This is Mazon Monday post #111. What's your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:[email protected].
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Back in Mazon Monday #51, we looked at the book "Leaves and Stems" by Raymond E. Janssen. From the time it was published in 1939 by the Illinois State Museum until George Langford's first book was published by Esconi Associates in 1958, the book was one of the main references used to identify Mazon Creek plants. Its many printings speaks to the popularity. The book was volume 1 of a Popular Science Series published by the museum and can still be purchased from the Illinois State Museum.
The Preface of "Leaves and Stems" is by Thorne Deuel, who is described as the Chief of the the Illinois Museum. He speaks to why it was published and it shouldn't be surprising that George Langford Sr, and George Jr. are mentioned as providing "the finest collection ever assembled from the Mazon Creek region of Illinois". He also provides some background information on the author.
The immediate stimulus that produced this book was derived from the Langford collection of fossils, probably the finest ever assembled from the Mazon Creek region of Illinois. The vast amount of labor entailed in gathering, selecting, opening and “developing” the specimens can be sensed in a measure from an excerpt of a letter from Mr. George Langford, Sr.
“George, Jr., and I spent 140 days (morning and afternoon) in the field . . . and much more time in washing, mending, sorting, marking and developing the material. Altogether I devoted . . . 3400 hours to all this, and George, Jr., 2000 . . .” Nearly 250,000 nodules were split open, only ten percent of which were taken away from the strip mine heaps. Of these 25,000, four hundred fifty-nine (of which sixteen are animals) were selected for the museum."
The excellent quality of the collection, both individually and as a unit, bespeaks scientific acumen, courage, and integrity, a special aptitude, and a tirelessness of purpose, that can be fully appreciated only by those who have engaged in similar labors. The Illinois State Museum is deeply indebted to the Langfords for the opportunity to exhibit, study and publish on this unique collection.
The author, Raymond E. Janssen, is especially fitted to describe and interpret these fragmentary leaves of the ancient records of Illinois plant life. For a number of years he has
paleobotany, particularly of the geology been a student of and coal fields of Illinois. He has prepared paleobotanical exhibits and models for the Texas Centennial, for the Field Museum of Natural History and the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry. He has the faculty of embodying scientific information in simple, direct language and in an entertaining manner for the non-specialist.From time to time, science teachers, students and laymen have enquired for handbooks describing and explaining the collections of the Illinois State Museum. Leaves and stems from fossil forests is the first of a series of modest guidebooks formulated to answer this need. A subsequent volume now in preparation deals with the Indian inhabitants of Illinois since Columbus' voyage of discovery. Other handbooks will be issued at more or less regular intervals covering other collections and exhibits in the Museum.
May 1st, 1939.
THORNE DEUEL,
Chief, Illinois State Museum.
Recently, we received photos of a special copy of the book from James Alann. You might remember Jim and his stunning Fossil Friday contributions of a spider in Fossil Friday #71 and his eurypterid in Fossil Friday #75. This book has a very special inscription... by George Langford in 1940. George gave the book to his sister in law Ethel Greenough Holmes. Ethel was the wife of Sydney's (George's wife) brother and was said to be her favorite in law. Janssen took photographs of George's personal collection and the fossils he had donated to the Illinois State Museum in the 1930's.
Thanks for the contribution, Jim! Here is how Jim describes the acquisition of this priceless book.
A while back, I mentioned that I had purchased a “hard copy” of Leaves & Stems for my personal library several years ago from bookfinder.com. When the book arrived in the mail, I was pleasantly surprised to see an inscription on the front flyleaf from George Langford to his sister-in-law from back in 1940. Janssen had used Langford’s fossil collection photos for the book and must have given copies to George for his contribution. I thought it was interesting to see such an early inscription from GL (dated Jan. 15, 1940) when he was younger and had a “steady hand”.
