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ALBANY, NY – Visitors to the New York State Museum’s “13th Annual James Campbell Memorial Gem, Mineral and Fossil Show and Sale February 25-26th will have the opportunity to learn about the Earth’s oldest trees found in New York’s Catskill mountains, hear about the latest research on new minerals from New York and see new gem and mineral collections on display

Open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on the Museum’s 4th floor terrace, this show is part of the Museum’s annual fundraising weekend, the only time admission is charged at the Museum. Proceeds will help fund new acquisitions for the Museum’s gem and mineral collections. Among recent acquisitions are several new collections purchased with funds from last year’s show.

The show will feature more than 20 vendors who will display and sell gems, jewelry, minerals, fossils, books, videos, lapidary equipment and supplies, stone carvings, bookends and silver and goldsmithing tools. There also will be lectures, children’s activities and guided exhibition tours.

Available for sale will be publications produced by the New York State Museum’s Research and Collections Division documenting research in natural and human history in New York. Materials on display will include data in geology, archaeology, paleontology, anthropology, biology, and history.

Dr. Marian Lupulescu, the State Museum’s curator of geology, will lecture Saturday at 1 p.m. in the Museum Theater on “What’s New in New York State Mineralogy.” Dr. Lupulescu will highlight many of the mineral treasures in the Museum’s collections and reveal what his new research has uncovered about these minerals.

On Sunday at 1 p.m. in the Museum Theater Dr. Ed Landing, the state paleontologist at the State Museum, will deliver a lecture titled “Earth’s Oldest Trees -- A 360 Million Year Old Logjam in the Catskills.”

Other activities over the weekend will include:

A mineral dig for children, hosted by the Capital District Mineral Club, Saturday and Sunday

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A continuous presentation by John Skiba, the Museum’s senior cartographer, about map-making processes and methods for producing the State Museum’s new geologic quadrangle map. Guided tours of the expanded Ancient Life of New York exhibition by Dr. Landing on Sunday at 2 p.m. Participants will meet in the Museum lobby. Guided tours of the Minerals of New York gallery, highlighting recent acquisitions, by Michael Hawkins, the Museum’s mineralogy collections manager, both Saturday and Sunday at noon. Participants will meet in the Museum lobby. Identification by Museum scientists of fossils and minerals brought in by the public, throughout the weekend.

The Gem and Mineral show was initiated by the late James Campbell, a member of the Museum’s geology staff, and has become one of the Museum's most popular and well-attended annual events. This is the only weekend the Museum charges admission. There is a general admission price of $5 per person, which also admits visitors to the “New York in Bloom” event at the Museum the same weekend. There is no charge for children 12 and under if accompanied by an adult. Tickets may be purchased at the door and there is limited free parking.

The New York State Museum is a cultural program of the New York State Education Department. Founded in 1836, the Museum has the longest continuously operating state natural history research and collection survey in the U.S. Located on Madison Avenue in Albany, the Museum is open daily from 9:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. except on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day. Further information can be obtained by calling (518) 474-5877 or visiting the Museum website at www.nysm.nysed.gov.

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