On Tuesday, April 4, at 7:00 p.m., we’ll be having our monthly meeting live and in person, featuring…
Harvard Mineral Collection Tour
with Kevin Czaja, Assistant Curator
The details…
This month, we have an opportunity to spend some time in the Harvard Museum’s mineral collection with Assistant Curator Kevin Czaja. As many of you know, the display room at the Harvard Mineralogical and Geological Museum underwent a complete makeover during the pandemic. Harvard took advantage of the closure to update all the cases with new safety glass and took the opportunity to update the displays. Some of the “old style” systematic cases were replaced by more modern style thematic cases that are more accessible to the everyday visitor. The result is a more vibrant space with more descriptive material to accompany the specimens. Many members had requested a tour of the new room, and Kevin has agreed to do a club walk-through and then take us into some of the back rooms, including the New England mineral collection.
Most club members know Kevin from his long association with the Boston Mineral Club, including his past stint as President and his current run as Director. He is also one of the prime movers behind our annual fall specimen competition. Kevin earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Connecticut and his masters from the University of Albany, and has been a professional mineralogist ever since. He has been working with the Earth and Planetary Sciences Department at Harvard for over 25 years and is currently the Assistant Curator of the Harvard collections, alongside Dr. Raquel Alonso-Perez. Kevin’s specialties include New England mineralogy, particularly pegmatites, and many have seen his show displays on one of his research favorites, the apatite group.
See our Monthly Meetings page for more information, including directions and parking instructions.