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Amherst College was founded in Amherst, Massachusetts in 1821. The Johnson Chapel building, completed in 1827, contained originally four recitation-rooms, a room for philosophical apparatus, and a cabinet for minerals on the lower floor, two recitation-rooms on the second floor, a library room on the third floor, and a laboratory in the basement. The real foundation of the mineralogy collection, however, was the cabinet of minerals donated in 1838 by Rev. Edward Hitchcock (1794-1864), LL.D., Professor of Natural Theology and Geology. A famous mineralogist and mineral collector, Prof. Charles Upham Shepard (1804-1886) of New Haven (whose mineral collection was later acquired by the college), was appointed professor of chemistry and natural history when Rev. Hitchcock was promoted to college President in 1845. The combination of the Hitchcock and Shepard collections resulted in the largest mineral collection in New England and one of the best in the United States. Unfortunately, virtually the entire collection was destroyed by a fire that leveled Walker Hall in 1882. Rebuilding the collection was a task fervently pursued by Shepard and B.K. Emerson in the 1800's. Many of the current exhibits are a product of the work of Gerald Brophy, former Professor of Geology, and Dr. Carl Francis (Class of 1972; now Curator of Minerals for Harvard University).

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Image © The Tricottet Collection / Dr Arnaud Mignan