The A.E. Seaman Mineral Museum, currently located on the campus of Michigan Technological University in Houghton, Michigan, is the official mineral museum of the state of Michigan and is a heritage site of the Keweenaw National Historical Park.[1] The museum is named for professor Arthur Edmund Seaman, who worked at Michigan Tech in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and was the museum's curator from 1928–1937.[2]
The mineral collection was established in the 19th century, and by 1890 numbered 27,000 specimens.[2] The museum currently houses over 25,000 specimens from around the world.[1] Most of these specimens are native generally to Michigan, and more specifically to the Lake Superior region.
History[]
The mineral museum first became a reality in 1902, when it was set up in the former Qualitative Laboratory room in Hubbell Hall[2]on Michigan Tech's campus. In 1908, a separate building (which would later become Tech's Administration Building) was constructed for the museum.[2] The museum fully occupied the second floor of the building. In 1931, the museum was moved to Hotchkiss Hall.[2][3] The museum was renamed the A. E. Seaman Mineral Museum in 1932.[4]
On 17 June 1976 the museum moved to the fifth floor of the Electrical Energy Resource Center at Michigan Tech,[5] built on the site of Hotchkiss Hall. In 2011, the museum moved to a new building,[6] Thomas D Shaffner Hall, across from the Advanced Technology Development Complex. It is named for Thomas Shaffner, a Michigan Tech alumnus who donated $1 million for the new museum.[7]
The museum was designated the "official Mineralogical Museum of Michigan" in 1990 by the Michigan Legislature.[8]
Curators[]
- Arthur Edmund Seaman (1928–1937)
- Kiril Spiroff (1938–1943)
- Wyllis Seaman (1943–1948)
- Kiril Spiroff (1964–1975)
- Jean Peterman Kemp (1975–1986)
- Stanley J Dyl II (1986–1996)
- George Willard Robinson (1996–present)
- Christopher J. Stefano (2013-present)