Notice of transfer of the University of Minnesota paleontology collections to Cincinnati Museum Center

UM vertebrate fossils that particularly complement existing CMC holdings are those from the Pleistocene of the American Midwest, Cretaceous Hell Creek and Paleocene Tullock formations of Montana, Niobrara Cretaceous marine reptiles and fish, Pennsylvanian Linton, Ohio cannel coal specimens, and Devonian fish from Beartooth Butte, Wyoming and Escuminac Bay, Quebec. A historical connection is also shared between these collections, with contributions to the UM collection by paleontologists that started their careers in Cincinnati and have specimens at CMC: (1) E.O. Ulrich was part of the “Cincinnati School of Paleontology,” naturalists that conducted research and fossil collecting in the Cincinnati region in the mid-1800s – mid 1900s; (2) S.A. Miller, one of the most important “amateurs” in the Cincinnati School, was a prolific researcher, collector, and proprietor of the Cincinnati Quarterly Journal of Science, in which many important papers on Cincinnatian (Late Ordovician) fossils were published; and (3) C. Schuchert began his career as a serious fossil collector in Cincinnati, working for Ulrich in preparing lithographs for the Illinois and Minnesota geological surveys. Historic collections of note are those made from classic localities and include Devonian fish from the Gaspé Penninsula of Quebec and Beartooth Butte, Wyoming, Pennsylvanian specimens from Linton, Ohio, Niobrara Cretaceous and Neogene Ogallala (Loup Fork) fossils, including many collected by C.H. Sternberg, Eocene Green River fish, Eocene Bighorn Basin Willwood and Wasatch Formation mammals collected by F.W. Sardeson in 1899 and R.E. Sloan over a half century later, and White River Oligocene material of similar vintage.