Geology or oblivion -
a self-help guide
by
Collecting minerals and fossils is the World's best hobby, but it is getting be an
increasingly unusual hobby. There are fewer collectors, show attendance declines,
dealers close shop, periodicals reduce circulation, etc. This is a strong contrast to the
dynamic community of the 1980s and 90s where clubs, shows and dealers expanded. I've
been around since the 1970s when collecting minerals was eccentric, through the 90s
when every second housewife had a Quartz crystal to ward off evil eyes, to now when it
is easy to maneuver a baby carriage through any mineral show. We can only blame
ourselves for the problems; we have not been good enough at recruiting new collectors
and maintain their interest, established collectors get older, and ... well, Nature takes
care of those who didn't quit.
We all need recruitment: Collectors want buddies and ideally there should be buyers
when you have to sell the collection; researchers and museums need political backing,
naturally generated by the collecting community; dealers need clients. We have very
different approaches, but a common interest. Note, the 'collecting community' is above
all built by the multiple approaches. Collaborate with somebody with different
background, and you will benefit the community.
Target groups
It is easy to involve kids and teenagers, though they often 'drop out'. It is something to
do with education, hormones, lack of money, etc., but if they develop an interest, they
often come back some years later. People with steady jobs and children aged 8-12 have
more staying power; the kids don't need as much attention, they have an acceptable
economy, and they have time for their own interests, though a possible interest in
collecting will be competing against swimming, church bazaar, lacrosse, baking cookies,
... If the stimuli (collecting trips, talks, shows, club meetings, etc.) are to far apart, we
may loose them again. To retain new collectors, it is essential they can participate in the
hobby often without taking out a second mortgage.
We appeal to all sorts of people, the 'nerd' expert on Eocene foraminifers, the
'outdoorsy' finding everything themselves, the 'aesthete' who MUST have every
attractive specimen, the 'sportsman' dashing up a mountain to check an outcrop, etc. Our
hobby represents a unique combination of outdoors activities, intellectual challenge and
aesthetic pleasure, that you will be hard pressed to find anywhere else.
Collectors
There are to few of us, we are going extinct, and particularly we need to do something.
That can be through cubs, at shows, or individually, but the key issue is to recruit and
retain new collectors. If you have collected for 10-15 years, you will probably continue,
but if you just started because 'rocks are cool' you need regular contact to kindred
spirits to support your interest.
To stimulate beginners you need not do more than invite them home to see your
collection or to join you on a field trip. Beginners are enthusiastic and enjoy talking to
somebody more skilled. A box of duplicate specimens to give away is a good asset -
beginners often enjoy the diversity of even very common material. Take them on field
trips. It is always fun to find your own stuff, but it is also very educational that the good
stuff doesn't just line up to jump into your car. You readjust your perception of value
after running around for three hours and finding nothing.
Experienced collectors often give good talks - they know and have seen a lot. Always
bring a camera on your trips. You can obviously give talks to the local club to support
the interest - that is fine - but do consider venues where you can actually recruit
potential collectors like the local school, church, Rotary, library, sports club, etc. And
do bring information about the local club. At best you can hand out a piece of paper
with your own address, addresses of local clubs, dealers, magazines and shows for the
next year.
I have always enjoyed making educational displays. You tell a story, creating a context
for the specimens, rather than just fill a show case with rocks with weird names.
Something about the use of minerals (ore, pigment, fertilizer, ...), formation and
occurrence (Quartz from hydrothermal vein, pegmatite, sediment, granite, ...) or life
during certain periods (Cretaceous and Cambrian are obvious candidates) is usually
popular. Note that displays do not have to be restricted to mineral & fossil shows; you
will probably get contact to far more potential future collectors in a supermarket,
library, or school. Don't be disheartened by short duration (e.g., a weekend) - most
malls or supermarkets have more visitors in one weekend than a major museum gets in a
month.
If you are timid or prefer to reflect on your work, writing articles is an option. General
interest articles describing the joy of collecting, a field trip is excellent, particularly if
you publish in a non-mineral-fossil periodical (we are still talking recruitment!). Small
local papers and free-of-charge papers are obvious victims - they generally have to pay
for material and often have trouble getting good, unusual, local material. Many
corporations have in-house publications and libraries, credit card companies, the
railways, insurance companies, the city, sports clubs, ... often publish magazines for
customers and members and are delighted to carry interesting and unusual articles. And
do mention the local club!
Researchers
Geology research receives considerably less public attention compared to for example
biology and physics, leaving it more susceptible to cuts of funding, unless somebody
speaks up. That somebody must have an interest in the profession, and collectors do.
Ultimately it may be a matter of life and death for the institution to be known and
appreciated by the general public.
Every researcher has a tremendous possibility to recruit and encourage collectors from
the general public by offering talks on their specialty whether to mineral & fossil clubs,
schools, or other associations and groups. And do bring information about the local
club. At best you can hand out a piece of paper with your own address, addresses of
local clubs, dealers, magazines and shows for the next year. Many neophytes will be
thrilled to attend study groups under the guidance of professionals.
I have some rather pointed views on researchers' duty to communicate to the general
public, who actually pays for the research, but that is an ethical question and hence
irrelevant. However, a positive relationship to the collecting community and an effort to
recruit new collectors may be a matter of survival. When funding is sparse, you see cuts
in areas with the least public support. So you believe your field 'is far to important to be
cut away'? Well, that's what they believed about Egyptology down the street ... now they
do not believe anything at all!
Museums
Museums need friends too. A few years ago the mineralogy section of Natural History
Museum in London (probably the World's finest mineral collection) was on the verge of
being packed and sent off to a warehouse in Nottingham. Not unlike shipping the
Smithsonian off to Coaldale Junction [that's in Nevada]. It took about three years'
protests and objections from the community, professionals and collectors alike, to avert
the move ... but these days there would be far fewer people to object and write letters.
Collectors support museums, donate specimens and are frequent visitors. No collectors,
no museums.
Museums can offer activities similar to clubs such as field trips, special exhibits and
talks, but they generally address a much wider audience. Museums have a unique ability
to recruit collectors, whereas clubs are better at retaining the. Special exhibits are
important - they cost money to make, but can often be moved to other museums, and are
thus relatively inexpensive per visitor. 'Open house' days with special activities and the
possibility to have specimens identified are crowd pleasers. Every museum should have a
shop - a large shop! - with geological and natural history objects. Regrettably many
museums have the same relationship to business as a nun has to a young sailor on leave,
bigoted and above all theoretical. A good museum shop supports the general interest,
and it is far more inspiring to have a genuine Quartz crystal than a rubber spider.
Museum shops (should) have qualified staff, so the clients learn about their purchases -
you buy a testimony of natural processes, not just a gizmo.
Clubs
The keywords for clubs are 'frequent' and 'welcome'. A club only survives by having
frequent activities and by retaining new members. 'Frequent' means more than once a
month. To new members it is less relevant what happens, as long as something happens
and it is at least a bit interesting. New collectors rarely have a clear profile of their
interest and thereby go on any field trip, come for talks on fossils as well as minerals,
visits with other clubs, etc. If something relevant happens a few times a month, they will
be there.
The best a club can do is to be assertive and direct, encourage the new members to go on
a field trip, they do not necessarily sign up uninvited; offer a study group for beginners,
where more experienced members tell about their interest, show photos from trips, and
help establish contacts in the club; and give them a 'buddy' in the club, somebody who
will introduce them to others, encourage them to go on field trips, actively helps them to
start collecting, etc. Sure, this is a rather firm approach, and you obviously need to
respect individual desires, but if we loose them the first year, they are gone.
Dealers
Mineral- and fossil-dealers are the most important sources of specimens. Even if you
only field collect and trade, some of your specimens are bound to go or have gone
through a dealer. Dealers are always there, every day and often even on weekends, and
even manage to attend shows. They have many contacts and great experience. They need
to make money, and basically can only do that by offering material you want to buy at a
price you will pay.
Like museums, dealers approach a much wider audience. The average customer in a
rock shop buys something because it is interesting or beautiful, not because they collect
... but the first piece can be the start of a collection. Collectors are better customers,
because they tend to buy more expensive material and any dealer should try to recruit
average customers as collectors - hey buddy, it's your retirement! Dealers can apply the
same tools as others, talks, exhibits, field trips, etc., but may find study groups
particularly rewarding and efficient. You gather a group of clients and discuss and
explain a subject, and encourage them to pursue more knowledge. The main difference
between a pile of rocks and a collection is knowledge, customers who know more buy
more. This is not a rival of club activities, but a supplement.
Oh yes, there is the money thing. Neophytes are often appalled by prices and seemingly
you can not get anything within a normal family budget. That is a pity and very
dangerous to the trade. I am well aware of the cost of operating a shop and participating
in shows, and know these costs often exceed the purchase price of the merchandise.
However, I also know that numerous interesting minerals and fossils are available at
very low cost. The profit is very small, but by offering a selection of merchandise
priced at USD 1 or less, you will develop your customer base. Even if the cheap
specimens do not cover the formal cost of staff, rent, etc., they often give an added sale
and many of the buyers will return and eventually buy higher priced merchandise. I
made an experiment at a recent major mineral show. At the end of the last day, I put a
box of 1-2 cm Azurite specimens on a vacant table with no lights and asked the
equivalent of approximately 50 US cents each, and managed to sell around 350 pieces in
three hours. That means saying 'bitte schön,' 'danke sehr,' wrapping and adding a
label about every 30 seconds! The buyers were chiefly children, newcomers to the
hobby or somebody with a peripheral interest in minerals, but there was hardly anything
else at the show, they could spend their money on. I doubt I recruited any new
collectors, but imagine if every dealer brought a few really inexpensive specimens? This
is not trash (it was in fact quite nice Azurite!), but just the kind of material that will not
bring $150. In their early phase of collecting, most people like to get as much as
possible, even if it is not premium grade - every piece is a source of knowledge and
inspiration. Organisers, have your exhibitors bring some really cheap stuff!
Journals
Good journals are important to new and experienced collectors alike. They widen your
horizon by telling of tourmalines from Hindukush, Azurite from Altenmittlau and
ostracodes from Gotland. They tell us about what we can not experience personally, and
are efficient at giving newcomers insight and experience. A journal coming 4-12 times a
year can be among the stimuli mentioned in the introduction.
Few journals carry how-do-I-do-that articles for new members of the hobby, and when,
they are rare. Editors don't particularly like them, as they focus on a small section of the
readership, and frankly how often can you repeat an article on how to organise a
collection? Fortunately, modern techniques have come to our rescue - not every article
needs to be printed, the Internet works very well. A journal's home page may contain
articles, that have never been printed, aiming at novices - where do you get literature,
how do you store a fossil collection, what is needed for a field trip? New collectors will
certainly benefit from being able to read them now, rather than having to track down an
eight year old issue of a journal. To set the record straight: I find it very important that
clubs and museums subscribe to a number of journals and make them available to
members and visitors. No, they should not be available to take home, but always be
available for study in the library. This would be a major asset for new and experienced
collectors alike.
Shows
Now I will get in trouble again. I believe most mineral shows are poorly organised,
promoted with an ever declining group of established clients rather than potential
clients, the dismal effort is rewarded by fewer visitors, and next years show will be
organised in a phone booth. I know it is crass, but is it really to far off?
Good shows present our hobby at its finest, but the chance to promote the hobby is
usually wasted. Many people with a peripheral interest in geology come to the shows,
and I would like to recruit them as collectors, but we only have 3-4 hours to do the job.
Organisers can promote the interest by offering educational exhibits - tell a story, don't
just stack rocks with funny names in a show case - and lectures. It is important, even
people who were compelled to go have a positive experience, and realise there are many
different approaches to the hobby. One or more local clubs have to be represented at the
show - they have to maintain the interest until the next show. Shows generally take place
once a year and are to rare to sustain interest, but you can generate a beautiful symbiosis
between show and clubs: The clubs attract new members at the show and then encourage
members to go to the show next year.
The organiser should actively encourage the participating dealers to bring some really
cheap merchandise - and please, not any more tumble polished stones! The emerging
interest is rarely accompanied by the will to pawn the soul of your first-born.
Now I would like to tease you a bit: Dear show organiser, how would you like to double
or triple the number of visitors to your show? Possibly recruit a few hundred members
for local clubs? And that is practically for free? It is really quite simple, but takes a
couple of pages to explain, so for the editor's sake please send me an e-mail (see below).
Yes, I know, I know ... 'this wise guy is just shooting off his mouth' ... 'what does he
now about shows anyway' ... What will a thousand paying visitors do for your show?
How much will sending an e-mail cost you?
Yours truly
Standing on a soap-box is easy, but what do I do myself? The past few years I have
written about 40 articles and books on minerals, fossils, and shows, organised around 20
special exhibits and have around 15 talks for auspicious events. I have also
'deaccessioned' a few thousand minerals and fossils to newcomers. No, I don't cover the
whole territory, but I use the abilities I have to increase, stimulate, and retain the
interest in geology. The whole point is, there are many of us, we are very different, and
if we all do a little, there will soon be more of us.
Copyright
This article is meant as an inspiration for debate and action. You can freely use it in
another context (club journal, hand-out for discussion), provided you credit the source.
As a matter of curiosity, I would like to know when and where it is used - and feel free
to add illustrations if you like. The text is available in readable (HTML) form as well as
TXT and RTF files on
www.hedegaard.com/Manuscripts/GeoNecrotica/. Please tell me about your experiences with inspiring
and retaining new collectors, whether based on this or not, so others may benefit from
them; please send an e-mail to claushedegaard@hotmail.com.
