiana and Ohio during the Pleistocene epoch (10,000 to 1.8 million years ago). The species was named in honor of Thomas Jefferson (jeffersonii) who discovered it in Virginia.

This sloth is a cast of an original skeleton, which was found in a peat bog in Greenville, Ohio. It was mounted in 1989 by students Timothy Miller (1990), Christina Chambers (1987) and then museum director, John Iverson.
 Viewed:  8889 Time(s)

07262210014775979204065.jpg



01382920014775977612436.jpg
 Description:
This is a partial fossil of an Isotelus maximus which was found near Richmond, Indiana (most likely the Brookville, Franklin County, Indiana area). Whole specimens are very rare to find, but fragments are fairly common to find throughout the Ordovician outcrops near there. Isotelus maximus is the state fossil of Ohio.
 Viewed:  8801 Time(s)

01382920014775977612436.jpg



The Devil's Corkscrew (Daemonelix).jpg
 Description:
The “Devil’s Corkscrew” (the paleontological name is Daemonelix) is a giant trace fossil that was found upright in western Nebraska, formed during the Lower Miocene epoch. It represents the fossilized burrow of an extinct terrestrial beaver (Paleocastor) that lived like a prairie dog approximately 17-23 million year ago.

This specimen is from the Harrison Formation, about 20 miles southwest of Crawford, Nebraska. It was collected by Cyril Harvey II and Alan Smith, of the University of Nebraska Museum and James Thorp. It was mounted by Ansel Gooding, who taught at Earlham College. It is now in the Joseph Moore Museum’s permanent collection.

This specimen is approximately 105.6 cm tall based on the standard height of a brick (2.25 inches tall)
 Viewed:  8850 Time(s)

The Devil's Corkscrew (Daemonelix).jpg



08118550014775991592065.jpg
 Description:
The basement level of the Joseph Moore Museum is where the natural wildlife and the mummy are exhibited. The animals are cared for by student caretakers. This particular milk snake (who was too shy to come out of his habitat), was named "Two Percent". Somebody had a good sense of humor.

This is the background information on the Sinaloan Milk Snake.
 Viewed:  8824 Time(s)

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09418490014775994962455.jpg
 Description:
The basement level of the Joseph Moore Museum is where the natural wildlife and the mummy is exhibited. The animals are cared for by student caretakers. This particular exhibit featured the Bearded Dragon (Pogona vitticeps), named “Hiccup” after the protagonist human character in “How to Train Your Dragon”.
 Viewed:  8799 Time(s)

09418490014775994962455.jpg



08441470014775996277641.jpg
 Description:
The basement level of the Joseph Moore Museum is where the natural wildlife and the mummy is exhibited. The animals are cared for by student caretakers. This particular exhibit featured the Bearded Dragon (Pogona vitticeps), named “Hiccup” after the protagonist human character in “How to Train Your Dragon”. The student volunteer explained that the animals are use to human interactions as the students are their caretakers.
 Viewed:  8793 Time(s)

08441470014775996277641.jpg



03622250014776004669804.jpg
 Description:
The Egyptian mummy Ta’an is one of the “signature specimens” of the Joseph Moore Museum. According to the history of the museum, J.J. Mills, the president of Earlham College, purchased the mummy from the Government Museum in Cairo in 1889. Mills was under the (false) impression that it was an ancient Egyptian King, and came from a tomb 75 miles south of Cairo called “The Fayum”.

The mummy was shipped to Indianapolis, Indiana, where it was picked up and displayed in the home of Joseph R. Evans, a trustee of Earlham College, for a short period of time, then brought 70 miles east to Earlham where it could be seen in time for commencement. After that it was part of the Joseph Moore Museum which was at that time in Lindley Hall.

In 1924, Lindley Hall caught on fire and the students and then curator, Dr. Allan D. Hole rushed to save as many specimens as they could, including the mummy. The mummy was then stored in the attic of Carpenter Hall until 1952 when the museum was being built off Dennis Hall.

In 1979, the mummy was taken to Reid Memorial Hospital in Richmond, Indiana to be x-rayed. The x-rays revealed that the mummy was actually a woman, approximately 5 feet tall and about 20-22 years old at the time of her death. Growth arrest lines in both her tibiae and femora indicated that there were times in her life when food was scarce or she was sick. She also has all of her teeth, including her wisdom teeth, and they show appropriate wear for the gritty diet of the time (Ancient Egyptian food was often mixed with particles of quartz sand. Since quartz has a hardness of 7 and teeth have an approximate hardness of 5, Ancient Egyptians often had worn teeth as the sand particles wore them down), the x-rays also show that her ribs, vertebrae and clavicle are not in the anatomically correct position. The head and its wrappings are also not attached to her body.

The hieroglyphs on the top of her coffin indicate that her name was Ta’an, meaning “beautiful one” and that she was the daughter of Irethorrou, a stolist priest in the town of Ipu. She lived during the Greco-Roman period and probably died around 200 B.C.

It should also be noted that Ta’an is one of three mummies currently on display in the state of Indiana. The information above was taken from a placard on the Joseph Moore Museum.
 Viewed:  8787 Time(s)

03622250014776004669804.jpg



02314010014776006469784.jpg
 Description:
This photograph shows the result of the X-rays and information taken about the mummy Ta'an.
 Viewed:  8769 Time(s)

02314010014776006469784.jpg



06231300014776007457113.jpg
 Description:
The mummy is housed in a special alcove in the basement of the Joseph Moore Museum. Students hand painted the hieroglyphs and other decorations in the alcove. The painting above is a translation of the hieroglyphs from Ta'an's sarcophagus.
 Viewed:  9310 Time(s)

06231300014776007457113.jpg


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Jamison Brizendine




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PostPosted: Nov 18, 2016 16:04    Post subject: Re: The Joseph Moore Museum, Earlham College, Richmond, Indiana  

This is the second part of my trip to the Joseph Moore Museum, Earlham College, Richmond, Indiana. This segment will feature the rocks and minerals in the display cases.


04709340014770825999149.jpg
 Mineral: Hyalite
 Description:
Unknown Locality
8 cm x 7 cm x 4 cm
This is a cabinet specimen of hyalite (opal) from an unknown locality. This specimen was on display at the Joseph Moore Museum, at Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana. The specimen was on a display of minerals that fluoresced.
 Viewed:  8808 Time(s)

04709340014770825999149.jpg



05795090014770830626621.jpg
 Mineral: Hyalite
 Locality:
Spruce Pine District, Mitchell County, North Carolina, USA
 Dimensions: 5 cm x 5.5 cm x 3 cm
 Description:
This is a small cabinet specimen of hyalite (opal) from the Spruce Pine District, Mitchell County, North Carolina, United States. This specimen was on display at the Joseph Moore Museum, at Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana. The specimen was on a display of minerals that fluoresced.
 Viewed:  8742 Time(s)

05795090014770830626621.jpg



01361280014775951808919.jpg
 Mineral: Celestine
 Description:
Unknown Locality
4 cm x 3 cm x 3 cm
This is a miniature specimen of celestine from an unknown locality. This specimen was on display at the Joseph Moore Museum at Earlham College, Richmond, Indiana. The specimen was in a display of general mineral specimens.

Note: The label for this specimen states the mineral as "Celestite", celestine is the official "IMA approved" name, though many Midwesterners still refer to the mineral as celestite.

A possible locality for this specimen is the Lime City Quarry, Wood County, Ohio, United States.
 Viewed:  8799 Time(s)

01361280014775951808919.jpg



00222800014775949803833.jpg
 Mineral: Wulfenite, Calcite
 Description:
Unknown Locality
6 cm x 4 cm x 5 cm
This is a small cabinet specimen of wulfenite and calcite from an unknown locality. This specimen was on display at the Joseph Moore Museum at Earlham College, Richmond, Indiana. The specimen was in a display of general mineral specimens.

The pyrites directly next to the wulfenite are likely from Magnet Cove, Arkansas. These were donated by the 2003 Earlham College Mineralogy class led by Ron Parker.
 Viewed:  8804 Time(s)

00222800014775949803833.jpg



00156360014775954293531.jpg
 Mineral: Calcite, Quartz
 Description:
Unknown Locality
12.4 cm x 8.8 cm x 7.5 cm
This is a cabinet specimen of calcite and quartz geode from an unknown locality (most likely somewhere in Indiana). This specimen was on display at the Joseph Moore Museum at Earlham College, Richmond, Indiana. The specimen was in a display of general mineral specimens.
 Viewed:  8818 Time(s)

00156360014775954293531.jpg



09891990014775956169130.jpg
 Mineral: Fluorite
 Locality:
Cave-in-Rock Sub-District, Hardin County, Illinois, USA
 Dimensions: 22.8 cm x 9.6 cm x 11.4 cm
 Description:
This is a large cabinet specimen of purple fluorite from the Cave-in-Rock District, Hardin County, Illinois, United States. This specimen was on display at the Joseph Moore Museum at Earlham College, Richmond, Indiana. The specimen was in a display of general mineral specimens.
 Viewed:  8802 Time(s)

09891990014775956169130.jpg



06717910014775958538530.jpg
 Mineral: Fluorite, Siderite
 Locality:
Weardale, North Pennines Orefield, County Durham, England / United Kingdom
 Dimensions: 14 cm x 10 cm x 11 cm
 Description:
This is a large cabinet specimen of fluorite and siderite from Weardale, North Pennines, County Durham, England, United Kingdom. This specimen was on display at the Joseph Moore Museum at Earlham College, Richmond, Indiana. The specimen was in a display of fluorescent mineral specimens.
 Viewed:  8777 Time(s)

06717910014775958538530.jpg



05591610014775961201814.jpg
 Mineral: Fluorite, Quartz
 Locality:
Weardale, North Pennines Orefield, County Durham, England / United Kingdom
 Dimensions: 20.3 cm x 11 cm x 12 cm
 Description:
This is a large cabinet specimen of fluorite with a druze of siderite and quartz from Weardale, North Pennines, County Durham, England, United Kingdom. This specimen was on display at the Joseph Moore Museum at Earlham College, Richmond, Indiana. The specimen was in a display of fluorescent mineral specimens.

Although the specimen did not have an exact locality, it is probably from the Boltsburn Mine.
 Viewed:  8795 Time(s)

05591610014775961201814.jpg


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