Stetson University
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EXHIBITS

The Gillespie has over 15,000 rock and mineral specimens in its collection, of which only a portion are on permanent display.  Stored specimens are revealed through rotating exhibits that change either per semester or annually.  The Museum also has much to offer beyond rocks and minerals:

Temporary Exhibits

  • A Wild Life: Protecting Black Bears in Florida - extended through December, 2013                                   Features Stetson graduate Krystal Sellers' Florida black bear sculpture, Sorrowful.  Recipient of the 2012 Elizabeth Knight Sumner Purchase Award of the Stetson Art Department, the mixed media sculpture is made from tire tread which Sellers collected from the side of State Road 11, the western corridor of the Florida Black Bear Scenic Byway.  The exhibit includes information about the black bear as an "umbrella species," and how its protection indirectly protects other species in this central Florida ecological habitat.                                           Link to exhibit video produced by Florida Black Bear Scenic Byway

  • Southwest by Southeast - Historic Collections of the Gillespie Museum

Permanent Exhibits

  • Main Gallery Displays:                                                                                                                                                Minerals A-Z; Wulfenite, Smithsonite, Calcite & Quartz; Amethyst Vug; Meteorites - Messengers from Space; The Beauty of Petrified Wood

  • The Ancient Art of Marble Inlay

  • Gemstones & Birthstones

  • Florida Natural History

  • The Underground World

  • The Rock Cycle

  • Volcanoes

New Permanent Exhibit Coming Soon!

  • Science on Display - The Historic Gillespie Collection

Rotating Exhibits

  • The Berzelian Classification  System                                                                                                                         One of the simplest classification systems for minerals, consisting of only eight groups; more frequently used by mineralogists, the new  Dana System has 73 classes (not ideal for museum interpretation)            

  • Smithson, Smithsonite, and the Smithsonian                                                                                                                  In celebration of Smithsonian Day - highlights the contributions of James  Smithson (1765-1820), the British chemist and mineralogist who was the benefactor of our national museum system  

Outdoor Exhibits

  • Florida Native Plant Landscape
  • Sandhill Teaching Landscape

Past Exhibits

  • Ross Allen & Florida Natural History
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