Fri, Oct 14
|Sharon Woods Park Visitor's Center Audit
Midwest Mineral Collecting and a Friends of Mineralogy History
Jeff Spencer, a longtime field mineral collector, presents minerals from the Midwest. He talks about his personal experiences and friendships.
Time & Location
Oct 14, 2022, 8:00 PM – 9:30 PM
Sharon Woods Park Visitor's Center Audit, 11450 Lebanon Rd, Sharonville, OH 45241, USA
About the event
Jeff Spencer is a longtime field collector, who began collecting rocks, minerals, and fossils on his first trip to Colorado at the age of 7. He remembers collecting his first calcite pocket in 1979 at an Indiana quarry and was hooked for life. His favorite specimens are, of course, self-collected. In his own words he “owes his collecting success to his friends (Ohio natives) Stan Esbenshade, Richard Reiter, and Tim Smith and has many wonderful memories of trips with them.”
In 2009 he joined the Friends of Mineralogy (FM), Midwest Chapter and became Treasurer in 2012 and continues to serve that office admirably. Jeff notes that FM field trips have given collectors like himself access to safety training and wonderful field trip opportunities.
His presentation will focus on three topics: 1) his personal collecting experiences, and specimens; 2) FM field trips and specimens collected by others; and 3) other interesting specimens.
Guests are welcome to the presentation.
This program is fit for all ages.
The Friends of Mineralogy Midwest Chapter covers an 8-state region: Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, Missouri, Iowa and Kentucky.
The Friends of Mineralogy (FM) is an organization devoted to the advancement of serious interest in minerals and related activities. It consists of mineral collectors, professional mineralogists and curators of public and private collections. The bond uniting these people is a love of mineral specimens and a desire to spread appreciation and knowledge of minerals. FM was formed in 1970 in Tucson, Arizona. An initial project was the establishment of The Mineralogical Record. The FM has had a close and continuing association with The Mineralogical Record and with Rocks & Minerals Magazine. One of the organization’s important activities has been support of the two magazines as vehicles for the preservation and dissemination of mineralogical information.
Goals of Friends of Mineralogy- To preserve and protect mineral specimens for education and research.
- To promote the preservation of valuable specimen localities and mining deposits.
- To encourage the collection of minerals for their research and educational value.
- To advance programs of mineral study and the educational activities of amateur groups.
- To promote the dissemination of information about minerals, mineral localities, collections and mineral studies.
FM is a non-profit, educational and scientific corporation, incorporated in the state of California. FM has an international membership and is run by a board of 19 directors, There are twelve elected directors, elected in blocks of 4 every year. There are 7 appointed directors from the chapters. Elections are conducted by mail the first of each year.
FM currently has about 650 members, three quarters of whom belong to one of six local chapters: Colorado, Mississippi Valley, Midwest, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Pacific Northwest, Southern California. The remainder are National Members. Membership in a local chapter is an option. Chapter membership can provide additional opportunities such as field trips and safety training.
An annual meeting for all members is held in Tucson during the Tucson Gem & Mineral show each February. Communication with members throughout the year is accomplished by a quarterly newsletter called the “Bulletin,”. In addition there are occasional FM columns in The Mineralogical Record and articles in the Rocks & Minerals magazine.