Museum project focuses on natural art of rock, ore

JOPLIN, Mo. -- There's a reason that a certain kind of zinc is dubbed ruby jack, but visitors to the Joplin Mineral Museum couldn't tell why by looking at samples of the rock there.

"It has very small points, and those points, when struck with direct light, look like massive rubies," said John Knapp, who teaches geology and physical science at Missouri Southern State University.

A face-lift currently under way at the museum, in Schifferdecker Park, is designed to give visitors a better view of the rock and ore samples on display.

Knapp, who began the labor in the fall of 2003 as a sabbatical project, cites the lighting on the ruby jack sphalerite as an example of how the mineral museum can better show off its stuff.

Existing fluorescent lights make the hunk of ruby jack look smoother than it is and show only the black color of the mass. Seen under a spotlight, however, sharp points of ruby red stick out and sparkle. The rock is colorful enough and glints so brightly in light that in bygone days the points were made into gemstones, Knapp said.

He and the museum staff came up with a plan to redesign the mineral exhibits.

"The main idea is to display the minerals in a more interesting fashion," Knapp said. "They need to be displayed so their beauty can be appreciated."

One part of the plan is to replace fluorescent lights with spotlights and remove the green, gold and brown burlap that now lines display cases. A dark background will be installed to help the lights set off the specimens.

"They'll look like something out of a mineral art book" rather than globs of black, gray and brown stacked on shelves, Knapp said.

"In a sense, you are looking at God's art -- natural art rather than human art," he said.

Knapp said that "interesting geology" is why national parks and other scenic places are popular, and why people, especially children, collect rocks, which come in an infinite array of colors, shapes and textures.

"In our inner psyche, we appreciate these things," he said.

In the center of the museum, fences surrounding displays of large rocks have been removed, and new display racks are being built that will allow the rocks, some of which weigh a ton, to appear as if they are suspended in the air. The museum's walls will be painted black, and the terra cotta floor replaced with a dark flooring that will help with the illusion, Knapp said.

He's weeding through about 1,000 specimens to select "the best of the best" for the new displays. He's also doing a lot of cleaning. "They have 50 years of dirt on them," because the rocks haven't been cleaned since they were accumulated for the museum, Knapp said.

Most of the ore samples can be cleaned simply by being brushed with water. Some have to be dunked in a weak acid to dissolve oxidized layers, he said.

Knapp is rewriting descriptions of the exhibits to bring them up to date, and making new labels. He is also developing educational programs that area schools can use to teach students about the area's bedrock in mining.

"The crux of it is to modernize the museum and make something more exciting -- an experience," said Brad Belk, director of the Joplin Museum Complex.