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The Rice Northwest Museum of Rocks and Minerals is a non-profit museum in Hillsboro, Oregon, United States. Located just north of the Sunset Highway on the northern edge of Hillsboro, the earth science museum is in the Portland metropolitan area. Opened in 1997, the museum’s collections date to the 1930s with the museum housed in a home built to display the rock and mineral collections of the museum founders. The ranch style home is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the first of its kind listed in Oregon. The museum sits on 23 wooded acres (9.3 ha), with the main building containing of space. Collections include petrified wood, various fossils, fluorescent minerals, meteorites, zeolites, and a variety of other minerals. With more than 20,000 specimens, the museum is the largest of its kind in the Pacific Northwest. The facility has around 25,000 visitors each year, many of whom are on school tours. ==History== Richard L. Rice married Helen Hart in 1932 and the couple began rock collecting in 1938 after finding agates along the Oregon Coast.〔Colby, Richard N. “Tour of time: An open house will make it easy to take in the county’s hidden treasures, historic and otherwise, in one swoop”, ''The Oregonian'', April 23, 1998, West Zoner, p. 1〕 In 1952 the Rices built a new home north of Hillsboro on 30 acres (12.1 ha) that would later house the museum.〔Mandel, Michelle. “House of rock”, ''The Oregonian'', March 1, 2007, Metro West Neighbors, p. 12〕 The Rices founded a museum in 1953 to display their collections.〔Campbell, Polly. “Family museum on foundation of rock”, ''The Oregonian'', October 18, 2001, Southwest Zoner, p. 2〕 Their collections won them the Woodruff Trophy three years in a row at the Tucson Gem & Mineral Show, which led to that trophy's retirement. Helen served as president of the American Federation of Mineralogical Societies from 1959 to 1960.〔Mandel, Michelle. “Splendid stones: free for the seeing”, ''The Oregonian'', October 6, 1998, p. B2〕 In 1996 the Rices established the non-profit museum.〔 Richard and Helen Rice both died in 1997 with the home passing to the non-profit museum as part of their estate.〔〔 In 1997 the Rice Northwest Museum of Rocks and Minerals officially opened.〔 In June 2000, 94 pieces from the F. John Barlow collection of crystallized gold were added to the museum.〔Phan, Aimee. “Low-key museum rocks in Hillsboro”, ''The Oregonian'', July 5, 2000, p. C2〕 The facility opened an exhibit in 2001 dedicated to the lapidary arts, and by that time the museum had grown to more than 4,000 items.〔 The museum opened a new gallery in January 2003 to feature petrified wood. Rudy W. Tschernich was named curator in June 2003, replacing Sharleen Harvey. In 2004 the Cascadia Meteorite Laboratory at Portland State University loaned the museum 52 meteorites in an exhibit funded by NASA.〔Hill, Richard L. “Mad about meteorites, enthusiasts run a program that identifies and collects space rocks at Portland State”, ''The Oregonian'', December 8, 2004, p. E12〕〔Jones, Tricia. “Museum displays meteorite samples”, ''The Columbian'', August 10, 2004, p. D4〕〔Campbell, Polly. “Meteorites land at Hillsboro Museum”, ''The Oregonian'', July 15, 2004, West Zoner, p. 2〕 Attendance had grown to around 15,000 in 2004.〔Hansen, Ellen. (“Museum aims to spread the word about rocks”, ) ''The Portland Tribune'', November 8, 2005〕 In 2005 the North America Research Group unearthed the fossilized remains of a thalattosuchian crocodile from the Jurassic period in Central Oregon.〔Hill, Richard L. “Oregon's Jurassic croc”, ''The Oregonian'', March 17, 2007, p. A1〕 The museum plans on displaying these fossils after they are studied.〔(“Jurassic Crocodile is Unearthed in Oregon; 'Crocodile-like Creature' with a 'Fish Tail'” ), Underwatertimes.com News Service, March 19, 2007〕 Later in 2005, the Northwest Minerals Gallery opened in a former storeroom at the museum after renovations totaling $150,000.〔Campbell, Polly. “Prospector says hobby is gilded in fun”, ''The Oregonian'', August 18, 2005, West Zoner, p. 2〕 By 2007 the museum received 25,000 visitors each year, mainly from school groups. In August 2008 the museum opened a retail gift shop in The Streets of Tanasbourne shopping center,〔Diehl, Angella Foret. “Neighborhood Roundup – Metro West Hillsboro: Rock Creek/Tanasbourne”, ''The Oregonian'', August 28, 2008, Metro West Neighbors〕 and closed it in December 2009 due to the economic recession. This satellite gift shop was to be a temporary endeavor, and was designed in part to help drive traffic to the museum.〔 By 2010 the museum's collections had grown to more than 20,000 specimens, and still had about 25,000 visitors annually, with about 18,000 coming from school field trips.〔 Tschernich stepped down as curator in 2011, with Lara O'Dwyer-Brown taking over the position in 2012. Brown left in 2014, with Julian Gray hired as executive director and Leslie Moclock as curator in May 2014. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Rice Northwest Museum of Rocks and Minerals」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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