Number 4 - Geological Curators Group

During a long forgotten discussion aboutprogress with Guidelines, towards the end ofa marathon meeting of GCG Committee, an ideawas born which has since blossomed into the'Thumbs-Up' campaign - officially launchedwith this issue of the Geological Curator.The initial thinking behind the campaign wass,t out by Tristram Besterman (Plymouth CityXuseum and Art Gallery) in his discussiondocument circulated for the 1984 AGM inDecember at the National Museum of Wales,Cardiff. He explains further what thecampaign seeks to achieve on p. 189 , and wehave also included an all purpose pressrelease suitable for tailoring to localcircumstances as necessary.The 'Thumbs-Up' campaign seeks to encourageuse by the public of those museums capable ofproviding an all round geological serviceand, through the use of the 'Thumbs-Up'dinosaur logo, will enable such museums to bereadily identified. Robertson ResearchInternational Ltd have generously agreed tosponsor the first campaign leaflet 'Rocks,fossils and minerals ', for which the Group isvery grateful. Qualifying museums shouldorder their 'Thumbs-Up' signs immediately andany museum or individual can obtain copies ofthe leaflet from the Editor (see p. 190 ).Following an encouraging initial reaction itis hoped to feature the campaign on BBC TV inthe not too distant future. Memberscomments, suggestions, ideas for furtherleaflets in the series etc. will be mostwelcome and can be passed on to themembership via the pages of the GeologicalW.Guidelines is out! Read no further beforewinging off your order form (enclosed) to theGeological Society of London; copies withthe purpose designed loose-leaf binder arestrictly limited in number - so do it now!This issue also sees the inauguration of anew series under the title 'Then and Now'.Alan Howell (Bolton Museum) explains thethinking behind the series and gets it off toa good start with the unique source of UpperCarboniferous arthropods at Sparth Bottoms,Rochdale. 'Then and Now' is essentially a~icture series, utilising the tried andiested appeal of photographs to contrast theoriginal state of a historically significantsite with its present condition. Manymuseums will have suitable period photographsin their site files capable of being matchedwith an up-to-date equivalent. SparthBottoms shows how great the contrast can be!I look forward to receiving furthercontributions for this series.Following the extended editorial in Vo1.4,No.3 about the state and status of geologywithin the Nature Conservancy Council, GeorgeBlack responds in this issue with his ownfears concerning the effects on geologicalconservation of the recent legislation and~olicv statements under which the NCC nowoprmtcs. 'l'hc possil~lc i'nmifications of overzeiilotls nolificntion of l'l)Os (Potct~tinlly1)anltrcinc 01)crarions) hv the Colincil lo theowners of gkological SS~IS will be ofparticular concern to museum geologists.Michael Crane's impending departure fromBristol Museum (see p. 216 means anothertransfer of responsibility for the 'Lost andFound' column. Mike's term as compiler hasbeen all too brief. We thank him for hisjoint work with Hugh Torrens over the lastyear and wish him well with his newresponsibilities. Your Committee decided atits January meeting that the Recorder's remitshould in future include joint responsibility(with Hugh Torrens) for 'Lost and Found'.Don Steward, our current Recorder, has kindlyagreed to compile future columns.Look out for another new series in the nextissue, dealing with 'forgotten' pioneers ofgeological curation under the title'Uncurated Curators' - another brainchild ofHugh Torrens. The first two contributionswill deal with George Fleming Richardson,1796-1848 (Gideon Mantell's curator) by HughTorrens and John Cooper,and Tom Sheppard(Curator of Hull City Museums) by MickStanley. Who's next?Peter R. CrowtherEditor, Geological Curators' Gmup15 September 1985