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Report on the joint
meeting of the
IMA-Commission on Museums and SMMP-Europe
Munich, Germany - November 3,
2006
The annual Meeting of the IMA-Commission
on Museums and SMMP (Europe) was held during the Munich Mineral Show on Friday 3rd
November 2006at 4:00 pm in room B 12 (Hall B 1). 22 curators from 8 countries
(Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Norway, Switzerland, UK, and USA) attended the
meeting.
Lydie Touret (Paris/France) as
Chairwoman of the CM and Peter Davidson (Edinburgh/Scotland-UK) as European
Representative of SMMP opened and moderated the meeting. Minutes were taken by
Kay Schuermann (Marburg/Germany).
Pre-amble
Lydie Touret opened the meeting by
giving a short report of the IMA-Meeting in July 2006 in Kobe/Japan. She talked
briefly about the Business Meetings and referred to the problems and discussions
that arose in deciding where the next M&M Conference will be held. It was
revealed that the meeting in 2008 - M&M6 - will be held September 7-9, 2008 at
the Green Centre Facility, at the Colorado School of Mines campus in Golden
Colorado. Field trips will be planned to run prior to the meeting and the Denver
Gem and Mineral Show will be open on September 11th. It was also
decided that in order to ensure a better representation of voting national
members when it comes to making a decision on the venue for M&M 7 in 2012, the
decision itself will be made during the IMA Business Meetings in 2008 (and not
as at the IMA-Meeting 2010 in Budapest/Hungary which would have been the normal
procedure).
Peter Davidson gave a small report about
the SMMP meeting in Denver 2006 and once again urged all curators to join the
SMMP. As European Co-ordinator, Peter was able to send a letter on behalf of
SMMP (Europe) to the authorities in Russia to help in the campaign to maintain
the independence of the Fersman Museum. He thanked everyone for their support.
Museum
Reports
Italy
-
Vanni Moggi Cecchi from Prato(Italy)
announced the opening of the new �Museo di Scienze Planetarie (www.mspo.it)�.
This new museum houses two collections of meteorites (150+) including the
Nardini Collection, and about minerals (1500+).
-
Carlo M. Gramaccioli, Francesco
Demartin (University of Milan) and Federico Pezzotta (Museum of Natural
History, Milan)/ Italy gave a report on the state of the collections at the
Museum of Natural History in Milan. They report that the Mineral Collection is
not in very good shape at present. However, a start was made on creating a
computer-based inventory of the about 50.000 specimen and as a result a number
of new minerals were discovered and these were written up and published in
cooperation with colleagues from the university.
-
It was announced that Allessandro
Guastoni has moved from Milan to Padua to head the Mineralogical Museum of the
University of Padua (Italy); the collection and the catalogues were until
recently stored in a non-standard way.
Switzerland
-
In Switzerland, Beda Hofmann is to be
the successor of Tony Stadler at the Museum of Natural History Bern
(Switzerland). His first task is to begin a major new research project on
meteorites. It was also announced that Mr Edwin Gnoz from the Museum of
Natural History Geneve (Switzerland), whose collections seem to be in good
shape, is to undertake a project based in Madagascar.
Germany
-
The Mineralogical Collection of the
Technical University at Berlin celebrated its 125th Anniversary in
2006. The curator, Suzanne Herting-Agthe, regretfully told the meeting that
that the exhibitions are closed at present to deal with the removal of
asbestos. They expect to re-open in Spring 2007.
-
Hans-Peter Schertl of the
Mineralogical Collection of the Ruhr-University Bochum, which has a famous
Petrological Collection, informed the delegates that the University is to
incorporate the petrological collection of the University Bonn.
-
The building in which the
Mineralogical Collection of the University Jena is housed ia to be renovated
reported Birgit Kreher-Hartmann. A new catalogue of historical meteorites has
been prepared.
-
Joachim Lorenz told us that the
Spessart Collection at Aschaffenburg would be moving into a new building.
-
The Museum �Reich der Kristalle�
(Munich) plans a total change of its permanent exhibition (Gilla Simon).
-
Jochen Schl�ter from the Mineralogical
Museum Hamburg (Germany) reported that he will, with others, be compiling a
special type specimen catalogue for Germany (there will be a special flyer).
-
Kay Sch�rmann (Frankfurt/Germany)
reported that he is now responsible for the mineralogical collection of the
Senckenberg Museum of Natural History in Frankfurt/Main; This large collection
with about 20,000 mostly historical samples has been without a curator since
1923.
USA
Norway
-
Fred Steinar Nordrum of the Mining
Museum in Kongsberg reported that as a result of a major reform of museums in
Norway, the Kongsberg Museum will be the central museum in a network of 16
museums. The buildings of the old mining company, which date from 1786, will
be added to the main museums complex, but the renovation will be difficult.
Austria
-
Uwe Kolitsch who works in the
crystallography section at the University of Vienna, will be the succcessor to
Dr. Gerd Niedermayr at the Museum of Natural Sciences Vienna in a part time
capacity. Uwe also announced that special software for the cataloguing of
minerals (Imdas-Pro 3.0) is being developed.
France
-
J.C.Boulliard of University Pierre et
Marie Curie, Paris (France) reported on the move of the famous University
collections to a new location (Audiovision, CD-ROM for visitors).
-
Am�d�e Djemai of the Ecole des Mines
(School of Mines), Paris, a teacher in technical mineralogy, is working on
�nanomineralogy themes�. A new exhibition about the Etna Volcanic Complex is
in preparation. Lydie Touret, also of the Ecole des Mines, has begun a project
to digitize the catalogue of the systematic mineral collection; 80,000 samples
will be put on to the internet.
United Kingdom
Meeting
Conclusion
The meeting closed at 5:00pm with the announcement that the next meeting will be
on 2nd November 2007 in Munich.
Peter Davidson
SMMP European Coordinator
Department of Natural Sciences
National Museums of Scotland
Chambers Street
Edinburgh EH1 1JF
Scotland |
