Museum
of Geology in 1939The Dakota Territorial legislature established School of Mines March 7, 1885. Shortly thereafter the Gilbert E. Bailey mineral collection of 5000 specimens was acquired on June 12, 1885. In April, 1887, this cabinet (collection) was deeded to the School of Mines for $50. In 1886, Ms. Ellerman of Piedmont reported the presence of bones on Piedmont Butte in greenish rock. These bones, examined by Dean Carpenter, were named Barosaurus lentus and were sent to Yale University.
Specimens of minerals and rocks were used directly in the teaching program at the School of Mines. The first organized trip into Badlands to collect vertebrate fossils near Sheep Mountain Table was led by geologist C. C. O'Harra in 1899 and was accompanied by chemist Robert L. Slagle, mathematician H. L. McLaury, and a student H. M. Bowles. In 1901, the first class trip of 14 students was led by O'Harra and mining engineer Mark Ehle resulting in the discovery of what became known as "School of Mines Canyon."
By 1903? The Museum of Geology collections were housed in the Main Building and occupied a 36 x 47' room on the first floor in eight central display cases and two wall cases (see photo p. 47). Four cases contained minerals from throughout the world, two cases exhibited Black Hills minerals and rocks, one case contained polished marble slabs, and two cases contained fossils, one a stratigraphic collection and the other White River Badlands collection. The two wall cases exhibited materials, maps, rocks, minerals, and fossils shown at the St. Louis Exposition.
By 1920, "the geological museum was considered one of the important features of the School of Mines.' " In 1923, the Museum was opened to 552 registered summer visitors by mathematics professor Guy March, attendance which increased to 8,000 in 1924 and 12,000 in 1925. The cornerstone for the Gymnasium was laid April 27, 1928 (its significance will become apparent later).
Museum
of Geology in 1939
The Museum then under went an initial White River expansion and James D. Bump was hired to curate the burgeoning collections. In 1940, the National Geographic Society sponsored a Badlands expedition which was spearheaded by President Joseph Connolly and executed in the field by Curator James D. Bump.
The Museum was moved into the O'Harra Building in 1944 with an Exhibit Hall on the upper floor housing collections, a small shop, teaching lab, and Director's Office The O'Harra Building was designed to accommodate the expanding Museum and also housed the Library and Administration on a temporary basis.
During the Summer of 1952, a major expedition to the Badlands and Pine Ridge was initiated by Museum Director James Bump accompanied by Dr. J. R. Macdonald, Dr. Morton Green, and Harold Martin. In 1953 , Macdonald won an NSF grant in the amount of $2,100 to study North American Anthracrotheres. Dr. Green continued teaching Biology and had an appointment in the Museum of Geology.
Dr. Edward Tullis acted as interim Director in 19xx and 19xx.
A rich tradition of stewardship of print and photographic resources was established by the Museum and continued with the donation of the James Bump Library in 19xx. This vertebrate paleontology library was augmented by the donation of the J. R. Macdonald library in 19xx and subsequently by donation of the Gale A. Bishop Decapod Library in 2000.
When Geology and Geological Engineering moved to the Mineral Industries Building in 1961, three offices and two laboratories in the basement (the current Human Resources area) were made available for Museum use and housed the Mineral Collection and staff offices. Collections of prepared specimens were stored in cabinets in the Paleontology Lab in the Exhibit Hall and unprepared jacketed casts of vertebrate fossils were stored in a small Museum workroom and shop as well as in the elevator shaft (oops! the rope broke in ~1963). In 1961-65? under Director Robert W. Wilson, the vertebrate collections were again renovated and the White River Dioramas constructed by Assistant Director Harold E. Martin. (Min. '31) and Alice Beebe. Dr. Wilson taught the vertebrate paleontology courses and Harold Martin taught Museum Methods. Wilson's major research was accomplished in studying multituberculates from the Late Cretaceous Hell Creek of northwestern South Dakota.
As School of Mines administrative needs increased the basement space was reallocated to administrative use and portions of the Old Gym were assigned to the Museum. During the 1960's and 1970's the Museum rapidly built its mineral collections, particularly the Black Hills Mineral Collection, under the direction of Curator of Mineralogy (and later Director) Willard L. Roberts and mineralogist George Rapp, Jr. as they actively performed research into the phosphates of Black Hills pegmatites. Renovation of the mineral exhibits occurred in 1980 with the addition of modern systematic display cases for each chemical group and a separate room in which to display the minerals of the Black Hills.
The Museum underwent another rapid expansion in vertebrate collections as Philip R. Bjork (Director 1981?-2001) and James E. Martin and became active in the 1980s and 1990's. The world's sixth Tyrannasaurs rex was collected in 1981 (and 1982) by Bjork from the ranch of Jennings and Shirley Floden. In 1981 Martin collected a butchered mammoth from the Ferguson-Lang site. These discoveries led to formation of the PalMin Society, a friends of the Museum group. This collaboration eventually led to the partnering of the Museum of Geology and Department of Geology and Geological Engineering collaborating to build one of the World's largest Paleontology Programs which is now comprised of 16 graduate students in M.S. and Ph.D. programs. Phil Bjork (Geol 196x) also studied a dinosaur bone bed on the Floden Ranch, fossils of the White River Badlands, and a Pleistocene fissure fill fauna in the Bald Mountain? Gold Mine, north of Lead. Jim Martin collected the abundant vertebrates of the Sharon Springs Member of the Pierre Shale and Missouri Valley and dinosaurs of the Jurassic Morrison Formation, a Pleistocene fauna at Fossil lake, Oregon (199x-present), and vertebrtaes from Australia (2000) and Antarctica (1999).
A strong tradition of student training resulted from initiation of Museum Methods by Harold E. Martin. It was enhanced by subsequent Preparators Mertin L.? Bowman (196x-197x) and Collections Managers Janet Whitmore (197x-198x), and Carrie L. Herbel ( 1995-present) eventually providing a foundation for training students in the Paleontology program and provided a significant component important to the preparation of a constant backlog of collected specimens.
The endowment of the Haslem Fellowship in 199x) has allowed us to enrich our program with a post-doctoral student to assist in Museum Operations. The Haslem Fellow is housed in Old Gym 400.
The Museum as now configured consists of the Exhibit Hall, major collections of rocks, mineral,s vertebrate fossils, and invertebrate fossils, a staff of three full-time and one part-time paleontologists, and our libraries.. Visitation is now approximately 70,000 persons per year. in 1977?, space in the Old Gym was modified to include a storage area in the (dry) swimming pool, a deck over the pool, and in the surrounding areas. This building still houses the Major collections storage (old stage), the preparation lab, and student study areas. A warehouse was rented in 19xx) to alleviate some of the jacketed storage pressure on Old Gym space and costs us $600/month.
In 2000 the world's largest fossil decapod collection was donated to the Museum of Geology (through the SDSM&T Foundation) and the pool boiler room was cleared for accommodation of this collection of over 22,000 specimens.
Museum Directors
Collections Managers/Preparators
Haslem Fellows
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