93-8 Dualities in Geology: Reckoning with Collecting and Access

Session: Crossing Borders in the History and Philosophy of the Geosciences

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Founded in 1872, the Rutgers University Geology Museum (RUGM) is the oldest geology museum in the country.  While achieving New Jersey’s land grant status solidified Rutgers’ role in the disciplinary movement to investigate the chemical and geological foundations of agriculture, it was the Museum collections that were central to education and public outreach.  In the effort to amass those collections, practitioners aggressively obtained mineral, fossil, and cultural artifacts.  These unethical collecting practices that were prevalent in the mid-19th century, often compounded by acts of historical erasure, were perpetuated through practices like salvage archaeology. 

Through community-based approaches and coordinated archival research efforts, the RUGM has moved to rectify these past injustices.  This process has also revealed several previously unacknowledged individuals who belonged to various marginalized groups, including women, disabled individuals, and immigrants, who made invaluable contributions to the museum's development.  Scientific, organizational, and artistic contributions from individuals such as William S. Valliant,  Alfred Poledo, and Anne Burgess had profound and lasting impacts on the museum's collections, research, and public engagement.  These research efforts illustrate the contradictory history that underlies historic institutions such as the RUGM and acknowledges past harms as well as triumphs.  While these institutions were built upon and benefited from the marginalization of many groups, this work revealed that they also served as a haven for minoritized individuals to pursue knowledge and thrive.  

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Program. Vol. 57, No. 6, 2025

doi: 10.1130/abs/2025AM-9750

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