THE HISTORY OF GEOLOGY DIVISION Volume 27, Number 4 http://www.gsahist.org December 2003 SEATTLE 2003 HISTORY OF GEOLOGY DIVISION RECEIVES BEQUEST The announcement was made at the History of Geology Division/HESS reception that the Division has received a bequest of $86,000! from the estate of Mary Rabbitt, the HoG Award recipient in 1984 and a GSA Fellow, who died August 8, 2002, at age 87. Mary Priscilla Collins was born and raised in the Boston area and chose geology as her major at Radcliffe. At that time, Radcliffe women were forbidden to attend any Harvard classes. So Esper Larsen allowed Mary to sit in his office with the door open to hear his petrology lectures across the hall. She received her BA (magna cum laude) in 1937 and shortly afterward in the Seismological Society of America’s Bulletin she published her first paper, about earthquakes in New England. Mary then returned to Radcliffe as a teaching fellow with Kirtley Mather and then an assistant seismologist with Don Leet at Harvard’s Seismograph Station. During World War II, she worked on normal and nuclear explosion seismology. In November of 1947, she married John Charles ("Jack") Rabbitt who completed his Ph.D. at Harvard that same year. In 1948, Jack became head of the USGS Geochemistry and Petrology Branch’s Trace Elements Section. The next year, Mary joined USGS as Geophysicist­in­charge of the Geophysics Branch’s Abstracts Unit, the section responsible for publication of Geophysical Abstracts. From 1950­1957, she was the Assistant Chief of that Branch. After the death of her husband in 1957, Mary succeeded him at the USGS as the Geology Division’s Staff Assistant for Publications. In 1966, the USGS Director, William Pecora, appointed Mary as Geologist and his Staff Assistant, and it was he who encouraged Mary that, "when you have time..." have a look at the history of the USGS. She did, indeed, "have time," for in 1954, the 75th anniversary of the USGS, she and her husband, Jack, had published in Science a brief account of that history. Mary later expanded this history, and in 1979 published the "Brief History of the U.S. Geological Survey." Later, for the 100th anniversary of his Colorado River exploration, she did a brief analysis of the life and work of Powell which was published in 1995 as "John Wesley Powell's Exploration of the Colorado River." After her retirement in 1978, Mary prepared an assessment and history of the public lands, government mapping policies, and the development of mineral resources in the U.S. from the founding of the USGS to 1939. The first volume of this four­volume work was issued on March 2, 1979, as part of the Centennial Celebration of the USGS. Other volumes came out in 1980 and 1987. The fourth volume of this series was still in preparation at the time of her death, and Clifford Nelson, a friend and colleague at USGS, undertook the task of completing this final volume. In addition to receiving the History of Geology Award in 1984, she also received the Distinguished Service Award from the Department of Interior. Mary Rabbitt is survived by Patricia M. Ieradi, a niece, and two nephews, John A. Collins III and Michael Collins. [Biographical information taken from the memorial in Geotimes December 2002 and a news release from USGS, August 30, 2002, both by Cliff Nelson. ­ Editor] Mary Rabbitt was a long­time supporter of the history of geology, and this bequest demonstrates the depth of her support and commitment. The Division will honor her memory by using the income from the bequest to expand and enhance its programs in the history of geology. [TOC] Table of Contents History of Geology division receives bequest History of Geology/HESS sessions Division reception Annual luncheon and business meeting, part I Annual luncheon and business meeting, part ii Necrology HoG operating fund HoG award fund Note from Dan Merriam Request for help Kudos Noted with interest Collections and library Silver­jubilee anniversary New organizations Lost friends Upcoming meetings and other items Northeastern/Southeastern GSA section meeting March 25­27, 2004 History of Geology Award for 2004 ­ call for nominations 2003­2004 History of Geology Division Officers HISTORY OF GEOLOGY/HESS SESSIONS The two sessions jointly sponsored by the Division and the History of Earth Sciences Society were very successful and well attended. Roger is to be congratulated for his fine effort in gathering such a diverse and most interesting group of speakers and topics, ranging from landscape in Renaissance art, to the 17th century conundrum ­ were fossils once living?, to the way women paleontologists were accepted in Britain and Germany, even to astrobiology. At the general session, participants were treated to who really created the hardness scale, Mohs or Werner? and what the well equipped 18th century field geologist carried with him ­ the wagon loads!!, plus many other papers that were listed in the last newsletter. In addition to the regular history session, the Division and HESS were co­sponsors of the Lewis and Clarke Pardee Session, and the Hydrogeology Division’s special Darcy session. All in all, we had some super papers! [TOC] DIVISION RECEPTION A great time was had by all at the reception and Part II of our business meeting (see below) on Monday evening. Over 100 people came to enjoy the liquid refreshment and food, the fine conversation, and, as mentioned earlier, the announcement about Mary Rabbitt’s bequest to the Division. Many students, and members, carried away some fine door prizes, including a USGS annual report volume, Jim Secord’s book A Victorian Sensation about Chamberlin’s Vestiges of Creation (courtesy of Roger), a facsimile reprint of Gesner’s 1861 volume on oil, three issues of Oil­Industry History (courtesy of the Petroleum History Institute), and several sweat shirts and items provided to us by GSA. If you missed it, you missed a fine evening. Mark your calendar for next year in Denver!! [TOC] ANNUAL LUNCHEON AND BUSINESS MEETING, PART I Sunday, November 2, 2003 Roger Thomas, Division Chair, opened the meeting and read the necrology (see below), followed by a moment of silence as members remembered those departed from us. Bill Brice, Secretary­Treasurer gave a brief financial report but was to receive more information from GSA after the meeting. The final report is given below. He noted that making and sending the hard copy of the newsletter is not costing as much as had been anticipated, thanks to the fact that most of our membership now receives their copy via the web site. He gave membership numbers: 280 (2001), 353 (2002), 316 (2003), noting that our numbers are down for this year and called upon each member to help recruit some new people. However, Bill pointed out that as a percentage of all GSA members who are in a division, the HoG Division has stayed between 3.3% and 4% since 1994. Another interesting note, over 27% of our membership does not use e­mail, the highest of any GSA division. [But Hugh Rance, our web master, does make it possible for the other 73% to connect with our web site. Our thanks to him for his efforts in keeping our site current.] Gary Rosenberg presented the report of the Nominating Committee: He noted that Ed Rogers was successfully persuaded not to resign his position with the Division. The nominations submitted by the Committee were: Charles Byers (Chair), Ed Rogers (1st Vice­Chair), W. R. Brice (Secretary­Treasurer, 2­yr term), but the Committee had no nomination for the 2nd Vice­Chair. These nominations were accepted and nominations were requested from the floor. Vic Baker nominated Gary Rosenberg as 2nd Vice­Chair and Robert Dott provided a second. Nominations were then closed by a motion, second and voice vote. The amended slate of officers was then elected by unanimous voice vote. Roger introduced Michele Aldrich, the Citationist for Ellis L. Yochelson, the History of Geology Awardee for 2003. After Michele’s citation, Ellis was presented with the Award for 2003. In his remarks, he suggested one correction of the previous newsletter notice about him: he has never been a member of GSA. [That correction is hereby noted. ­ Editor] The citation and Ellis’ remarks will appear in a forthcoming issue of GSA Today. Look for photographs on our web site. At the close of the Award address, Roger recessed the business meeting until the reception on Monday evening. [TOC] ANNUAL LUNCHEON AND BUSINESS MEETING, PART II Monday, November 3, 2003 The second part of the business meeting was re­opened at the Monday evening reception. The first order of business was the announcement of the bequest from Mary Rabbitt (please see page 1). Bill thanked everyone who donated items for our "door prize" drawing, including several items from GSA, Earth Sciences History subscriptions from HESS (co­ sponsor of the event), Oil Industry History subscriptions from the Petroleum History Institute, and a copy of Gesner’s book on kerosene from PHI, plus several books donated by members. These contributions were much appreciated by the Division and especially by those who took the prizes home. Sally Newcomb then presented a plan for a $500.00 student award from the Division. The formal announcement will be forthcoming in our next newsletter and in GSA Today, but the award is to encourage students to present papers at the HoG general session at the GSA Annual Meetings. The existing Award Committee will review the proposals for the student award. Full details are still being worked out but should be ready very soon.