HISTORY OF THE MUSEUM 



Holmes 

 Collection. 



Hitchcock 

 Collection. 



Building 

 Stones. 



The Holmes collection of fossils of South Carolina, vertebrate and 

 invertebrate, from the Pleiocene and Postpliocene periods was purchased 

 in 1873 from Professor Francis S. Holmes. It included the types of 

 the species described in Tuomey and Holmes's works. 



In 1878 valuable geological material was received from Professor 

 C. H. Hitchcock in exchange for two series of Hall duplicates. It 

 contained a complete set of Vermont and New Hampshire rocks, 

 numbering about 2,000, illustrating the geological survey of those 

 states under the direction of Professor Hitchcock; types of Tertiary 

 plants from Brandon, Vermont; also rocks and fossils from Maine. 



The collection of rocks and fossils gathered by the United States 

 Survey of the 40th parallel was received on deposit in 1878. It con- 

 tained 3,523 fossils, 3,880 rocks, and also 2,800 microscopic sections 

 of rocks. 



The Department of Geology was greatly enlarged in 1886 by the 

 acquisition of the series of building stones. This series, a duplicate 

 of that collected under the direction of the 10th Census Commission, 

 was prepared at the expense of Mr. Morris K. Jesup, and contained 

 1,053 four-inch blocks, polished on the face and variously dressed on 

 the other sides. The specimens represent nearly every State and 

 contain samples of all rocks used for building and ornamental purposes. 



A group of important fossils from the Calciferous and Chazy forma- 

 tions of Vermont was received in 1886 as a donation from Professor 

 H. M. Seely, President Ezra Brainerd, and other members of the faculty 

 of Middlebury College. 



The Tyrrell collection of Placoderm fishes from the Devonian 

 rocks of Ohio was presented in 1899 by Mr. William E. Dodge. 



Some of the collections acquired by purchase or exchange, besides 

 those mentioned previously, are the series of plants of the Devonian 

 age, received in 1882 in exchange for one series of Hall duplicates; 

 Palestine fossils purchased in 1886 from Rev. Dr. William Bird 

 of Abeih, Syria; collection of Utica Slate fossils, comprising about 200 

 specimens purchased in 1890; collection of Silurian fossils of Ohio, 

 purchased in 1904; the Woodman collection of fossils, corals, and shells 



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