Re: Avocational micropaleontologists

[Elizabeth Nesbitt <lnesbitt@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Here at the Burke Museum we have 4 volunteers, who each come in two days a
week to pick and i.d forams,under Stan Malloy's direction. They are each
 pursuing a different project, as well as working on curation,  
are fun to have around - and invaluable to the Museum.

Liz Nesbitt
Curator, Geology Division
Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture
Box 353010, University of Washington
Seattle, WA 98195-3010

On Wed, 27 Aug 1997, Jere H. Lipps wrote:

> Andrew is right--I've never met an avocational micropaleontologist either,
> although there were great ones in the past.  Some museums have had amateurs
> come in and pick forams, however.  This is not the same as doing
> voluntarily at home, but it demonstrates some interest out there.
> 
> I was very surprized when someone proposed for our Forams '94 meeting in
> Berkeley that we have a special session for teachers.  I said it was a
> waste of time, since I assumed teachers would know nothing.  Boy, was I
> wrong.  Teachers came, they loved looking at forams brought by Bill Sliter,
> Karen Wetmore, Jim Ingle and myself, and they appreciated the lectures and
> discussions.  They especially enjoyed meeting micropaleontologists from
> other countries--Japan, Germany, Philippines, Texas, France, etc.
> 
> I was wrong, and microfossils have since been incorporated into teacher
> workshops we've done at AGU (San Fran.) GSA (Denver) and other places.
> 
> Don't give up--I think we're getting someplace.  And the teachers really
> were impressed that you could do so much more with forams than with
> dinosaurs.  They just didn't know!
> 
> Jere
> 
> 
>