The Tulsa Library Gem Display A Laudable Joint Club Project Of The Tulsa Rock And Mineral Society
By June Culp Zeitner
When the city of Tulsa recently started to build a long awaited new $2.5 million library building The Tulsa Rock and Mineral Society determined to do something to help. They thought a permanent mineral display of some sort would add to the educational interest of the library as well as being decorative. A well-planned display, they reasoned, would promote the rock hobby by calling attention to the beauty in rocks in a place frequented by the type of people who are interested in new horizons in their lives.
Many plans were discussed and discarded, finally James (Jim) Slack suggested that more people were interested in choice polished slabs and that such slabs might be made into a window, a room divider, or an illuminated display. He offered to try to collect suitable slabs, to help saw promising agates, and to look into feasible ways for making the final project. The club voiced its approval.
The first call for good sized slabs of colorful material went out in April. Requesting donations of select colorful materials, the letter stressed that they be transparent or translucent and 3/16’s of an inch thick. A committee was appointed to design the displays and another to saw donated agates of larger sizes. Representatives of the City-County Library Board, who had requested the rock project, met with club members and approved the final plans which called for a pair of panels lighted from behind showing 200 or more perfect gem slabs, each panel to measure 3’ by 4’.
Before you could say “agate” Ted Born, Frank Miller, Bill Proctor and Jim Slack were deluged with rare and beautiful gem materials; sagenite, carnelian, tube agate, purple lace, carnelian, Brazilian agate, Coyamito, Laguna, green moss, chrysocolla, limb casts, iris agate, plume agate, blue chalcedony, obsidian, opal, Apache agate, Cathedral agate, Montana agate and a few old time collector items such as Lake Superiors and Fairburns.
Interested dealers sent fancy Mexican, Brazilian, and other imported materials at greatly reduced prices. Local dealers and long time hobbyists donated the best materials they had. Old timers opened up their life-long collections. New hobbyists bought top grade material to contribute to the united effort. Members who had moved from Tulsa sent carefully wrapped parcels. Friends and relatives of members got into the act.
The cutting committee who had larger saws than other members worked many hours sawing over 4 times the number of slabs actually needed. Some of the larger and more spectacular individual slabs were priced at as much as $25.00 each. Many like the gem quality electric blue chrysocolla and the lacy carnelian dinosaur bone would be hard to replace at any price. Several slabs of plume and sagenite were the kind collectors dream about.
Arden Meek, Harold Carloss, Dudley Murphy, Ed Gibbons, Betty Fleener, and Bill English were appointed to meet with the cutting committee to select the 200 finest slabs. These experienced lapidaries judged the slabs on the following points; quality, color, transparency, size, shape, pattern, contrast, variety, rarity and unique characteristics. Scenic effects, pictures, rhythmic designs, strong accents, and vivid contrasts were given top priority. After much patient evaluation the slabs were chosen and it was time to fit them together as they were to be laid in the panel pattern.
It was decided to have the exquisite transparencies embedded in black heat resistant opaque plastic. The finished panels would have plate glass fronts and special hardwood frames. Designed to be hung on the wall but with bright lighting from behind, the twin cases were envisioned to have the appearance of stained glass windows. Since no one in the club had ever seen the type of cases they were planning there was no name for the project.
Tulsa Architect Charles Ward designed the cabinets. His primary considerations were decorative value, functional qualities, and performance. Brilliance of color was important, but equally important was the fact that proper lighting gives off heat, and too much heat could be harmful to thin slabs as well as the plastic. The finished displays would have to look right in their surroundings. Colors would have to appear true to nature.
It was decided that the maximum light of the correct color as well as the minimum heat could be achieved by the use of Dura Test Optima fluorescent lights. When used for ultimate effect these lights will simulate 90% natural daylight with no distortions. These particular lights are used for many decorating problems involving a variety of colors because they do not “kill” reds and greens as many fluorescent type lights do.
The Dura Test Corporation has representatives in many cities. Tulsa ordered theirs from Dallas. The tube type lights, which are cooler than incandescent bulbs, come in 48” length 40 watt size, 36” 30 watt size, 24” 20 watt size and an 18” tube which is 15 watts. Tulsa used a combination of sizes to distribute the light evenly across the backs of all the transparencies in the two cases, making sure that there were no “hot spots” and that the lights themselves were not apparent through any of the transparencies.
In the meantime it proved to be a little more difficult than first imagined to locate a company specializing in pouring high quality plastic panels. Finally Mrs. Nell Remington of Vallejo, California reported back to Jim that Bill Hunden a lapidary of long standing and more recently a plastics expert specializing in gem embedment, had recently moved his studio from Atwater, California to Wickenburg, Arizona. Jim immediately contacted the Hundens by telephone and received their welcome assurances that although they never had done panels so large they were equipped to do so and would guarantee success to the Tulsa group.
So Lucille Slack packed Jim’s baggage, mainly 200 pieces of gorgeous gem slabs, and Jim set off for a two week trip to Arizona to personally supervise the pourings. He left last minute instructions and suggestions to the electricians, the cabinet maker, and everyone connected with the project. Wickenburg, Arizona has an ideal winter climate, but the summer heat is enough to bake “crackled quartz” on the sidewalk. However Jim being a true rockhound did not mind and even took along his field trip equipment for a rock hunt in the desert.
The Hundens welcomed Jim in the sparkling new studio at the famed Diamond “G” guest ranch. When Jim saw their showroom of coffee tables, trays, ash trays, planters, book ends, and other decorative objects fashioned of bright gems and lustrous plastic, he knew he had come to the right place.
Wickenburg’s newspaper, appropriately called “The Sun,” got wind of the project and sent a reporter to interview Jim and the Hundens. The Hundens were a little short of help because part of the family, who were moving from Anaheim, California, still had not arrived. The estimate was that the pouring might take as long as a week.
The reporter was curious, as the general public usually is, about the estimated value of the rock slabs, and the finished panels. Jim guessed that the slabs totaled nearly a thousand dollars and that the finished panels would be worth at least $1,000 each, without counting the hours of time donated by club members.
Of course the Wickenburg people wanted to know if any Arizona rocks were to be included in the panels. Jim answered that the gem chrysocolla slabs were from Bagdad and Globe. He added that although no effort had been made to represent various localities there was something from most of the western sates and from eight foreign countries.
A trial arrangement of the slabs against the plate glass base resulted in several design changes suggested by Bill and Ella Hunden. When the overall design was well balanced according to color and pattern and a template made, it was time to pour the first layer of plastic. This was a thin layer of crystal clear polyester resin poured smoothly on the plate glass. When the initial layer was tacky the gem slabs were carefully set into their permanent places. After this was set a layer of opaque jet black plastic was poured filling all the spaces between each slab and around the edges. This layer was exactly even with the backs of the slabs but was not allowed to touch the sawed surfaces. After the second pouring was firm the third layer was poured. This, like the first, was crystal clear and completely covered the backs of the slabs. Five days were devoted to the pourings. The total thickness of the panels was brought to ½ inch.
When the panels arrived in Tulsa work was just about complete on the satin-finished hardwood frames constructed by Bill English and Ed Gibbon. Ted Born did an expert wiring job. The Geophysical Research Corporation offered to make engraved name plates.
Since part of the purpose of the project was to educate the public as to the beauty and interest in the mineral kingdom identification of the slabs was made according to accepted gem terminology. Descriptive agate names were also used, as these terms are what the public wants to learn, what the new hobbyist expects to become familiar with, and what the professional gemologist recognizes.
By this time Tulsa’s new library was almost complete. It is a five level structure and is a showcase of the arts and sciences as well as housing the most modern library facilities including records, films, periodicals, and maps. Billed as the “crown jewel” of “The Oil Capital of the World” the building of stone and glass is modern but not futuristic. The lines of the building are graceful with tall pillars and wrought iron giving the effect of classical architecture for which the old South was famous.
Members of the Tulsa Club were asked to install the lighted mineral display in its permanent home before the grand opening scheduled for July 1st. The panels were to be the focal center of interest on the Science and Technology floor, a major division of the library. This section is of outstanding service to the people of Tulsa particularly those interested in the sciences, as it makes available the complete holdings of the United States Geological Survey and the state Bureau of Mines, as well as maps, logs, abstracts and other scientific and technological information. Mr. Henry Fontaine, a geologist with a library science degree, heads this library division.
The displays were fitted into the twin wall cases just inside the main doorway of the Science Division. The fine cabinet work was finished to match other woodwork in the area. The installation was made at eye level, with cases being properly wired and vented before being attached to the wall.
Everything was finished, all finger marks carefully wiped off, the lights ready to shine, when at dusk on the 30th of June a signal from Relay II satellite first illuminated the splendid new library.
Governor Bellmon of Oklahoma was among the dignitaries present for the grand opening. The proud mayor of Tulsa took the Governor to see the gem displays. Governor Bellmon expressed the feelings of most people uninitiated to this hobby when he said, “I am very much impressed, I truly never had any idea that rocks could be so breathtakingly beautiful.”
Others were also impressed. The public formed lines to see the third floor scientific exhibit bringing more traffic to this division than could be expected in many months at the normal rate. A column in the Tulsa World called the exhibit strikingly, unbelievably, uncannily beautiful and advised the general public to see for themselves a bouquet of stones “more beautiful than flowers.”
The Tulsa Club received thanks and congratulations from the Library Director and Commission, the City Officials, the Chamber of Commerce, and many others. Jim Slack, who directed the project and Arden Meek, Club President are agreed that the results of the project are far reaching. First there was almost 100% participation and cooperation on the part of club members. Everyone generously donated materials, know-how, and time. The club became better and stronger for having worked together on an enduring and unselfish project. They became a more important part of their community. And surely the mecca of education, which the Tulsa library is bound to become, has benefited from the coordinated effort of the Tulsa Rock and Mineral Society.
Officers of the Tulsa club recommend this type of club activity to other rock hobby clubs. They will be happy to furnish more details to interested clubs. It is through projects such as this that our hobby is gaining in prestige and achieving a brighter public image.
The Lapidary Journal
March/April 1965, Vol. 19, pp. 640-649