Royal Ontario Museum to open new Invertebrate Gallery

[crinus]

Dear Canadian Fossil Collectors,

 

Some of you may have heard that the ROM is finally going to open an invertebrate gallery, something that has been sadly missing for many years.  There was a recent announcement of a $5 million (Canadian I assume) donation for this project. https://www.rom.on.ca/en/about-us/newsroom/press-releases/royal-ontario-museum-receives-landmark-5-million-gift-to-establish

This is a great move on the part of the ROM.

 

Jean-Bernard Caron has contacted me regarding the new exhibition.  We have communicated both by email and phone.  It seems that they are in desperate need of "spectacular" Ontario specimen for the exhibit.  They probably contacted me because of my web site and in general people are aware of my "Ontario" collection, both Arkona and Brechin.   It is very unfortunate that they (ROM) have no relationship with Canadian collectors or any other collectors for that matter.  Jean and I spoke about this problem at length because at this point no one is willing to donate anything. We spoke about my Brechin crinoid collection and how it is going to an American institution simply because someone at the ROM told me that there was no one at the ROM interested and I should find someone somewhere else.  We also spoke of a Arkona crinoid collection I personally gave them over 30 years ago and how it is still sitting in the same boxes under a table.  No one bothered to accession it.  And finally we spoke of a recent find by a Canadian collector of a very rare fish from Arkona. An American wanted to work on it, had no problem with it being deposited at the ROM and even made arrangements for the ROM to contact the collector. The collector sat at his phone for weeks waiting for the ROM to call. The specimen ended up being donated to an American Institution.

I made it very clear to Jean that his problem is the historic relationship with the collecting public and more importantly the total lack of interest in working on ONTARIO projects.  For being called the "Royal Ontario" all of the work is outside of Ontario.  Jean has recognized this as a problem and is willing to work on repairing the relationship and maybe getting some Ontario projects going.  I think that Jean is sincere in his statements and would really like a better relationship with the collecting public.

 

I have agreed to donate some specimens but I am not going to fill the entire "Ontario" exhibit.  The purpose of this post is to encourage Canadians, and other collectors to contact Dr. Caron and to start a relationship with the museum.  And of course he is looking for Canadians to make donations to the exhibit.  What exactly he needs is a very open question.  I personally will be visiting sometime in the new year to see exactly what is needed and go from there.  Maybe you can do the same.  

 

His contact information is below.  

 

Dr. Jean-Bernard Caron
Richard M. Ivey Curator of Invertebrate Palaeontology 
Department of Natural History
Royal Ontario Museum
100 Queen's Park
Toronto, Ontario, M5S 2C6 CANADA
Tel: 416-586-5593#1
Fax: 416-586-5553
E-mail: jcaron@rom.on.ca<mailto:jcaron@rom.on.ca>

 

 

[Pumpkinhead]

I'm surprised they don't have as many "spectacular" Ontarian specimens or relationships with Canadian collectors given how outgoing Dave Rudkin was/is. Although I guess he's only one guy

[Ludwigia]

6 hours ago, crinus said:

Dear Canadian Fossil Collectors,

 

Some of you may have heard that the ROM is finally going to open an invertebrate gallery, something that has been sadly missing for many years.  There was a recent announcement of a $5 million (Canadian I assume) donation for this project. https://www.rom.on.ca/en/about-us/newsroom/press-releases/royal-ontario-museum-receives-landmark-5-million-gift-to-establish

This is a great move on the part of the ROM.

 

Thanks for posting this. I'll be crossing my fingers that this is finally the beginning of a positive development for Ontario collectors. Hopefully more professionals at the ROM develop a more open relationship to private collectors as a result of this future cooperation.

 

[JUAN EMMANUEL]

On ‎13‎/‎12‎/‎2018 at 10:15 AM, crinus said:

 It seems that they are in desperate need of "spectacular" Ontario specimen for the exhibit.  They probably contacted me because of my web site and in general people are aware of my "Ontario" collection, both Arkona and Brechin. 

Not every "spectacular" Ontario fossil has to originate from Arkona and Brechin.  The ROM should start setting their eyes on other underrated Ontario localities. One of the highlights of the Paleozoic corner at the ROM is the 30cm Isotelus maximus set on limestone and fully inflated as in real life which originated from the Georgian Bay formation of western Toronto/Etobicoke (a formation often looked over in my opinion). I find it sad that the rest of the other fossils that originate from other formations in Ontario are seen as "boring", neglected and underrated.

[Al Tahan]

If you google “acutiramus complete specimen” you will see the amazing Eurypterid my former professor Dr. Richard Batt found at ridgemount quarry years and years ago. I got to see this fossil in person back in 2012....I bet this specimen makes the cut! Compound eyes!! Both claw (parts of the claws are under the specimen) both paddles! Truly a gift to science! 

[crinus]

22 hours ago, JUAN EMMANUEL said:

Not every "spectacular" Ontario fossil has to originate from Arkona and Brechin.  The ROM should start setting their eyes on other underrated Ontario localities. One of the highlights of the Paleozoic corner at the ROM is the 30cm Isotelus maximus set on limestone and fully inflated as in real life which originated from the Georgian Bay formation of western Toronto/Etobicoke (a formation often looked over in my opinion). I find it sad that the rest of the other fossils that originate from other formations in Ontario are seen as "boring", neglected and underrated.

No one ever said that they are only looking for "spectacular" specimens from just Arkona and Brechin.  What was said is that I only have "spectacular" specimens from Arkona or Brechin.  I can't help them with any other Ontario locality.  

[crinus]

I spent last Friday at the ROM and I would like to share some of the information acquired.  The visit was truly worthwhile.  I would like to publicly thank Jean for taking the entire day to talk to me and my friend about the museum, the exhibit and their needs.  We should all keep in mind that the ROM is not a paleo museum and that paleo is a small part of the entire museum. So even tough we are all about paleo that is not what the ROM is all about. They only have two paleontologists on staff and some support personnel.  These people have to handle everything regarding paleo which includes exhibits, research and public outreach. 

 

The space for the new exhibit is huge.  Probably 10000 square feet. It will only cover Paleozoic. They already have a very nice Mesozoic exhibit.  Obviously it will cover Precambrian to Permian.  There will not be a "Ontario" part but when it comes to Ordovician, Silurian and Devonian they would like to include as much Ontario as possible because Ontario is very rich with those fossils.  Yes they seem to be concentrating on Brechin, Ft. Erie and Arkona for the "Ontario" part but that is because those sites are all quite famous. Eramosa will also be included.  They would be glad to display specimens from other Ontario localities.  They can only display what they have and/or are aware of what they have or what someone is willing to donate.

 

We got to see many tables filled with specimens that were pulled from storage for consideration to include in the exhibit.  Burgess Shale is obviously going to be quite will covered as is the famous Newfoundland locality (can't think of the name right now (something Point)) for soft bodied animals.  Ordovician is also in good shape.  Lots of nice Ontario trilobites. The Brechin stuff is unbelievable.  The crinoids were better than mine.  They made a major purchase of Brechin material in 2017 in preparation for this exhibit.  Unfortunately the people who collected the material and sold them to the ROM did not collect much of the more "common" stuff and that is lacking. 

 

The Ft. Erie is well covered.

On 12/19/2018 at 9:09 PM, Al Tahan said:

acutiramus complete specimen

This specimen definitely made the cut.  We did talk about how to display this piece as the Eurypterids is 3D and removable leaving an impression of a Eurypterid on the matrix. 

Silurian material from other localities are under consideration and they had quite a bit.  One of the pieces we did not see was a famous Eucalyptocrinus (crinoids) slab from Ontario that was in a ROM publication. This is an example of something they had but were unaware of it.  Their catalog system worked well because one phone call and the specimen appeared a short time later.  Even though in the publication photos it look like something that should be displayed, the actual condition makes it not displayable.  It would require many hours of work to get it into a condition that would make it displayable.  

 

The Devonian is where they are Severely lacking.  What they had from Arkona fit into one drawer and the quality was questionable.  We did find the boxes of Arkona material I gave them 30 years ago.  It was cataloged and not sitting under a bench as reported.  Unfortunately most of this material was research quality and/or very small and not displayable.  We did find one cephalopod that may make the cut.  Arkona is world famous and it needs to be represented in this exhibit.  This is where they need the most help.  Nice fossils from any other Devonian Ontario sites would also be appreciated.  Otherwise the Devonian part will be mostly non Ontario.  

 

The Carboniferous as the Canadians call it, or is it just Jean (he is French from France), is covered.  Mazon Creek is WELL represented.  They probably had the best Mazon Creek material outside of the Field that I have ever seen.   I was green with envy.  Joggins is also included. Very nice stuff from there.   Mississippian is also covered as this is mostly non Canadian.  And finally Permian seems ok, but I don't know much about the Permian. 

 

We had a lot of discussion about the lack of any type of relationship they had with the amateur community.  This is probably why very few have come forward with material/help for the exhibit.  (Someone has donated Ontario trilobites for the trilobite display.  There will be a huge display of nothing but trilobites.  Also someone made a major donation of Ft. Erie Silurian material.)  I will just say that our discussion was VERY positive and I have completely changed my attitude in regard to helping out.  Friday marked a new beginning regarding my relationship with the ROM. 

 

So here is what I am going to do and I hope I can influence others to contact Jean and work with him on making this exhibit the best it can be.

 

I will not be donating any Brechin crinoids or trilobites as they have VERY nice stuff for the exhibit.  I will be donating brachiopods, mollusks and bryozoa to the exhibit.  I have quite a few that are very showy and should enhance the exhibit.  He is in need of a nice showy Saltaster (starfish) for the exhibit.  They had nice Stenaster but the Saltaster they had were not really display material.  If you have one and are willing to donate please contact the ROM.  All of mine are currently being worked on at the University of Illinois. At this time I do not know their future so I am hesitant to make a commitment.  They are looking for a nice displayable Glyptocystites (cystoid).  They had what I would have called a nice slab for research purposes but none of the specimens clearly showed a complete Glyptocystites.  I have two that I will make available to them but neither are complete (theca is nice but stem is not all there).  Only complete individual I have I just can't part with.

 

I plan to donate quite a bit of Arkona material.  I have already put aside 4 crinoids  and two trilobites.  My "common" fossils from Arkona are lacking.  When I collected there, we mainly concentrated on the crinoids and trilobites.  By the time those ran out, I moved on to the Brechin locality and did not acquire much other material from Arkona.  What I have I am making available to the ROM.  It does include brachiopods, mollusks and a bryozoan.  It isn't much but at least it is something.  You can see most of what I am making available on my web site. http://www.crinus.info/otherfossils.html  http://www.crinus.info/mollusks.html Anything there that is from Arkona will be available to them.  I know there is other superb material out there.  It would be nice if those owners helped out. 

 

Sorry there are no pictures.  We were requested not to post any pictures of material.  They want to surprise everyone when the exhibit opens.  Planned opening day is June 2021. Yes, that is 2.5 years away but they need to decide what material will be exhibited by June of this year.  They do need the time to put it all together.

 

BTW - Anyone looking for a fossil preparator job.  The ROM will soon be advertising an open position.  It will be for invertebrates. A large part of the job will be preparing specimens for the exhibit. 

 

Joe

[Kane]

Thanks for the update, Joe.

I know a few of us are up to our back teeth in common stuff from Arkona. I still need to get there to donate some other stuff that had been requested, but there hasn't been an opportunity for me to go to TO in a bit. 

[Monica]

Thanks for the information and the update, Joe.  I'm going to email Jean to see if the ROM would be interested in some of what I have from Hungry Hollow.

 

[Wrangellian]

Just found this interesting topic now... It sounds like they are going to renew their relationship with Ontario collectors and with Ontario material. I wish all provincial museums would do this. As we all know, the ROM has tons of Burgess material, but it might surprise the average person that the Royal BC Museum has hardly any. I saw it and took a photo when they gave me the tour. I understand this is partly a function of the researchers and where they are located, and maybe a lack of funding priority over here, but still. (BTW, the ROM pays for specimens?)

Also, the collections manager that I dealt with when donating local fossils has quit, feeling overworked and undervalued, I hear, and the new one has been unresponsive to my emails regarding my offer of further donations. I can only assume either that she is even more overworked or that there is no interest. She is a vertebrate person, but that should not affect her judgement as to what they accept. Right? So there you go... The ROM isn't the only place with public relations problems!

[Wrangellian]

(Update: Heard back from the new collections manager at RBCM, so I have more hope now)