Minerals.net

When I visited the New York State Museum in Albany in August, I took many photos of the individual minerals in the display cases. This second post on the New York State Museum shows some of those minerals that I had photographed. Click the photos to enlarge them.

The New York State Museum is a large museum in Albany, located in the Empire State Plaza complex, near the State Capital and other government buildings. The museum contains art, relics, and specimens that reflect the cultural, natural, and geological development of the State of New York.

The museum was founded in 1836, and is the oldest and largest state museum in the country. Its collections rank among the finest in many fields, and according to the museum's website, it contains more than 16 million scientific specimens, and over a million cultural objects.

The museum has the world's largest and most complete representation of New York State minerals, as well as the largest public exhibit of minerals specific to New York. It has a large mineral hall, with a public displays showcasing some of exemplary minerals from New York state. The display specimens have been selected based on their significance and aesthetics. The exhibits are broken down by several different categories or collections. Some examples of themed displays include Minerals of New York City, minerals of the Adirondack region, minerals of the Hudson Highlands, pegmatite minerals of New York, amphiboles of New York, and minerals from the Oren Root collection.

In addition to the minerals on display, the museum also has a very large collection in their private vaults that is not visible to the public. The entire collection totals about 35,000 specimens, with more than 11,000 minerals of New York; the remainder being worldwide specimens. 

The museum is not well-known among many mineral enthusiasts, due to its lack of representation and marketing within the significant mineral shows and events. However, visiting this museum is highly recommended, especially for regional mineral collectors. In addition to the significant mineral collection displays, there are many other interesting exhibits and sections within the museum that are worth visiting. 

Click the pictures below for larger images:

You can now view our September 2016 newsletter online. Please click the image below for the larger version.

Much thought has been given to the specific localities we selected to be included within the mineral detail pages on our website. Our aim is to put special emphasis on localities that are significant to the mineral and often associated with it. Those localities that are less important and have only produced reference specimens are generally excluded.

The most detailed mineral reference website, Mindat, makes an attempt to include every locality for every mineral, and this is indeed a great tool for research and reference. However, the purpose of our website is to try to stick to relevant and practical information on each mineral, making sure we stay within the scope of friendly usability. Our goal is to give a detailed, yet personalized, account of each mineral without overwhelming our readers.

Any locality that is associated with a particular mineral will always be mentioned for that mineral. Examples include  Pyromorphite from the Bunker Hill Mine in Idaho or Rhodochrosite from the Sweet Home Mine in Colorado. We will still include localities that are no longer producing, even those long extinct, if they were classic or significant specimen producers of the mineral.

Other criteria we include in our locality sections are deposits that have been prolific producers of specimens, localities that have produced interesting or unique habits for the mineral, and economically important deposits for the mineral - even if they have not produced any collector-worthy specimens.

Very common minerals such as Quartz and Calcite are found in good examples worldwide in thousands of important specimen-producing localities. While it is impractical for us to list all of these localities, (even some of the better ones), our selection of locations for these minerals are focused on those that are considered very well-known or classic occurrences. An example is Quartz from Hot Springs in Arkansas and Calcite from the Sweetwater Mine in Missouri.

Some locality information is more detailed than others. Localities within the United States will always have the municipality listed (i.e. city/town/village community name), as well as the county. For worldwide localities, we try to associate the most commonly used provincial and regional names associated with the more specific location. All locality information is checked against the Mindat database, and we also check spelling and provincial information with Google Maps.

Mine or quarry names will be referenced if they are significant or specific to the location. However, they may not be individually specified if there are several specimen-producing mines within the region.

We have multiple sources that we reference when checking for localities. Some localities are common knowledge. Sources include many field guides, especially Frederick Pough's Rocks and Minerals, and Charles W. Chesterman's field guide to North American Rocks and Minerals. A large collection of books is at our disposal, and we read and take locality notes on both current and past mineral magazines, such as the Mineralogical Record and Rocks and Minerals.

We also take notes at mineral shows when we see quality new material available from several dealers (i.e. the new Gold specimen discovery in Matto Grosso, Brazil.) A new and excellent tool at our disposal is Moore's Compendium of Mineral Discoveries, which lists a vast and extensive list of all documented mineral occurrences since 1960.

To prevent sentences from becoming overburdened with place names, we have chosen to separate locality names with semicolons. This enables the reader to determine which localities go together as a further describer and where to separate with a new locality.

We have been at work adding in new minerals in our database. We have added in additional halide minerals, with detailed information, good pictures, and 3D crystal animations.

• Chlorargyrite 
• Bromargyrite 
• Cryolite
• Iodargyrite
• Sal Ammoniac
• Sylvite