26 Old Collections, New Tricks

This session highlights how re-examination and contemporary analysis of geoscience collections (i.e., rock, fossil, and archival collections, or geologic maps) can advance science, rewrite historical narratives, and contribute to discussions on social justice.

Monday, 23 March 2026
1:30 PM - 5:30 PM
CCC, Room 25

Old Collections and New Tricks at the Stone Pavilion, UConn Storrs.

Paper number: 26-4
Program: Technical Sessions
Time: 2:35 PM – 2:55 PM

Authors

Abstract

"A tiny hexagonal building built of mortared stone and shaped like a euhedral quartz crystal occupies the summit of a cuesta-form ridge of Paleozoic gneiss in Storrs, Connecticut, USA. Dedicated to a crowd of thousands in 1937, this architectural gem quickly fell into obscurity beginning with the Great New England hurricane of 1938."  That's the opening of the abstract for "Geoheritage of the Stone Pavilion," an article published in the journal Geoheritage on October 30, 2025.  The walls of the exterior and most of the interior were built from a collection of glacially milled and human quarried stones from all 169 towns in the state. The northern three sections of the interior hexagon display a collection of 50 beautiful specimen stones, one from each state in the nation. The bedrock ridge bordering the pavilion features glacially transported slabs of melt-out till that constitute a third collection.  Reversing the title of this topical session, our "new tricks" for these "old collections" are to reclaim, name, resurrect, restore, and share this important, but overlooked building as: a historic symbol for the rise of UConn as an international university; a natural history exhibit for earth science education from pre-K to learning-in-retirement; and a geoheritage site proclaiming the unitedness of the United States.  All fifty state geological surveys were involved in specimen identification and interpretation. The tagline for this scholarly engagement project by the Department of Earth Sciences is: "Explore ancient worlds. Feel the crystal vibe. Learn UConn history."  Check out the website at  https://earthsciences.uconn.edu/stone_pavilion_project/

 

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol. 58, No. 2

doi: 10.1130/abs/2026NE-411363

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