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Condon's classroom collections
Thomas Condon, Oregon's first geologist, is the subject of an exhibit at the museum of history
by Philip Ossie Bladine
News Reporter |
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Across campus from Condon Hall, inside the Museum of Natural and Cultural History, is "Condon's Classroom- Oregon Minister, Geologist and Teacher," an exhibit of the life and work of former minister, geologist and teacher Thomas Condon.
Condon was Oregon's first geologist and the University's first science professor. The new exhibit incorporates pictures and information of Condon's time (he taught at the University from 1877 to 1905) and many rocks and fossils that he collected in his career.
"This is a takeoff of how he taught class," said Hattie Mae Nixon, a volunteer at the museum.
Condon's classroom was in Villard Hall, the second building erected at the University, and, as a picture in the exhibit shows, it had numerous glass cases with rocks and fossils inside that students and Condon hovered over during class. Nixon said she always heard about Condon and his collection from the University in the 1950s and 1960s.
The exhibit also shows letters to and from his daughter, Condon's teaching assistant and even an original message to students that Condon wrote on a blackboard just before retiring.
Condon first visited the John Day area of Oregon in 1867 to begin collecting and studying plant, invertebrate and mammal specimens. Fossils in the exhibit include a bison skull from 12,000 to 13,000 years ago and a skull of an Oreodon, a sheep-like animal, from 30 million years ago.
The display also houses a 900 million-year-old piece of pegmatite and a chunk of graphite from Canada that is 2 billion years old.
Condon receives a lot of attention because he lived conflicting lives: that of a minister and a scientist, said University senior anthropologist student Alan Rawls, a volunteer at the museum.
"Religion only explains so much. Beyond that, science was a necessary tool," Rawls said.
In 1872, Condon left the ministry to become Oregon's first geologist and was designated the State Geologist, a position created for him, with a token salary of $1,000 a year.
A panel on a wall of the exhibit says Condon "showed us that a belief in science and evolution need not conflict with a spiritual or religious life."
Condon wrote a book, "The Two Islands," also on display, in 1902. Printed in Portland and sold for $1.50 a copy, the book discusses how two portions of Oregon, what is now the Blue Mountains in the northeast and the Siskiyous region in the southwest, are much older than the rest of state and were defining formations of the creation of Oregon and its surrounding areas.
The museum exhibit also displays a number of old pictures of the University and Eugene to "recreate Eugene when he was teaching," Rawls said.
The second Discovery Family Saturday will supplement the recently opened exhibit on Saturday. The family-oriented events are held the first Saturday of each month through May.
"Condon Classroom" will be at the museum until Aug. 27 and can be viewed Tuesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is free for students.
