This is Mazon Monday post #221. What's your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:[email protected].
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The very first North American Paleontological Convention (NAPC) was held 55 years ago on September 5th, 6th, and 7th, 1969. The conference was hosted by the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, IL. ESCONI and Mazon Creek played a large role in the proceedings. ESCONI had special Mazon Creek displays that featured specimens from many members.
This was a very special event and ESCONI put out the call. More than 40 members answered! This announcement appeared in the December 1968 edition of the newsletter.
SPECIAL NOTICE
On September 5,6 & 7, 1969, the Field Museum will be host to the North American Palaeontological Convention. The meeting brings together the foremost palaeontologists and leaders in related fields from the entire continent.
The museum is both grateful and proud of its relationship with the amateur collectors. Few institutions enjoy such an amiable "amateur- professional" relationship. The Museum wishes to promote this kind of relationship among other institutions by showing the contributions made by the amateur collector and the gains that are accomplished by both parties.
One method will be to exhibit some of the fine specimens in the collections of the amateurs. All specimens exhibited will bear the owners name and club affiliate (if any). Since the greatest contributions made made by the amateur has been the lending of Mazon Creek Area specimens, the exhibit will be limited to nodules from this area.
All ESCONIans who have specimens (both plant & animal) from the Mazon Creek area are urged to participate in this exhibit. ESCONI has a screening committee to select specimens to be exhibited by ESCONI members. Members that have specimens in a quantity small enough to be transported will be asked to bring them to a designated place (possibly Hummer House) on a chosen date early in January or February. Those whose collections are too large to transport will be visited Try the committee. The identification, labeling and mounting will be done by the Museum staff.
It is very important that as many members as possible be represented in this venture. In order to maintain uniformity and to make it easy for the committee to maintain a card file, I ask all members who have specimens from the Mazon Creek Area to fill out a standard 3X 5 government post card according to the sample below and mail it to me as soon as possible. The display will also be open to the public for the entire month of September.
Jim Konecny
Come and see! From the July/August 1969 edition of the newsletter.
NOTICE: September 5-6-2 COME AND SEE
The North American Paleontological Convention will be held Septomber 5,6, and 7, 1969 at the Field Museum. This is a gathering of many paleontologists and paleobotonists from all over the North American continent.
Many Esconi members and other interested amateurs will have fossils on display.
Everyone was excited to hear Eugene Richardson speak! Many ESCONI members considered him one of our own. From the September 1969 newsletter...
North American Paleontological Convention
On September 5, 6, and 7, the Field Museum of Natural History will host the North American Paleontological Convention. This brings together the majority of professional and learned anateur paleontologists and paleobotanists fron the entire North American Continent.
Although the bulk of the convention will consist of numerous symposia, there are three items that would interest most Esconians.
- The display, of Mazon Creek Fossils, in which over 40 Esconions are displaying material. This exhibit will be located in the lobby of the James Simpson Theatre, and will be open all three days.
- At the Friday (September 5) 2:00 h symposium, Dr. E.S. Richardson, Jr., will be giving his lecture. Tickets for a single symposium may be purchased at the registrar's desk for $2.00 per ticket.
- On Saturday evening at 7:00 p.n. the banquet will be held in Stanley Field Hall. Tickets for this occasion are $7.00 per person. This gives many Esconians the opportunity to meet the numerous professionals.
For those who wish to attend the entire convention the registration fee is 20.00. Anyone wishing further information may contact Dr. Rainer Zangerl at the Museum. His number is WA2-9410.
Jim Konecny
In the photo below, Tony Sobolik is facing the camera with Jim Konency on the left. Eugene Richardson Jr. is in the background with the pipe. I believe Sylvia Konecny has her back to the camera in the polka dot dress.
Rainer Zangerl, Chief Curator of Geology and President of NAPC 1969, and E. Leland Webber, Director of the Field Museum, opened up the conference. The program reveals interesting symposia... "Extraordinary Fossils", "Computers in Paleontology", "Cretaceous Biogeography", and the "Lore of Paleontology". What was the "Smoker" at 9 PM on Friday?
Just look at the schedule for "Extraordinary Fossils"... Eugene Richardson Jr. presiding with Harry Whittington speaking about the "Preservation of Burgess shale arthropods". Richardson and Ralph Johnson on "The Middle Pennsylvanian Mazon Creek Fauna", and Frank Carpenter on "Adaptations among Paleozoic Insects". Quite the lineup!
Part 1 of the Proceedings
Description from the ESCONI archives
THE MAZON CREEK AREA, IN WILL, GRUNDY AND KANKAKEE COUNTIES IN NORTHERN ILLINOIS, HAS BEEN A PRODUCER OF FOSSILS SINCE 1857. THESE FOSSILS HAVE BEEN KNOWN THROUGHOUT THE WORLD FOR THEIR EXCELLENCE OF PRESERVATION. ALTHOUGH THE GREAT MAJORITY OF THESE FOSSILS ARE PLANTS, A FEW ANIMALS WERE FOUND--THE RATIO BEING ABOUT 100 PLANTS TO I ANIMAL. THESE ANIMALS ARE BOTH TERRESTRIAL AND FRESH WATER FORMS.
DUE TO THE DILIGENT WORK OF A NUMBER OF ZEALOUS AMATEUR COLLECTORS, TWO AREAS IN WHICH THE ANIMALS OUTNUMBER THE PLANTS WERE DISCOVERED ABOUT 8 YEARS AGO. NOTEWORTHY ABOUT THESE AREAS IS THE FACT THAT THE ANIMALS ARE MOSTLY MARINE FORMS.
THE FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY, CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, WORKING ON A "MAZON CREEK FAUNAL PROJECT" HAS DETERMINED THERE ARE TWO DISTINCT ECOLOGICAL AREAS. THEY HAVE CLASSIFIED THE ANIMAL LIFE INTO TWO DISTINCT FAUNAL ASSEMBLAGES. THE OLD CLASSICAL AREAS BEING CALLED THE BRAIDWOOD FAUNA AND THE NEW MARINE DOMINATED AREAS, THE ESSEX FAUNA.
IN SEPTEMBER, 1969 THE FIELD MUSEUM WAS HOST TO THE NORTH AMERICAN PALEONTOLOGICAL CONVENTION. AT ONE OF THE SEMINARS THE MUSEUM DESCRIBED THE NATURE OF THEIR WORK ON THE "MAZON CREEK FAUNAL STUDY." IN ORDER TO SHOW THE IMPORTANCE AND MAGNITUDE OF THIS PROJECT, THE MUSEUM ASKED LOCAL AMATEUR COLLECTORS TO ASSIST THEM BY LENDING SOME OF THEIR SPECIMENS FOR EXHIBIT. MEMBERS OF THE EARTH SCIENCE CLUB OF NORTHERN ILLINOIS COMPRISED 84% OF THE TOTAL AMATEURS WHO PARTICIPATED.
A SMALL PORTION OF THE SPECIMENS EXHIBITED, ALONG WITH SOME TYPICAL PLANTS ARE SHOWN HERE.
Photos of the display cases.... unfortunately, there are no close ups.
In February 1970, after a very successful conference!
"THAT'S US!"--Excerpt from Geo-Times, December, 1969
"More than 500 persons assembled Sept. 5-7 at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago for the North American Paleontological Convention. This gathering of nearly one third of the profession was certainly the largest single. assembly of devotees of fossils in North America... There was no doubt about the excitement generated by the special exhibit of exceptional Middle Pennsylvanian fossils from south of Chicago (Mazon Creek).
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Note: some of the material in this post came from a donation from Charles Shabica in March of 2023. Charles, Professor Emeritus of Northeastern Illinois University, was the editor of the "Richardson's Guide to the Fossil Fauna of Mazon Creek". He was also responsible for the annual Mazon Creek Open House, which was held from the middle 1980s up until the early 2000s.
Thank you, Charley!
