Peter Via Collection for Grand Reopening of JMU Mineral Museum

It is a special event when a sizable group of mineral collectors gathers to be the first to view a large selection of world class minerals.  Recently attracting such a crowd was the former Peter Via collection, which had recently been appraised $16,800,000. Upon his death, he had bequeathed it to the James Madison University Mineral Museum in Harrisonburg, Virginia,.

The collection had never left Mr. Via's private home in Roanoke until he died in 2018. It was the largest gift the University ever received. Because of Covid, a grand reopening event by invitation only at the museum’s new home had to be rescheduled from April, 2020 to October 29, 2021.   

The crowd poured in to the Lower Drum of JMU's modern Festival Conference and Student Center on its East Campus. With leaves approaching peak color, it was a prime time of year to be in the area. Torrential rain and westbound traffic backed up for numerous miles on I-81 West were less cooperative.  

Notwithstanding, the number of mineral aficionados that managed to attend the event was substantial. After a short walk from easy parking, guests wound their way downstairs to a large visitor-filled room where volunteers at a check- in table handed out pre-printed tags. Penned onto each was a number referring to the group with which the holder could enter the museum. Wine and a few snacks were available to everyone. Down a short hallway, a designated group stood waiting to enter the exhibit room entrance after a previous group had exited.

Unlike others who were present, this writer had by special arrangement been able to visit Mr. Via at his home in Roanoke  years before to see this amazing collection. I had photographed as many specimens as time allowed and also enjoyed an opportunity to chat with Mr. Via  in his den about his mineral collecting philosophy.

Mineral Bliss's  October 27, 2014 post, “Unbelievable but True The World Class Personal Collection of Peter Via" resulted from that visit. Subsequently, Dr. Lance Kearns, JMU's Emeritus Professor of Geology and Curator of the Museum, with his wife Cindy, a current geology professor at JMU, spent time with Mr. Via during the period when he decided to bequeath his collection to the university.

When it arrived, the world famous mineral photographer Jeff Scovil  went to work with his camera. Also involved was Wendell Wilson, the Publisher and Editor in Chief of MIneralogical Record.  He personally authored a 23 page article about the collection that appeared in that publication’s September-October 2020 edition. At present, numerous images of the specimens are available on line in association with a brief video narrated by Dr. Kearns.  

Lance and Cindy Kearns were immediately inside the museum door as guests entered. When I greeted Lance, he mentioned that Mineral Bliss’s 2014 post had prompted the discussions leading to the bequest of this amazing collection to James Madison University.

The specimens intermingle with the larger collection that Dr.. Kearns describes as "a composite of five collections." Prior to owning the Via specimens, JMU had always displayed specimens in systematic suites based on chemical composition and atomic structure. While the systematic arrangement remains largely in place, many of the Via specimens are arranged in different kinds of small groups, especially when based on visual qualities of a given species or genre. In addition to specimens on display, JMU owns 1770 catalogued specimens in storage. Some will undoubtedly be candidates for rotation into the display.

At its past locations, the James Madison University Mineral Museum was well known  and worth a stop. With the addition of the Peter Via collection it has been transformed into what Dr. Kearns describes as a "Destination Collection.”  It means that people will now be traveling to James Madison University from far and wide for the sole purpose of viewing its mineral museum. Museum hours will be on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 11 am to 3 pm.I

Disappointment at the California Academy of Sciences

The Gems and Minerals Unearthed  exhibit at the California Academy of Sciences opened to the public on September 30, 2016. Just over six years earlier, we had quoted San Francisco's world class collector Jack Halpern when he lamented  that this renowned museum's wonderful mineral collection was not on display.  Upon questioning the museum by telephone, a spokesperson had informed me coldly that environmentally controlled cases would have to be constructed before any minerals were shown.  Having just viewed Jack's amazing collection, we predicted in our  post  of  Sept. 19, 2010, 
the likelihood that any future mineral display at this institution would prove to be anticlimactic. 

A recent visit on September 14, 2016, showed our prognostication from  six years ago to have been prophetic. We admit to having learned upon paying the $35.00 price of admission that for an extra $15, the museum sometimes offered a special behind the scenes tour providing an opportunity to see "some of the museum's most valuable minerals."  Despite a limited window of time during an all too quick trip west to visit family, we nevertheless expected this major public exhibit to feature a multitude of great mineral specimens.  

Gems and Minerals Unearthed consists of about a dozen cases of various minerals and some gems. They are at the end of a wide hallway on the museum's third floor. Each case has a given theme. One theme is to establish that certain mineral species are rare, and that others are common. The blue and white specimen shown at left features several balls of blue cavansite on white stilbite collected in India. Is this the best the museum could do to showcase as a rarity this wildly popular and showy combination of species?  And couldn't the curators have come up with a more attention-grabbing orthoclase specimen than the small crystal just below the cavansite to exemplify one of the more common species? The magnificent and enormous South African sugilite crystal to the left of the cavansite is more in line with what we had expected to see.  But why distract from its amazing purple color with that deep blue background?

The theme in one of the other cases related to colorful minerals displayed with numbers corresponding to written identifications explaining  their color. Once again, few of the specimens boasted the level of aesthetic qualities to be expected at a well-known museum like the California Academy of Sciences. In this case, we even noticed  two similar specimens of dull massive orpiment with identical explanations of "color due to energy gaps in
molecules."  How much thought went into this display?

While the mineral collections in other top tier museums aspire to dazzle the sensibilities of mineral aficionados, it is clear that most of the specimens in this exhibit bespeak no such intention. Clearly, the purpose is to educate the unknowing about a few very basic tenets of mineralogy.

Aside from teaching, the displays could surely do more to generate the interest of  the viewers they seek to educate. To the contrary, some themes seemingly sought  to discourage viewers from the most obvious means of putting their newly acquired knowledge to use. That means, of course, would be to take up collecting minerals as a hobby. The theme in one case deliberately points out the environmental hazards of mining. In another of the cases, it is noted how certain species that collectors prize, linarite for example, are actually poisonous.

Had timing allowed for a behind the scenes visit, the tone of this post almost certainly would be more positive.  Those who visit the California Academy of Sciences  for the primary purpose of seeing minerals will obviously wish to view  the best the museum has. In our opinion, they should be able to do so without having to pay an extra $15.