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The University of Arizona Alfie Norville Gem and Mineral Museum was originally founded in the early 1890s as a territorial museum to adequately represent ore and minerals of Arizona as well as illustrate the practical workings of the mines, mills and furnaces.
Currently, the museum is in the process of moving into the newly renovated historic Pima County Courthouse in downtown Tucson. The new museum will feature three main galleries and several changing showcases. The new location will also feature a community space that is available to the public for workshops, lectures, symposiums and other educational events.
Donations help support the opening of the new museum project by providing supplies, resources for the museum's community space, museum interactives, staff support and guest services, maintaining museum collection and more.
Contact: Eric Fritz, ericwfritz@email.arizona.edu, 520-621-3252
Diamonds have a mohs scale rating of 10, making it one of the toughest minerals known.
Arizona is the 48th state in the U.S. and known as the "Copper State." Arizona became a state largely due to the mineral and mining resources that the region brought to the United States.
Gold is both a mineral and an element. Gold is number 79 on the periodic table of elements.
The iconic Pima County Courthouse was designed 93 years ago in 1928 by Roy Place with the style of Spanish Colonial Revival.
The current number of mineral species that have been found in Bisbee, Arizona is 330. Bisbee is known for its mineral diversity.
The first references to the Mineral Museum appeared in the UA register in 1893. The university wanted to “make the Museum of Geology and Mineralogy an adequate representative of the ores and minerals of Arizona, as well as a place for the deposit of everything illustrative of the practical workings of the mines, mills and furnaces."
