About Us
The Earth & Mineral Sciences Museum at the Pennsylvania State University in State College, PA, is a unique mineral museum. Our main gallery display includes displays of fine minerals such as azurite and "velvet" malachite from Bisbee, Arizona, and amazonite crystals from the Pikes' Peak, Colorado, area. In addition to collections of rocks, minerals, and fossils totaling more than 22,000 specimens, the Museum maintains collections of glasses, ceramics, metals, plastics, synthetic materials, old mining and scientific equipment, and archaeological artifacts. Many of these specimens are on display while the others are available for research and educational purposes.
The country's most extensive collection of paintings and sculpture depicting mining and related industries is on display in the Museum. Also, the Museum houses the world's most extensive collection of mineral properties exhibits. These "push-button" electro-mechanical exhibits demonstrating dozens of the electrical, optical, and physical properties of minerals and materials such as fluorescence, radioactivity, magnetism, conductivity, flexibility, triboluminescence, piezoelectricity, double refraction, resistivity, and much more. Other displays include a collection of more than 100 mine safety lamps and scientific instruments and specimens belonging to Frederick Augustus Genth, the famous mineralogist. The Museum serves both as a teaching tool for University courses and as an educational institution, bringing to the general public an appreciation for minerals, mining, and the materials sciences. Stop in for a visit soon!
Donations Encouraged: The Penn State Earth & Mineral Sciences Museum gratefully accepts financial contributions and applies these donations to furthering the Museum's educational and scientific purposes. Donations of minerals, rocks, and fossils, as well as old mining equipment, antique scientific instruments, and unique glasses, ceramics, metals, and materials similar to those presently on display, are also gratefully accepted. Penn State alumni and all others interested in becoming a "Friend of the Museum" are urged to write to the Museum at the above address. Please contact the museum director, Russ Graham, at (814) 865 6336, to send a donation or for more information.
Interested in collecting minerals or just viewing some cabinet-sized specimens? Then visit the sites below. These sites are commercial, and not affiliated with Penn State in any way.
