In general, the BMC meets at 7:00 p.m. on the first Tuesday of every month in Haller Hall in the Harvard University Museum of Natural History building in Cambridge, MA. Each meeting features refreshments, a speaker from the mineral world, and a mineral specimen raffle. Visitors to our monthly meetings are always welcome!
Of course, there’s more to it than that….
Monthly Meeting Exceptions
Holidays, the collecting season, and global pandemics can interrupt our live meeting schedule, as detailed below:
COVID-19 and Other Pandemics
During pandemics and other disasters that don’t allow in-person meetings, the club meets virtually via Zoom or GoToMeeting.
Holiday/Seasonal Exceptions
Although the club usually meets on the first Tuesday of the month, it meets on the second Tuesday if a three-day holiday, such as Labor Day, precedes the first Tuesday, or if the first Tuesday is an election day.
To give members plenty of time to focus on field collecting, the club does not normally meet in the months of July and August.
Meeting Details
Here’s everything you need to know to attend our live meetings:
Where
When there’s no pandemic, meetings are held in Haller Hall, accessible via the 24 Oxford Street entrance to Harvard University’s Museum of Natural History building in Cambridge, MA. If you are standing facing the main entrance to the museum, look toward the right end of the building. You will see another door at the top of some steps about 10 to 20 yards away. That is the entrance that leads to the large Geological Lecture Hall (on the right after you enter the building), and our meeting room, Haller Hall, is just down the hallway on the left.
When
Members and visitors are encouraged to gather at 7:00 p.m. to socialize, enjoy refreshments, and set up displays of mineral specimens to complement the meeting topic. The proceedings begin with a short business meeting at 7:30 p.m., followed by the featured program of the evening, and ending with the club’s popular mineral specimen raffle.
What
The program is usually an educational presentation on a mineralogical topic, supported by projected slides, exhibits, or videos. Speakers may be experts in the Earth Sciences academic community, professional mineralogists or geologists, jewelers or lapidaries, or veteran collectors from outside or within the BMC.
Special programs throughout the year include our Annual Show and Tell Night at the September meeting and the Annual Specimen Competition at the November meeting.
Parking
Parking for regular BMC meetings is in the Harvard University underground parking garage at 52 Oxford Street. The entrance to this lot is just opposite Everett Street. Please see the map below for the location of the parking garage relative to the museum.
When you arrive at the tollbooth, tell the attendant your are there to attend the Boston Mineral Club meeting, and they will provide you with a one-night passcard for free.
After parking in the garage, take the elevator to the ground floor, then exit the building through the glass doors up the steps to your right. It is a short walk from the garage to the museum. Be sure to take your parking passcard with you to get back into the garage after the meeting.
Bonus!
The mineral displays of the Harvard Mineralogical Museum are usually open to BMC members free of charge between 6:30 and 7:30 p.m. before each meeting!
Some of Our Speakers!
