GEO

L OG

Y

University of Wisconsin-Madison
Department of Geology and Geophysics
Lewis G. Weeks Hall
1215 W. Dayton Street

M

U S E U M

Madison, Wisconsin 53706

Museum Office: 608 262-2399
Tour Information: 608 262-1412
Fax: 608 262-0693
E-mail: westphal@geology.wisc.edu
Web: www.geology.wisc.edu/~museum

Annual Report for 2000
Visitors
In the year 2000, the museum was once again a
popular destination for school groups and others
taking advantage of our educational displays.
Approximately 17,000 visitors toured themuseum, including 11,000 children who arrived
in yellow school buses. The most popular exhibits
were the blacklight room with its colorful
fluorescing minerals, the cave, complete with thesounds of dripping water and an electronicallygenerated echo, and the dinosaurs and otherprehistoric vertebrates. Visitors coming on a
Saturday morning probably spent some timeobserving our dedicated volunteer Lou Goodman
prepare fossils. For the past 20 years, Lou has
diligently matched bone fragments and glued
them back together, a square inch at a time. His
main project this past year, and for some time tocome, is the restoration of Triceratops bones.
Dinosaurs, etc.
The museum’s dinosaur crew, led by students
Chris Ott and Lisa Buckley, embarked on yet
another successful expedition to the badlands ofEastern Montana. One of the goals was to findmore bones of the three-horned dinosaur
Triceratops to supplement the museum’s ongoingreconstruction project. Major discoveries include
a partial Triceratops skeleton, some juvenile
dinosaur remains, including a foot bone of an

http://www.geology.wisc.edu

Museum volunteer Lou Goodman
demonstrating the art of fossil preparation.
extremely rare avimimid dinosaur, and theskeleton of a three-foot-long gar fish. Tom andMargaret Blair once again graced us with their
hospitality by allowing us to camp on theirproperty and by letting us use water pumped bytheir windmill.
For two weeks, our expedition was joined bymembers of the Burpee Museum of Natural
History in Rockford, Illinois, to introduce themto dinosaur exploration and excavation
techniques. They plan to eventually develop
their own program.

2000 The Outcrop 67

Collections

The Black Hills Institute of Geological Research,Inc. enhanced our exhibits with the generous
donation of a replica of the skull of the “bonehead” dinosaur Pachycephalosaurus.

Chris Ott continued the identification andcataloguing of our collection of fossil vertebrates
in order to bring it up to the standards set forth
by the federal government. Lisa
Buckley, while studying the theropod
dinosaurs (meat eaters), discovered thepartial leg of a previously undescribed
dromaeosaur, which is similar to the
Velociraptor depicted in the movie
Jurassic Park. Lisa is working on anarticle describing this new discovery.
Meanwhile, student volunteer Ian
Sweeney has begun the task ofpreparing the skeleton of a sheep-sized
mammal Oreodon for eventual display
in the museum. The bones wereretrieved from storage where they had
been kept since their discovery in1978. Reorganization of the extensive
Museum visitors Alex and his mother admiring thecollections of minerals, rocks, andPachycephalosaurus skull, a fossil replica donated by thefossils stored in the basement of Weeks
Hall continued. Mike Henderson of the Black Hills Institute of Geological Research, Inc.
Burpee Museum of Natural History,
Rockford, Illinois, helped with the identification
The skull of this unusual dinosaur has become anof our museum’s extensive collection of fossils
instant attraction in our hall of vertebrates.
from the famous Carboniferous deposits of theFriends of the Geology Museum funds were used
Mazon Creek area in Northern Illinois.
to acquire a large slab of Cambrian-age, rippleContributions
The museum was awarded a grant of $5,900 by
the David E. Jones Foundation, Worthington,
Minnesota. The money, given “for paleontology
research resulting in a publication, or for K-12
education in paleontology,” will be used to write abook on the fossils of Wisconsin. Publication ofthe book is anticipated toward the end of thisyear. It will initially be distributed free of charge
to schools and museum visitors. Other major gifts
were received from David E. Jones, Worthington,
Minnesota; Laura Linden, Madison; the Amoco
Foundation and many others. Some of these gifts
were made to the Friends of the GeologyMuseum.

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marked marine sandstone from Mosinee,
Wisconsin, containing the impressions of threejellyfish. The jellyfish were stranded near, or on abeach, at a time when most of Wisconsin lay
submerged under a shallow ocean. Anotheracquisition, provided for by the Friends, is a large
cluster of sandstone concretions, from Western
Wisconsin. The Laura L. Linden donation
enabled us to purchase a beautiful group ofaquamarine crystals from Afghanistan.
The Anglogold Mining Company, Elko, Nevada,donated to our mineral exhibits a spectacularbarite and quartz specimen from the Elko Mine.
The donation was arranged through the efforts ofJane and Casey Jones, Geoprime Mineral

Department of Geology and Geophysics • University of Wisconsin-Madison

Company, Monrovia, California.
Emeritus Professor Dr. Robert H.
Peter Sturgul, Plover, presented theDott examining a slab of sandstone
museum, with a specimen of sheet
containing the impressions of threecopper from the White Pine Mine ofextinct jellyfish.
Upper Michigan, measuring four feetacross. Dr. and Mrs. John J. Prucha,DeWitt, New York, donated several
outstanding mineral specimens. Dr. Gene Musolf, Schofield,
contributed minerals from the collection of the late Mike
Anderson of Wausau. Kurt L. and Susan Christensen, Verona,gave us part of a lower jaw of a Gomphotherium, an extinct
relative of the elephants. The Christensens had recently broughtthis fossil back from a trip to China.
Exhibits
Michigan’s “Copper Country” Minerals was the theme of ourSpecial October Exhibit. It featured an outstanding collectionof copper and associated minerals loaned to us by the A. E.
Seaman Museum at Michigan Technological University inHoughton. The museum’s curator, Stanley Dyl, delivered thecollection, set up the display, and returned a second time in
November to pick it up again. We are grateful to him for theloan.
Museum visitors can once again enjoy the sound of dripping
water and the echo in our walk-through model of aWisconsin limestone cave. The overhaul of the electronics was accomplished byproject assistant Matt Kuchta. The blacklight display of fluorescent minerals wasalso upgraded, with better lighting and by incorporating several new specimens.
Work on this, the most colorful exhibit in the museum, is continuing.

Sandstone concretions from Western Wisconsin,
an acquisition sponsored by the Friends of theGeology Museum.

http://www.geology.wisc.edu

2000 The Outcrop 69

Ellis Taff, dedicated tour
guide for seven years, passed
away in November. He ismissed by us all.

The Passing of a Friend

Teacher Training

In the fall, we lost one of our most dedicated andbeloved tour guides, Ellis Taff, who died at the age of
92. Ellis joined the museum as a volunteer in 1993
when he was 85. During the past seven years, he gave
about 700 tours. He was both a skilled educator and awonderful storyteller. A videotape of one of his tours,
used in the training program for new guides, will keep
his legacy alive and pass it on to those who did nothave the opportunity to know him personally.

In spring, the museum started its second two-year cycleof Paleontological Experiences for Teachers, a Howard
Hughes Medical Institute-funded teacher training
program in vertebrate paleontology. Seven seventh-to
twelfth-grade teachers from across Wisconsin
participated in the program, which was led by Dr. Joe
Skulan and two science teachers, Steve Bower andMarilyn Hanson. As in previous years, the high pointof the program was a ten-day field trip to western
Kansas and Eastern Colorado. In the Late Cretaceous
chalk beds of Kansas, we successfully completed theexcavation of a mosasaur that had been discovered theprevious summer. We would not have been able tocomplete this task without our hard-working fieldassistant Rick Sewell, a Dane County sheriff deputy,
who used his vacation time to accompany us on ourexpedition. On our last day in Kansas, we discovered
another mosasaur, which we will excavate next
summer.

Comings and Goings
We are pleased to announce that the museum willsoon have an assistant museum director in charge ofoutreach. This new three-year renewable position isfunded by the University’s College of Letters andScience. Richard Slaughter, a vertebrate
paleontologist, will assume this position in July of2001. Mr. Slaughter is currently completing his Ph.D.
at the University of Iowa in Iowa City.
Matt Kuchta, student project assistant, has left hisposition at the museum to become a teaching assistantin the Department of Geology and Geophysics. During
his two years with the museum, Matt worked on thereorganization of the collections, entered data on thecomputer, improved our web site, and helped with themuseum’s day-to-day operations. Elizabeth Leslie will
be our new project assistant.
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Leaving Kansas, we drove to the Gaskill Ranch inSoutheastern Colorado, where we discovered andrecorded several new dinosaur trackways. We also
recorded a large number of bone fragments for teachers
to use in their classrooms.
All of last summer’s participants are looking forward toJune, when they will return, each accompanied by a Ksixth-grade teacher from their school districts. Past andDepartment of Geology and Geophysics • University of Wisconsin-Madisonpresent participants in Paleontological Experiences aredeveloping classroom activities based on their summerexperiences. As these activities spread to otherteachers, we hope that they will help to improve thequality of paleontology instruction in Wisconsin.

dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures, and shared
their artistic knowledge with the younger audience.
The Free Rock Pile for Kids, the traditional scatteringof minerals, rocks, and a few fossils in the courtyard,
rounded off the event.

The Museum and the Web

Alumni—I’d like to talk to you!

The museum’s web site enjoys considerable popularity.
This is evident from the more than 15,000 hits registered last year. To pay the museum a virtual visit, go to
http://www.geology.wisc.edu/~museum/.

For many years, Museum Director Klaus Westphal
has given lectures on the University’s dinosaur
expedition program, to service clubs, university
organizations, and teachers conventions. We would
like to share our experience and the excitement ofexploring for dinosaurs with you. The program isavailable to you, provided that corporate or organizational funding can be secured to cover the Museum’stravel expenses. For details see the next page.

Lectures and Public Programs
In March, Museum Director Klaus Westphal presented
the keynote address on the museum’s dinosaur
program, at the “Out of the Rock Paleo Festival.” Thisannual four-day event, sponsored by the Burpee
Museum of Natural History in Rockford, Illinois,features various topics in paleontology. Klaus also gavethe lecture at Waunakee High School’s “ScienceNight.” In addition, he talked to service clubs, schools,
and senior citizen groups. As part of the University’s
On the Road Program, he presented a hands-onprogram at the Milwaukee Public Museum, designedfor youth at their day off from school. Other wellattended, hands-on activities for children were held atHenry Vilas Zoo, Monona Terrace, and the Yahara
Rock Quarry.
As in the past few years, the museum was a participant
in the Nature Passport Summer Program. Thisprogram gives children and their parents an incentive
to explore educational nature sites in and aroundMadison.

The museum’s Annual Open House:Gary Richards presenting a program on
copper mining in Upper Michigan

The museum’s Annual Open House once again
drew several hundred visitors, most of themfamilies with young children. Gary Richards,Appleton, gave a lively presentation “Way Back
Then–When Copper was King” on the hard lifeof a copper miner in Upper Michigan, a hundredyears ago. Children from the audience participated in the program, wearing vintage miners
helmets and handling some of the tools that wereused in those days. Sue and Earl Steininger,
Dubuque, Iowa, demonstrated how to draw

The museum’s Annual Open House:
The Free Rock Pile for Kids.
http://www.geology.wisc.edu

2000 The Outcrop 71

Geology Museum
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Department of Geology and Geophysics

Since 1983,
geologists from UW-Madison havebeen exploring for dinosaur remains
in South Dakota and Montana.
Dr. Westphal’s slide presentationlets you experience the excitementof participating in anexpedition. See how thebones are prepared for
display and learn about thescientific significance of the discoveries.

ttiiuussrruuPPttooHIInn HTheDinosaurHuntKlaus W. Westphal, a native of Berlin, earned a PhD in paleontology from theEberhard-Karls University at Tübingen, Germany in 1969. Since then he has been
director of the UW-Madison’s Geology Museum. He oversees the museum’sexhibits and outreach programs and teaches a course in introductory paleontology,“Life of the Past.” E-mail: westphal@geology.wisc.edu

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Department of Geology and Geophysics • University of Wisconsin-Madison

The Friends
The museum owes much of its success to the Friends of the Geology
Museum, Inc., a group of individuals who are enthusiastic aboutminerals, rocks, fossils, and the earth sciences in general. The non-profit
organization supports the museum’s expeditions, the restoration ofdinosaur bones and other fossils, the occasional acquisition of specimens
for display, and the museum’s educational outreach programs.

The Geology Museum gives thanks to its
staff and the many dedicated volunteers
Steven Bower, Teacher Training Program
Anna Bradshaw*, tour guideLisa Buckley, student assistant, fossil preparator,
expedition member
Adam Eisenach, tour guide
Christin Engstrom*, tour guide
Lou Goodman, volunteer, fossil preparator,
expedition member
Maggie Guzinski*, volunteer, fossil preparator,
expedition member
Marilyn F. Hanson, Teacher Training Program
Haddie Heitkamp*, tour guide and tour coordinator
Julie Hill, tour guide and tour coordinator
Keith Hennings, tour guide
Reuben Johnson, tour guide
Blake Kellogg, volunteer, maker of replicas of fossil
specimens, editor
Robin Kodner*, tour guide
Matt Kuchta*, project assistant
Carrie Larson, tour guideElizabeth Leslie, project assistant
Edward Mathein, volunteer, fossil preparator

Shasta McGee, volunteer, fossil preparator
Christopher Ott, student assistant, fossil preparator,
expedition leader
Christine Pagelsdorf, tour guide
D. Lyle Setwyn, tour guide
Joseph L. Skulan, instructor in the Teacher Training
ProgramDavid Suls*, volunteer, fossil preparator, expedition
member
Kurt Spearing, volunteer, fossil preparator
Ian Sweeney, volunteer, fossil preparator
Ellis Taff+, volunteer, tour guideBill Unger, grant preparation advisor
Stephen Vihel, tour guide
Susan Werther, volunteer, Annual Report editor
Melissa Wraalstad*, tour guide* indicates no longer with the museum…and the Friends of the GeologyMuseum
John R. Rettig, President
Richard Emerson, Vice President
John Evans, Treasurer
Maxine Triff, SecretaryThank you!
Dr. Klaus W. Westphal, Director

http://www.geology.wisc.edu

2000 The Outcrop 73