Quarterly Newsletter of the

CALVERT MARINE MUSEUMVol. 23 - No. 4 Accredited by the American Association of Museums WINTER 1998/1999

Dredging up the Past: When Oysters Weren't Almost HistoryBy Dr. Kent Mountford

(Editor's Note: This article by Dr. Mountford is one of his series of articles on "Past is Prologue"in the Bay Journal of the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay, appearing in the December 1997issue. It has been shortened somewhat. Dr. Mountford is a senior scientist with the Chesapeake

' •, Bay Program of the Environmental Protection Agency, a resident of the St. Leonard Creek area ofCalvert County, and a previous contributor to the Bugeye Times.)

^^4s5 r̂-~ Oysters' history in the Chesapeake region is much older than that of humans. The bay's,; .,; --. -. _•-„, -&?;-£- cliffs and banks reveal the shells of extinct oyster species from the Miocene epoch ten million

to fourteen million years ago. [Examples can be seen at CMM.]

When the first people, as bands of hunter-gatherers, began to range across this part ofNorth America between 9,000 and 1 2,000 years ago, the great Wisconsin Glaciation was juststarting to melt away from the land, a process that took thousands of years. This glacial meltingeventually contributed enough water to the world's oceans that they rose — sometimes 3-1/2feet a century — and began flooding river valleys along the Eastern Seaboard. About 5,000years ago, the tides had flooded the gorge of the ancestral Susquehanna River deeply enoughthat the resulting bay had a shape we'd recognize today as the Chesapeake.

Into this bay came the modern species of oyster. Billions of them grew, one upon the other,for thousands of generations until immense beds of them covered unimagined areas, virtuallyunharvested, feeding on the plankton brought to them twice daily by the tides of a deepeningChesapeake.

Oysters were such an important part of the hunter-gatherers' diet that their shells are almosta signature for any Native American dwelling site near salt water. In some places, the oysters atthe bottom of the oyster pile — the first harvested — are big, some with thirteen annual growthmarks on the valves. The ones on top — those harvested last — were tiny, barely spat throwninto a pot to thicken a winter's stew. These early people, when gathering, waded only in the

shallows, and their scattered living groups were too small to damage the ecosystem. They just moved on half a mile or so [to anotheroyster bed] and the exhausted sites recovered in a few years.

During what climatologists call the Late Medieval Warm Period, this part of North America was afflicted with prolonged droughtsand forest fires. As the human population grew, this environmental stress spawned conflict, and peoplebegan to coalesce into villages, which could be palisaded for defense against inland tribes whoforayed to the coast for its more abundant food resources.

By A.D. 1500, some historians feel that warfare was endemic,and stored foods became valuable to feed what amounted to standingarmies. One resource was the oyster, harvested mostly from Marchthrough April, before crop-planting in May. Oyster meats wereshucked and dried for later consumption, and were also probablyused for trade.

It was onto this scene of spring oyster harvesting that the firstEnglish Adventurers of the Virginia Company of London intruded onApril 27, 1607. Captain George Percy took a small boat intoLynnhaven Inlet, near Virginia Beach. He wrote of his encounter:

We came to a place where they had made a great fire and hadbeen newly roasting oysters. When they perceived our coming, This photo of oyster shells at a location in the Chesapeake Bay area in the mid-they fled away to the mountains, and left many of the oysters In twentieth century demonstrates the large-scale harvesting of oysters, although

the availability of oysters was considerably lower in this century than in the(Continued on Page 6) nineteenth. An oyster boat is shown at the left. CMM Archives (P-6970)

Although it is not certain that the NativeAmerican in the lohn White drawing of J585/7 was raking for oysters, it is known that oysterswere a staple of their diet when the Englisharrived.

2-

1998 WATERSIDE MUSIC SERIES WINDS DOWN

The final "Waterside" fundraising musicconcerts for 1998 were held in September,October, and November, with music for allaudiences. Country artist Kathy Matteaentertained 2,600 guests on theWashington Gas Pavilion on September 5,with a beautiful full moon providingbackground scenery. Traditionally a purecountry musician and singer, Mattea'srecent work reflected strong influences fromCeltic and traditional folk ballads.Accordingly, her "crossover" audiencemixed both country and acoustical musicfans. This event raised nearly $13,000 formuseum programs and exhibits.

Autumn indoor concerts featuredCathy Ponton King on October 24, andSeldom Scene on November 28. King, arhythm and blues singer and lead guitarist,has played the Washington, D. C, andBaltimore area clubs for more than adecade. Her music is reminiscent of BonnieRaitt with New Orleans blues overtones.Seldom Scene, an eminently popularbluegrass group for over twenty-five years,played here on Thanksgiving weekend to asell-out crowd. This is a group with a verystrong following throughout the Mid-Atlantic states, and can always be countedon to provide impeccable instrumentalperformances and faultless harmonizing.

Quarterly Newsletter of theCalvert Marine Museum

and theCalvert Marine Museum Society, Inc.

(ISSN0887-651X)C. Douglass Alves, Jr., Director

Paul L. Berry, EditorOther contributors to this issue:

Lee Ann Wright, Vanessa Gill

The bugeye was ihe traditional sailing craft of theBay, and was built in all its glory at Solomons, the"Bugeye Capital of 1/ie World." Membership duesare used to fund special museum projects, programs,and printing of this newsletter. Address commentsand membership applications to:

Calvert Marine Museum Society, Inc.P.O. Box 97

Solomons, MD 20688-0097410-326-2042

FAX 410-326-6691TDD 410-535-6355

Printed on Recycled Paper.

Tentatively, the1999 Waterside MusicSeries will begin onFebruary 13, 1999,with the Nils LofgrenDuo returning to theCalvert MarineMuseum auditorium.Lofgren, a veteran ofrock and folk-rockbands such as CrazyHorse, Grin, and BruceSpringsteen's E StreetBand, provides awonderful set thatfeatures classics of hisown composition, contemporary rock, andballads long familiar to all his fans. LikeSeldom Scene's, this concert is expectedto sell-out early. Watch the localnewspapers and listen to 97.7 The Bay(FM)for sales announcements.

On March 6, huge East Coast favoritesEddie From Ohio have been tapped to givetwo performances in the CMM auditorium,in order to meet what's expected to be alarge demand for tickets. Five close friendswho have been singing and performingtogether since their college days, EddieFrom Ohio has six CDs on the independentdistribution circuit as well as solo CDs bylead singers Robbie Schaeffer and JulieMurphy Wells. This will be the fifthappearance for the band at CMM, whereWaterside has helped them establish a loyal

Cathy Ponton King (lefl) at the October concertCMM photos by Bob Hal! and Lance Sirozier

fan base throughout Southern Maryland.

Waterside Music Series continues tobring CMM thousands of dollars each yearthrough the production of contemporarymusic events. The developmentdepartment staff want to remind allmuseum members and Waterside fans tosupport the corporate sponsors who aregenerous enough to underwrite many ofthe music series' costs. These include 97.7The Bay; Ralph's Dodge; SolomonsLanding; Cumberland and Erly, LLC;Woodburn's of Solomons; BozickDistributors and their Coors products;Holiday Inn Select Solomons; MainMessage Center; SMECO; JonesCommunications; New Bay Times; Mom'sin the Kitchen; and the DM Group, ^j^

WELCOME TO NEW BOARD OF GOVERNORS' MEMBERSRobert Swann and Roxanne Cumberland were formally welcomed to the Calvert Marine

Museum Board of Governors at the annual board dinner on December 9. Appointed bythe county commissioners, they will replace outgoing board members William B. GlascockII and Karen H. Abrams, who have each served two terms on behalf of the Calvert MarineMuseum and the Calvert Marine Museum Society, Inc.

Mr. Swann has enjoyed a long career as Assistant Comptroller for the State of Maryland,and is now State Comptroller, as well as serving as an active community service leader andadvocate for many Southern Maryland institutions. Mrs. Cumberland, another lifelong CalvertCounty resident, has been a career human resource executive and a strong voice for thearea's non-profit organizations. Together with the law firm of Cumberland and Erly, she hasbeen particularly supportive of the museum's Bugeye Ball and Waterside Music Series.

Board members continuing to serve include: Donald L. Brown, Susan Fischer, C. BernardFowler, J. Matthew Gambrill, Carl M. Loffler, Sherry D. Reid, Margaret W. Reynolds, John A.Simpson Jr., John C. Smith, Dawn Szot, and George C. Tilghman. A county commissioner is anex officio member, as is CMM's director C. Douglass Alves Jr. Members of the museum'sBoard of Governors also serve as directors of the Calvert Marine Museum Society, Inc. fa^

WINTER 1998/1999

BUGEYE BALL BENEFITS WM. B. TENNISON

A record 238 guests enjoyed this year'sBugeye Ball, held at the museum onSeptember 26. The event included dinnerunder two outdoor canopies, followed bydancing in the museum's exhibit hall lobbyand changing exhibits areas. Committeemembers Don Brown, Celeste Furey, SandyLeitner, Sherry Reid, Dawn Szot, SusanFischer, and Mimi Lacouture combinedtheir design concepts with those of localevent planner Eleanor Moore. The resultsfeatured gold fabrics, gold and yellowflowers, and twenty-five hand-craftedTennison models contributed by thePatuxent Small Craft Guild. Thanks to thegenerous service gifts of Mrs. Moore, DaveBenson of Maryland Country Caterers, acocktail hour produced by Lighthouse Inn,and the considerable private donations ofmoney and silent raffle goods, the BugeyeBall was able to dedicate profits of $11,000to the Wm. B. Tennison Restoration Fund.

Cocktail and dinner hour music wereprovided by Square Noon, while after-dinner dancing was helped along by thepopular Main Street. Guests also enjoyeda silent raffle and won prizes of ticketedraffle items.

Acting as emcees for the ball, museumdirector Doug Alves and Board ofGovernors chair Don Brown announced anadditional pledge of $10,000 to theTennison fund by Gerry Clark, a localSolomons business leader and president ofthe Solomons Business Association. TheWm. B. Tennison will celebrate its 100thbirthday in 1999. Plans are under way todedicate next year's ball profits to theTennison in honor of this anniversary.

Calvert Marine Museum, on behalf ofthe Wm. B. Tennison, is proud to thank thefollowing corporate and individualsupporters for graciously underwritingmany of the ball's expenses. Benefactors:Stanley and Barbara Benning; Cumberland& Erly, LLC; Mr. and Mrs. John E. Harms Jr.;G. S. Oursler Jr.; and SMECO. Sponsors:BGE; Calvert Bank & Trust; Mr. and Mrs.Phillip "Sam" Hughes; Marrick Properties,Inc.; Don and Sarabeth Smith; Mr. and Mrs.Walter Szot; Washburn's Boat Yard, Inc.Patrons: Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Aldridge Sr.;Mr. and Mrs. C. D. Bare; Mr. and Mrs. J.Ernest Bell II; Calvert Marina; Dr. Mark R.

Larry and Roxanne Cumberland, longtime Bugeye Ballsupporters, enjoy the 1998 Ball with state's attorneyRobert Riddle. CMM photo by Lance Strozier

Frazer; Holiday Inn Select Solomons;Congressman Steny H. Hoyer; TheLighthouse Inn; Senator and Mrs. ThomasV. Mike Miller Jr.; Carey and Don Randall;Reynolds and Manning, P.A.; SolomonsVeterinary Clinic; and Mrs. IsabelleWoodburn.

SMALL CRAFT COLLECTION UPDATEDuring 1998, two boats were added to

CMM's small craft collection. In July,Linwood C. Thomas of McFarland, Wiscon-sin, donated a 1959 Cruis-Along "Vacationer"(hull number 225-59). Built by Cruis-AlongBoats of Solomons (formerly M. M.Davis &Son), the twenty-two-foot pleasure craft spentall of its life in the Great Lakes and retains itsoriginal seventy-horsepower Gray Marineengine. Mr. Thomas transported the boathimself from Wisconsin to Solomons, whereit was unloaded and stored, thanks toWashburn's Boat Yard.

Mr. Thomas donated the boat inmemory of his father, Linwood F. Thomas,who worked atCruis-Along Boatsas production su-perintendent. Mr.Thomas workedthere himself in1957 and 1958.Since CMM alreadyhas a 1956 Cruis-Along "Angler" ondisplay in the Mari-time Patuxent ex-hibit, it is the even-

tual intention to display the "Vacationer," inoperating condition, in the boat basin.

On a smaller scale, the museum was for-tunate to be given a Jacoby Flyaway M rac-ing hydroplane, built by the Fred Jacoby BoatWorks of North Bergen, New Jersey, around1949. The beautifully made rnahogany-and-canvas, twelve-foot hydroplane competed inthe Midget Class races on the Chesapeake.It was donated by Mark Hughes of Lusby,whose father, Carl L. Hughes, raced the boat.Accompanying the hydroplane is CarlHughes'sracing hel-

Boatwr/gnt lack Kroiak at work on inc Broomes IslandCMM photo by Richard Dodds

Donated Cruis-Along beingtransferred after delivery atWashburn's Boat Yard to coveredstorage- CMM photo by Rob Hurry

life vest and a Martin 60 outboard racing en-gine. It is intended to add the boat and equip-ment to the maritime exhibit.

During 1998 there was considerableprogress in the rebuilding of the 1936Broomes Island draketail workboat: the fram-ing and planking of the stern was completed;new frames and deck beams installed;sampson post, king plank, and new deck fit-ted; and the interior and exterior painted. Astart has also been made on the rub-rail andtoe-rail.

Since 1991, CMM boatwrightJack Kroiak has supervised the re-building of the Broomes Islanddraketail and all other restorationwork on the small craft collection.Unfortunately, Jack left the mu-seum in November to join his fam-ily in Ashville, North Carolina. Mu-seum staff and Patuxent SmallGuild volunteers would like to takethis opportunity to thank Jack forsharing with us his expertise andcommitment to the cause of oursmall craft heritage, and wish himall the best in his new life in NorthCarolina. (Richard Dodds} gj^

PATUXENT RIVER AlThe annual celebration of the Patmany traditional activities. This (

a very active role, attracts yovisitors for an inti

Curator of paleontology, Dr. Stephen Godfrey,helps a young visitor with the identification of afossil to assist paleontology volunteers at PRAD.CMM photo by Bob Hall

Young boatbuilderstry their hands atcompleting boatmodels frommaterials providedby CMM's PatuxentSmall Craft Guild.CMM photo byBob Hall

ESTUAMNERESEARCH

CENTER

Other research organizations interested in thePatuxent River and Chesapeake Bay, such as theAcademy of Natural Sciences Estuarine ResearchCenter of St. Leonard, also have exhibits at PRAD.

CMM photo by Bob Hall

Visitors inspect a mode!displayed in CMM's

Woodworking Shop.CMM photo by Bob Hall

An exhibit by Dick Day ofantique gasoline enginescaptivates a PRAD visitor.CMM photo by Bob Hall

PRECIATION DAYSxent River on October 10-11 sawfentf in which the museum takes*ng and old, new and former'esting weekend.

Reenactors on the replica of one ofCommodore Joshua Barney's gunboats of

1814 fire a shot to demonstrate gunnery fromthe period of the War of 1812.

CMM photo by Bob Hal!

At a program on September 18, the museumpresented a Solomons history program jointly

with the Calvert County Historical Society to astanding-room only audience in CMM's

auditorium. Here, maritime history curatorRichard Dodds (at lectern) describes slides whilelocal residents Mrs. Mildred DeBoy and Mr. jack

Northam look on and comment on the scenes offormer days. These two long-time residents were

joined by Mrs. Doris Woodburn Johnson and Mr.Charles Elliott. CMM photo by Rob Hurry

CMM's education departmenthonored its volunteers at a picnic atScientists' Cliffs in October. Other

departments also honored theirvolunteers. CMM photo by Bob Hall

Dredging up the PastContinued from Page 1

the fire. We ate some of the oysters which were verylarge and delicate in taste....

John Smith, Percy's shipmate, later led the struggling colony atJamestown during the difficult, starving time in 1609-1610. Thecolony's misery was helped along by the Native Americans, whowere unwilling to trade their limited corn reserves with these smelly,violent men who were taking over their huntinggrounds. So Smith sent parties of his men outalong the shores of the James River to gatheroysters and keep themselves alive.

So it happened that neither we nor [theNative Americans] had anything to eatbut what the country afforded naturally.Yet of eighty who lived upon oysters inI une and July, with a pint of com a weekfor a man lying under trees, and onehundred twenty for the most part livingupon sturgeon, which are dried till wepounded it to powder for meal, yet in ten weeks but sevendied.

About 1610, William Strachey became secretary of the colonyat Jamestown and writes:

Oysters there be in whole banks and beds, and those ofthe best I have seen some thirteen inches long. The savagesused to boil oysters and mussels together and with the broththey make a good spoon meat, thickened with flour of theirwheat [actually corn] and it is a great thrift and husbandrywith them to hang the oysters upon strings ... and dried inthe smoke, thereby preserve them all the year.

Food was still not easy to come by in 1623, and a Virginiannamed Arundel wrote to his friend Mr. Caning in London: "Themost evident hope from altogether starving is oysters ..." Afteralmost seven decades of colonization, Thomas Glover wrote in1676 about the Elizabeth River: "Here are such plenty of oystersas they may load ships with them. At the mouth of the ElizabethRiver, when it is low water, they appear in rocks a foot above thewater/'

... in pre-Colonial times,

oysters were so abundant that

they had the capacity to filter

the bay's volume in a few days;

at present, oysters would take

about a year to repeat the job.

reefs or "rocks" were limited in vertical growth only by the heightof the tide.

In the 1860s, during the War Between the States, Bill Hargisrelates that while the Union gunboat Monitor was moored in theJames, crewmen rowed out to the oyster banks at low water towalk about and gather oysters for dinner. Joe DeAlteris at VIMSdid a study some years ago in which he compared the earliestavailable bathymetric surveys with those of recent years andcalculated that the structure of the many once-massive reefs in

the James had been broken down by nearly five feetover broad areas from repeated dredging.

Dr. Roger Newell at Maryland's HornPoint Research Laboratory calculated a fewyears ago that in pre-Colonial times, oysterswere so abundant that they had the capacityto filter the bay's volume in a few days; atpresent, oysters would take about a year torepeat the job. Also, the water then hadfewer nutrients, and the massive beds ofaquatic grasses probably left the oysters witha smaller crop of plankton to work on.

But with the end of the Colonial period, and the dawn of the1800s, would come the unreasonable abuses of the Chesapeakeoysters: 2,000 skipjacks and other boats dredging the bay floor;countless men tonging the creeks; a dozen railroad cars loadedwith oysters — fresh and preserved — leaving Baltimore daily, boundfor the West, as far as California's goldfields! Later, in this century,came the diseases dermo and MSX, which doubly decimated astruggling population. ^-,

"PEPPER" LANGLEY'S RECOLLECTIONS

Another chronicler wrote:

The abundance of oysters is incredible. There are wholebanks of them so that the ships must avoid them. A sloop,which was to land us a Kingscreek struck an oyster bed,where we had to wait about two hours for the tide.

At first 1 thought that this, one of a couple of references to beinggrounded on reefs, was anecdotal, and didn't make too much ofit. But I later ran across a chart of the James River, published bythe Dutch, which shows about seventeen "reefs" rising above thesurface along the channels. None is there today.

These reefs, says Dr. Bill Hargis of the Virginia Institute ofMarine Sciences, were importantto the success of oysters becausethey kept these filter-feeding shellfish up in the water column withineasy access of the maximum amount of plankton, their only food.The reefs also offered the oyster spat a billion places to strike. The

"Pepper" Langley with his recently completed modelof the steamship St. Marys. CMM photo by Bob Hal!

As mentioned in the fall issue, the museum has reprinted/ Remember: Recollections of "Pepper" Langley — CrowingUp in Solomons, a joint effort of "Pepper" and Melvin Conant,who brought together the recollections from taped interviewsinto book form. First published in 1 990, the 11 5-page bookhas been out of print for two years. The new printing has afew minor corrections and a new appendix listing "Pepper"sarticles in The Solomons Islander. Copies are available in theMuseum Store for $9.95 (plus tax).

WINTER 1998/1999 7

Hello Members!I want to take this opportunity to say a quick hello to all the members and let you in on my plans for the next few months.

I was lucky enough to have moved into a position that has been well organized and cared for by its previous occupant(we all know her fondly as Sybol), and I look forward to continuing that tradition. I have set several goals for myself for theupcoming months, many of which are behind-the-scenes events such as installing new membership software and streamliningthe membership renewal process, which I hope will make the computer do the work it's supposed to do. But other goals willbe much more visible to you, the CMM member, such as new membership materials, durable membership cards, and forthose of you who help out with the bulk mailings, laser labels instead of the old dot matrix labels which are often so messyand difficult to organize. Over the next few months, I also plan to tie together some member faces with all the names I seein my database, and I look forward to meeting you at any/all of our upcoming member events!

I've learned a great deal since hopping aboard in September, but realize I've still got a way to go. I would like to hearfrom you if you have any suggestions about improving your membership process and making it as enjoyable as possible, soplease feel free to give me a call ... what better time?

Thanks for believing in the Calvert Marine Museum. Your membership supports a very worthy cause!

See You Soon,

Year-End AppealMembers were mailed the 1 998 Year-End Appeal packets at the end of November. This year's fundraising goal was set

at $15,000, money which will be used toward operational costs for projects that continue to improve and expand themuseum's mission throughout our communities.

Many people believe that the museum is funded entirely by the Calvert County government; the reality is that only 66percent of the museum's funding comes from public funds. The remainder must be raised by the Calvert Marine MuseumSociety. Additionally, special projects, such as adding the touch tank, renovating the Wm. B. Tennison, and building thePatuxent Small Craft Center, require funds to match any grants or bonds we receive. That's where the importance of havingcaring and supportive members comes into play. Within the first few days of the 1 998 Year-End Appeal drive we receivedgifts totaling over $2,200, that is 1 5 percent of our goal already! Thank You!

Museum growth in programs, exhibits, and collections, such as the wooden vessels cared for at the Patuxent Small CraftCenter, require substantial support through your donations. We appreciate the contributions received from our museum"community" over the past years and look forward to continuing the uniquely close relationships with members that ensurethe Calvert Marine Museum's success in meeting the mission goals of "preservation and education."

- Society Snapshot —WELCOME NEW MEMBERS! We have 136 new members in the Calvert Marine Museum Society! New

premium members: Bugeye Society: Sheldon R. Seidel, DOS, Phyllis Lantz. Patron: Robert L Ashcom.Sustaining: David & Sally Arbuthnot, Mr. and Mrs. David E. Butler, R. D. & M.C. Carpenter, Michael & JudithD'Errico, Keith Krieble & Linda Wells, and Mr. & Mrs. Richard Porter. Contributing: Janice Gess, Ms. CristiMcBride, H. Donald & Dorothy G. Sweeten, Susan Weams-Leachman, and Mr. & Mrs. B. C. Zander.

ENGLAND'S MARITIME HISTORY TRIP WITH LORD ADDISONIn the spring of 1999, museum members will have an opportunity to visit some of the highlights of southern England's seagoing past and

present, from early Elizabethan explorers to the modern Royal Navy. This ten-day trip is offered by Lord Addison Travel, Ltd., a tour companythat specializes in couriered, small-group itineraries in Great Britain. (Similar Lord Addison trips have been offered in the past to CMMmembers.)

Beginning on May 13, 1999, and returning on May 22, this trip will visit London, Portsmouth, towns on the Isle of Wight and the Channelcoast, Plymouth, Bristol, Cardiff, and return to London. For further details as to the specific itinerary, costs, and possible extensions, call LeslieScher Brown on 410-326-2042. There is an added benefit from participation by museum members: a small portion of the cost is returned asa contribution to CMM. Enjoy a wonderful trip and benefit the museum at the same time! ^x^,

8

VOLUNTEER SPOTLIGHT^

PALEONTOLOGY VOLUNTEERS AT CMMBy Jim Marsh, Paleontology Liaison to theVolunteer Council

Welcome to the world of thepaleontology volunteer. To quote from themasthead on the Prep Lab News! (edited andpublished by Mike Ellwood): "We bring goodthings (back) to life."

Tucked in one corner of the TREASUREFROM THE CLIFFS gallery is where you'll findus — in the largest waterless fishbowl in themuseum. When our window is open, youmay see someone:

• using an assortment of dental picksand brushes to remove "prehistoric" earthfrom a fossilized bone. (Could this be anextinct whale ulna?)Or perhaps someone:

• teasing shells from marine sedimentsthat date from the Miocene epoch. (Whatkind of gastropods do we have here?)Or maybe someone:

• hunched over, looking at a small pieceof sandy dirt through a microscope, with aneyedropper of fluid, a very fine pick, and asmall brush at hand. (Are these Foraminifera,single-celled animals that lived in the warmerMiocene ocean about fifteen million yearsago?)Or it could be someone:

• working on big pieces of fossilizedbone that are resting in what appears to be asandbox. (Sand nicely supports heavy piecesbeing bonded together.)Or:

• the lab may be empty, with thevolunteer at the exhibit drawers assisting avisitor with an identification. (The volunteeris usually the one wearing the apron and anametag.)

Rarely are two tasks identical, and thelist goes on and on: — the jigsaw puzzle ofbroken specimens to assemble (and mostspecimens are broken) — the bondingtogether of the puzzle — the hardening ofbone and shell to be done — the use ofmechanical cleaning equipment — and . . .To lighten things up a bit, throw in a walk onthe beach to collect specimens, and anoccasional Saturday morning training session.

Our mission is to help our Departmentof Paleontology extend its presence over theacquisition, cleaning, identification, andpreservation of fossil material, and to educateby sharing these processes as much aspossible with museum visitors. As dauntingas that may sound, it hasn't yet proven so. Ican say this in spite of the facts that everyshift in the prep lab seems to present a new

learning opportunity and that "sharing theprocess" can stretch a one-hour task intothree or four. But that's ok. Assistance isusually as close as the reference shelf orthe phone, and our visitors are genuinelyinterested and appreciative of our time.Although a few of our volunteers camewith a fossil-collecting hobby already inplace, most of us started with little or nopaleontology background. Nevertheless,we possessed the key ingredient: acuriosity piqued by the thought of helpingto preserve the record of organisms that

lived millions of years ago.We are fortunate to number among our

volunteers some members of the CMM FossilClub. These are folks "hooked on fossils" whoare active collectors and represent many yearsof experience. They are our primary sourcesof fossils for the prep lab; they enhance ourmuseum exhibits with selections from theirpersonal collections; they serve as a trainingresource; and they provide us with anewsletter. We owe them our thanks andgratitude for their invaluable support.

We do have openings for some moregood people. If you or anyone you knowwould like to share in this interestingexperience, our volunteer coordinator, LeslieScher Brown, or curator of paleontology, Dr.Stephen Godfrey, would be pleased to hearfrom you on 410-326-2042. U^

CMM STAFF NEWSMrs. Patti Sopp joined the museum staff in November as business manager, replacingCassie Garcia in that position. Patti comes to CMM from the Maryland Higher EducationCommission, where she was a finance analyst. Prior to working at the commission,Patti was the budget manager for operations at Cornell University. A native of upstateNew York, Patti has resided in Hollywood in St. Mary's County for the past year and ahalf wiih her husband Scott. Her office is in the Administration Building.

CALVERT MARINE MUSEUM

P.O. Box 97Solomons, MD 20688

>̂ ^̂ Ar410V of f *

vv*Accredited by the

American Association•( Museums