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Volume 26, pages 507-508, 1941 NOTES AND NEWS THE ROWE COLLECTION ALBERT S. WILKERSON, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey. Last October Rutgers University was the recipient of a locally well-known collection of minerals. The donor was Mr. George Rowe of Rowe Place, Franklin, New Jersey. The Rowe Collection is now on display in the Museum of Geological Hall, Rutgers University. The Collection is of interest because of its many rare minerals and the large number of Franklin mineral species. George Rowe was born in Cornwall, England, in 1868. At the age of eleven years he started to work in the mines near his home. He came to the United States when he was eighteen years old, and obtained employment in the iron mines of Michigan and Minnesota. In 1906 Rowe became identified with the New Jersey Zinc Company of Franklin, New Jersey. Rowe was mine captain from 1906 until 1937, when he retired. Although not a trained mineralogist, Rowe possessed a keen eye for rare crystal forms and rare minerals. Most of the specimens in the Collection were found by Rowe, although many were given to him by his associates, and a few were purchased from mineral dealers. Many of the rare minerals were identified by L. H. Bauer of the chemical laboratory of the New Jersey Zinc Company at Franklin, and by Dr. Charles Palache. Palache1 acknowledges the Rowe Collection as one of the collections that furnished valuable data for his study of Franklin minerals. Approximately 2400 specimens, consisting of 246 mineral species and varieties, make up the Collection. Thirty States and 26 foreign countries are represented. About half of the specimens are from New Jersey, 931 from Franklin. Of the 151 known species from Franklin, 129 are in the Collection. Roweite - a light brown, lath-shaped orthorhombic mineral, 5 in hardness, a hydrous borate of manganese and calcium - will soon be added. Mr. Rowe owns one of the three specimens named in his honor and has stated his intention of giving it to Rutgers. Following is a summary of the more rare species and varieties in the collection, the common minerals being omitted: Allactite; Franklin Of interest is a single specimen of yellow spinel embedded in Franklin limestone, presenting the form of a simple cube modified by a trace of the octahedron. It is unique among Franklin spinel specimens and has received special mention by Palache. Sixty-one rhodonite specimens of various shades, dimensions, and complexity of crystal forms is the outstanding feature of the Collection. More than a hundred specimens are fluorescent, some phosphorescent. NOTE 1 Palache, Charles: U. S. Geol. Survey, Prof. Paper 180, 2 (1937). [var:'startyear'='1941'] [Include:'footer.htm'] |