The Irénée du Pont Mineral Room of the University of Delaware Mineralogical Museum in Penny Hall exhibits over 750 mineral specimens, gems and carvings. The teaching collection, which is used extensively in the instruction of the Geology Department curriculum, numbers over 6000 specimens.

The core of the Museum's holdings is the fine collection of Irénée du Pont, donated by his family in 1965. Over the last twenty-five years the University of Delaware mineral collection has grown to become among the finest for its size in the United States. Often compared favorably to the mineral holdings of larger institutions, numerous benefactors have contributed support for the development of this visually stunning and comprehensive collection. Original construction of the Irénée du Pont Mineral Room in 1972 was made possible with a grant from the Crystal Trust, and a major enlargement and refurbishment of the exhibition space in 1982 was funded by a gift from Mrs. David Craven.

In an effort to better serve the greater community and to allow for more convenient access by off-campus visitors, the Mineralogical Museum is now open to the public on Saturdays and Sundays from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. Paid visitor parking is available in the lot adjacent to Penny Hall, located on Academy Street in Newark and in metered spaces nearby. The free museum is also open Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday from 12:00 noon-4:00 p.m.

The University of Delaware Mineralogical Museum is not barrier free, therefore disabilities accomodation requests should be made ten days in advance of a visit by calling 302-831-8242.

Museum Hours:  The University of Delaware Mineralogical Museum is open Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Noon - 4:00 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday, 1:00 p.m.-4:00 p.m..

Gold, 15 cm across, Harper Brothers mine, Tuoloumne County, California. The miners who rushed to California in 1849 gradually worked their way from the alluvial gold placers of the lowlands to the quartz veins of the Mother Lode in the foothills of the Sierras. Mines in this region have produced the majority of the world's fine gold specimens. This large leaf of gold was collected in the late 1800's and acquired by the museum in the late 1970's. It was loosely embedded in the rock of the vein, and had to be taken out and cleaned, but it is natural in its shape and appearance.

Rhodochrosite, 10 cm, Huallapon mine, Pasto Bueno, Peru. Rhodochrosite is manganese carbonate, and shares an atomic pattern, or crystal structure, with carbonates of calcium (calcite), magnesium (magnesite), iron (siderite), zinc (smithsonite), and several other elements. These minerals are known as rhombohedral carbonates. Large crystals of rhodochrosite are rare; they are found in low-temperature, silver-bearing hydrothermal veins associated with granitic rocks in mountain regions. The two most productive deposits have been the Huallapon vein, which produced this crystal about 1976 (when the museum acquired it through the generous support of Mrs. David Craven), and the Sweet Home mine in Alma, Colorado, which has been mined for the last several years just for rhodochrosite mineral specimens.

Malachite partial pseudomorph after Azurite, 15 cm across, Tsumeb, Namibia. The famous copper and lead mine at Tsumeb produced the finest azurite specimens known. Azurite forms by the breakdown of copper sulfides by oxygenated ground water, followed by reaction of the dissolved copper ions with dissolved carbonate ions. Azurite forms under slightly acid conditions; as conditions become more alkaline, malachite, another copper carbonate, becomes stable, and in many cases, azurite becomes replaced by malachite, as has partly happened in this specimen. This piece was formerly in the Perkins Sams collection, which is now at the Huston Museum of Natural History. This specimen was found about 1979 and acquired by the museum in 1983.

Barite, 7.5 cm, Egremont district, Cumbria (formerly Cumberland), England. The mines in the Egremont district recover hematite (iron oxide) from sedimentary deposits, similar to those mined in the Negaunee district in Michigan. In pockets in the iron ore, beautiful crystals of barite and calcite have been found. Barite is barium sulfate; crystals are typically diamond-shaped, like these. This specimen was purchased by Irénée duPont, president of the duPont company in the 1920's, from Ward's Natural Science Establishment, for $3.50 (the price tag is still on the specimen). It came to the University in 1965, a gift from Mr. duPont's son.

Vanadinite on Barite, 14.5 cm high, Mibladen, Morocco. Like the malachite and azurite specimen above, vanadinite is a secondary mineral. Vanadinite is lead vanadate, formed when the lead ore mineral galena is weathered and recrystallized. The white barite is probably a mineral deposited with the original galena, but it survived the weathering. The dramatic color contrast between the white barite and the red vanadinite is the most appealing feature of a small number of specimens that came from Mibladen. These specimens were mined in the early 1980's, when the museum acquired this one through the generous support of Mrs. David Craven.

Epidote, 12.7 cm long, Knappenwand, Untersulzbachtal, Austria. Located in a valley of the Austrian Alps, the epidote vein at Knappenwand was discovered in the late 1800's, and mineral specimens recovered from it by strahlers, or professional collectors, helped support the town for a number of years. The deposit is a hydrothermal vein in metamorphic rocks; the minerals of the vein crystallized from ions derived from the alteration of the rocks cut by the vein. Veins of this sort are called Alpine veins, because they were first discovered in the Alps, but they are found in other mountain ranges as well. This fully crystallized, feather-like growth of epidote crystals was reportedly collected in the 1880's, and was donated to the museum by Alvin Stiles about 1975.



Beryl, or Aquamarine, 7.5 cm high, Minas Gerais, Brazil. Pegmatite deposits in Minas Gerais have produced the majority of the world's gem aquamarine. Beryl is colored by iron, substituting in trace amounts for aluminum in the structure. Ferrous iron colors beryl blue, a mixture of ferrous and ferric iron colors beryl green and ferric iron alone colors beryl yellow. This remarkable blue crystal was purchased by Irenee duPont from the from the famous gem and mineral dealer George Kunz of Tiffany's in the late 1920's. Originally hexagonal in outline, it was etched to a flame-like shape by solutions which attacked it as the temperature cooled in the cavity where it had crystallized. It is flawless internally.

 

 

Serandite, 7.5 cm high, and analcime, Mt. St. Hilaire, Quebec, Canada. Mt. St. Hilaire is an ancient volcanic stock which rises above the St. Lawrence River valley about 30 miles east of Montreal (which is built on another volcanic stock.) A quarry for crushed stone has been excavated into the side of the hill, and during quarrying, pockets formed by hot gasses generated by the volcanic rock were encountered. In these pockets were found the finest known crystals of serandite, an orange-red manganese silicate of the pyroxenoid group. The crystals of analcime, a sodium, aluminum silicate which are associated with it, are also outstanding. This specimen was probably mined about 1970, and was acquired by the museum in 1979, through the support of Mr. Caven. It was illustrated on the cover of Mineralogical Record magazine for November-December, 1983.

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Revised: December 11, 1997