File:Bulletin (1966-1972) (20233836950).jpg

Title: Bulletin
Identifier: bulletin43fiel (find matches)
Year: 1966-1972 (1960s)
Authors: Field Museum of Natural History
Subjects: Natural history; Science
Publisher: (Chicago) : The Museum
Contributing Library: University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Digitizing Sponsor: University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

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Mr John Harris
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Dr. Matthew Nitecki, the newest member ot the department's curatorial staff, was appointed assistant curator of fossil invertebrates in 1965 and became associate curator in 1968. His main research interest is Paleozoic fossils, particularly the lower groups of invertebrates and algae. To help make the evolutionary record more complete. Dr. Nitecki is working on the receptaculitids, problematic organisms that had been considered sponges but are, in fact, calcareous green algae. These algae existed during the Paleozoic period, over 500,000,000 years ago, and are significant to our understanding of the development of both plant and animal life. A monograph detailing Dr. Nitecki's findings regarding the North American receptaculitids will soon be published in the fVluseum's Fieldiana series. Dr. Nitecki's research interests also include Upper Mississippian snails from the Illinois basin and the evolution, relationship, and morphology of calathiids from North America, Asia, and Australia. Dr. Nitecki has been a lecturer at the University of Chicago Extension Division since 1961. His evident pleasure in his work is no doubt the reason his field trips to the Ozarks and the Grand Canyon for l\/luseum Members are so successful. Capable though they are, these seven men do not run the Department of Geology fourteen-handedly. Their research efforts are supported by six other staff people and ten volunteers, Orville Gilpin, chief preparator of fossils, plays an important role in the department. Mr. Gilpin came to the Museum in 1938 as a WPA worker and has developed through years of painstaking work the unique skills required to prepare fossils for study or exhibition. He has often devised his own tools to accomplish the time-consuming and delicate task of fossil preparation. He spent eighteen months scratching and scraping at rock with phonograph needles mounted in a metal handle before a Pennsylvanian shark was revealed in its wealth of detail. The construction of the huge dinosaur skeletons on display in Stanley Field Hall and the impressive Edaphosaurus and Dimetrodon skeletons in Hall 38 are spectacular examples of Mr. Gilpin's work. Mr. Gilpin is also a good teacher. Schools do not offer courses in dinosaur- building or fossil preparation, and Mr. Gilpin has given on-the-job training in these techniques to many young people. Mrs. Katherine Krueger, assistant in paleontology, joined the Museum staff in 1968, after receiving a master's degree in geology from Tulane University. She maintains the paleontology collections, catalogs incoming specimens, handles specimen loans, and serves as research assistant to the staff. She is also presently assisting Dr. Turnbull in a project to computerize the fossil mammal collection catalog. Mr. John Harris joined the Museum staff as preparator in the Geology Department in 1969. In addition to preparing fossils, he is skilled in making fiberglass and plaster molds and casts, enabling the Museum to lend copies of specimens to other institutions. Some examples of Mr. Harris' work are the fine reproductions of artifacts from the Museum's famous collection of Benin bronzes in the Museum's traveling exhibit "Afro-American Style From the Design Works of Bedford-Stuyvesant" (at Malcolm X College until June 30). Mr. Rudy Chavez is the newest member of the geology team, having joined the staff as assistant in petrology in 1970. After a short on-the-job training period he took on his present responsibilities of preparing rock specimens for study. This includes cutting, polishing, and making thin sections of rocks and fossils for microscopic study. Completing the important support staff in the department are Mrs. Winifred Reinders, departmental secretary, and Miss Jeannette Forster, secretary. Patricia M. Williams is managing editor of scientific pubiications, Field Museum. 16 May 1972

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