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 NEWSLETTER

Volume 18, #2                       September 4, 2015
__________________________________________________________________________

Inside:
SMMP Meetings
Denver Agenda
President's Message
Meeting Minutes
Best Practices Project
Grant Program
SMMP Europe
SMMP Affiliations
SMMP List Server
Paying Dues

Board of Directors

President
Penny Williamson

School of Earth and Environmental Sciences
University of Wollongong
NSW 2522, Australia

Past President
Virgil W. Lueth

New Mexico Bureau of Mines
801 Leroy Place
Socorro, NM 87801, USA

Vice President
Julian Gray
Rice Northwest Museum
 of Rocks & Minerals
Hillsboro, OR, USA

Secretary
Jean F. DeMouthe

California Academy of Science
Golden Gate Park
San Francisco, CA 94118, USA

Treasurer
Anna M. Domitrovic

6118 W. Lazy Heart Street
Tucson, AZ 85713, USA

Webmaster
Anthony R. Kampf

Natural History Museum
of Los Angeles County
900 Exposition Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90007, USA

Board Members:

Katherine Dunnell
Mineralogy Department
Royal Ontario Museum
100 Queen's Park
Toronto, Ontario M5S 2C6, Canada

Alan Hart
Department of Mineralogy
Natural History Museum
Cromwell Road
London SW7 5BD, England

Terri Ottaway
Gemological Institute of America
5345 Armada Drive
Carlsbad, CA 92008, USA

DENVER MEETINGS

Date:

Place:

Board Meeting:

Membership Meeting:

 Friday, September 18, 2015

 Denver Merchandise Mart (F38-40)

 2:00 - 2:30 PM

 2:30 - 3:30 PM

Denver Exhibit: "Unusual, rare or interesting specimens from the American Southwest"
Please contact Jean DeMouthe if you are planning to participate in our society exhibit at the Denver Gem & Mineral Show.

* * *

TENTATIVE DENVER AGENDA 

  1. Call to Order
  2. Introductions
  3. Approval of the Tucson Meeting Minutes
  4. Treasurer's Report
  5. Membership Report
  6. Collections/Curators Committee Report
  7. Education Committee - Denver exhibit; Tucson program and case
  8. SMMP Grant Program Report
  9. Best Practices Initiative
  10. New Business

* * *

PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE

Greetings on the eve of another Denver Gem & Mineral Show, a great opportunity to catch up with some fellow curators as well as indulge in the world of minerals. The Denver Show has evolved recently, with the unfortunate closure of the next-door fossil show, the addition of a Fine Mineral show at the Marriott the weekend prior to the main show, and The Coliseum show competing with all. The DGMS and Marty Zinn Expos shows are relatively similar to past years, although hotel names keep changing. I hope Denver doesn't expand like Tucson in time and space, as it is a lovely compact mineral experience. If you haven't been to Denver for a few years, consider coming along.

The revised first circular for M&M8 Changsha has been posted on our website by Tony, who advised the SMMP membership through the list server as soon as it was available. We rely on Tony's quiet efficiency to keep both the list server and website running, our primary means of communicating with each other. Thanks Tony. It has been pleasing that there have been less stolen specimens from institutions reported missing this year, although there was a nasty theft of quality material from Desmond Sacco's collection in December last year.

Jean is coordinating our Denver display (again), as well as her own. Please assist if possible. Jean has to do all the labels for specimens before leaving San Francisco, so don't leave it to the last minute please.

If you are not financial, this is a friendly reminder to contact our treasurer Anna. The dues remain at just $10 per year and European members can pay Peter Davidson at the Munich Show in October.

The European sub-group will be meeting at the Munich Show, as usual. If you are going to Munich in October and have any queries, please contact Peter Davidson.

Two new mineral shows have been added to the world calendar this year. The inaugural Hong Kong Show was held in the last weekend of June, at the same time as the Ste. Marie aux Mines show. I visited on the way home from the busy Ste. Marie show, and it was very quiet for the few American dealers: most European dealers were in France.

A fine mineral show will be held at Ausrox in Melbourne 5th December. If you are thinking of coming to Australia, you could combine the Australian Fine Mineral Show with Christmas on the beach!

We welcome any new ideas. If you would like any issues discussed at the Denver meeting, please contact me so we can ensure there is time available. We usually manage to take up the entire hour with lively discussion.

Looking forward to catching up with many colleagues in Denver.

Penny Williamson
President

* * *

MINUTES OF THE TUCSON MEETING
February 2015

Click on the link above to view the minutes.

* * *

BEST PRACTICES PROJECT

The first "best practices" documents about research sampling of collections are posted on the SMMP website:

BEST PRACTICES REPORT NO. 1: Research Sampling of Collections

BEST PRACTICES REPORT NO. 2: Moving Specimens

We are looking for more in the series - please submit your idea to the board at the Denver meeting or contact Virgil Lueth (vwlueth@nmt.edu).

* * *

SMMP GRANT PROGRAM

The SMMP Grant Program Awards are to support curatorial research and methodologies that address one or more of the Society of Mineral Museum Professionals (SMMP) mission statement goals: 1) foster recognition of mineral science collections as essential scientific, educational and cultural resources, 2) promote support for growth, maintenance and use of collections and exhibits and, 3) advance museum practice through cooperation in the development, review and dissemination of information. Amounts vary up to a maximum of $1000 per grant. Grant awards determined by SMMP Board of Directors. Grant applications are available on request. Applications are due August 1st and award notification on October 1st. Guidelines are available on our website: http://www.agiweb.org/smmp/support-SMMP.htm

* * *

SMMP Europe 2014 Meeting

Dear Colleagues,

We will, as in previous years, be organising a meeting of the SMMP (Europe) and IMA-CM during the Munich Mineral Show on Friday, October 30th from 16:00 to 17:00 in Room EO.02, East Entrance (Eingang Ost), Munich Messe. Note: Room EO.02 is on the left hand side of the entrance hall to the show, close to the Mineral Show Office (Messeb�ro).

Peter Davidson
P.Davidson@nms.ac.uk

* * *

SMMP AFFILIATIONS

American Geological Institute (AGI)

Natural Science Collections Alliance NSCA)

Although the Society of Mineral Museum Professionals maintains no official ties with the Commission on Museums (CM) of the International Mineralogical Association (IMA), the Commission resolved at its December, 2000, meeting in Melbourne, Australia, to support SMMP's efforts in uniting mineral museum professionals worldwide.

* * *

SMMP LIST SERVER

You are encouraged to interact with your fellow SMMP members via our list server:

smmp@listserv.nhm.org

Please remember that when you reply to an email sent via our list server, you will be replying to the sender, although you have the option of copying the membership.

Tony Kampf processes additions to and deletions from the list server. That way we limit the list to our membership and if a member decides that they want to be dropped from the list, Tony will know whether to send them the SMMP Newsletter by snail mail. Note that you are only able to send via the list server from your email address that is on the list server. This should be the same one that is used in our on-line roster.

* * *

PAYING DUES

SMMP dues are $10.00 U.S., payable to Anna Domitrovic, treasurer, 6118 W. Lazy Heart Street, Tucson, AZ 85713. Any directory changes or additions should be sent to Tony Kampf. In Europe, dues can be remitted to Peter Davidson, National Museums of Scotland, Chambers Street, Edinburgh EH1 1JF, SCOTLAND.

To make paying your dues easier (especially for non-US members), a PayPal account has been established and installed on our website. You can use your credit card or your own personal PayPal account. Just go to our Dues webpage.

Note that you can check your dues payment status on the SMMP on-line roster. The year shown in the last column indicates the last year for which you have paid. If you are delinquent, please remit your dues payment as soon as possible.

Remember to renew your membership. If you are planning to pay dues at the Denver meeting, help Anna by filling out a membership application with your dues payment. Do it beforehand and save time at the meeting!


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The Society of Mineral Museum Professionals
Webmaster: Anthony R. Kampf