FMF - Friends of Minerals Forum, discussion and message board

[Jordi Fabre]

Recently we discussed here about several different topics, I think that all of them have one meeting point and this point is: the museums of minerals and their importance.

When we discuss about the new generation of collectors and their new kind of collecting and displaying their collections ( Why Do we now tend to focus on beauty over mineralogy? ) and then Gail describe her visit to Smithsonian ( The Smithsonian Mineral Visit with Behind the Scenes fun ) we can see the importance that the museums have in our hobby. If the new collectors need time to know better the clues to built a mineralogical collection, they could need also some kind of guide to learn more about mineralogy and minerals. Museums are one of the easiest and didactic ways to learn about it.

We are frequently critics with museums (the specimens are not so well displayed, the light is not so good, the dust cover the specimens, they display not the right samples...) but I would like to remember that before Internet, minerals shows, and mineral magazines, the museums were the only and the best source to create collectors and instruct people about minerals and mineralogy. Right now it seems that their importance is decaying, but as we can feel regarding the Gail's post, they still stay as a focus of knowledge and they are undoubtedly a help and guide for the people starting in the hobby as well as for regular visitors and mature collectors.

From this Forum I would like to support the museums, telling to all our members and visitors to visit they and help they. Using a famous phrase: "Ask not what the museums can do for you; ask what you can do for the museums", if we support the museums, they will stay and grow up.

We can't complain about disasters like the sell of the Philadelphia academy collection ( Philadelphia Academy affaire ) or the Romero's collection ( Miguel Romero collection ) if we don't help museums in their daily job. The post of Gail ( Museums policy ) is on the right way to know more about they, and try to help they in many different ways, like donations, legacies or anything else.

Also is the job of the museums to try to encourage people to visit they and try to recover funds or collections, but we should understand that without us, the collectors, and our help, the Museums will decay slowly and some day, maybe too late, then we will discover the importance that they had and the treasure that we lost.

Jordi

[Peter]

Very good team Jordi! I visited the museum of natural history in Gotheburg, Sweden monthly as a child. Every time I wanted to see the minerals, which although taking up only a tiny space in the museum was just as intriguing as the lion, the elephants, the gorilla for a 2+3 year old. There was my first exposure to lovely minerals.

A half meter Smoky quartz from the 1868 Tiefengletscher find, a lovely Romanian stibnite, a small Ural heliodore..... very impressive for a small child.

[Peter]

Theme that is : )
but you have a good team as well