Tag: history
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Throwback Thursday #303: Looking Back At ESCONI For February 2026
A look back at February 1956, 1976, and 2001
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Mazon Monday #307: Arjan Mann on Fossil Nerds
This is Mazon Monday post #307. What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com. Episode #94 of the Fossil Nerds podcast is “The Marvelous Mini-Monsters of Mazon Creek with Arjan Mann”. Arjan is the Assistant Curator of Early Tetrapods at the Field Museum. He discusses his lab’s work, various ancient fish and tetrapods,…
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Throwback Thursday #302: More Old Cars
This is Throwback Thursday #302. In these, we look back into the past at ESCONI specifically and Earth Science in general. If you have any contributions, (science, pictures, stories, etc …), please send them to esconi.info@gmail.com. Thanks! email:esconi.info@gmail.com. In Throwback Thursday #267, we posted field trip photos that showed old cars from the 1950s and 1960s.…
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Mazon Monday #306: Drevotella proteana
This is Mazon Monday post #306. What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com. Drevotella proteana is believed to be a hydrozoan. It lived during the Pennsylvanian Period. Fossils of this soft-bodied animal are known only from the Mazon Creek fossil deposit, where exceptional preservation allows such delicate organisms to be recorded. Hydrozoans…
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Throwback Thursday #301: Century of Progress – Sinclair Exhibit
This is Throwback Thursday #301. In these, we look back into the past at ESCONI specifically and Earth Science in general. If you have any contributions, (science, pictures, stories, etc …), please send them to esconi.info@gmail.com. Thanks! email:esconi.info@gmail.com. Ran across an interesting post on the Original Chicago Group on Facebook last month (December 2025). In…
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Throwback Thursday #300: Poem… The Rockhound
This is Throwback Thursday #301. In these, we look back into the past at ESCONI specifically and Earth Science in general. If you have any contributions, (science, pictures, stories, etc …), please send them to esconi.info@gmail.com. Thanks! email:esconi.info@gmail.com. We have a poem this week. This poem appeared in the July 1970 edition of the ESCONI newsletter.…
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Mazon Monday #304: Field Museum… Illinois by the sea
This is Mazon Monday post #304. What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com. In May 1970, the Field Museum opened an exhibit about Mazon Creek. It was called “Illinois by the sea: a coal age environment” and ran from May 25th until September 25th. It was a successful exhibit that featured Field…
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Throwback Thursday #299: Macfallite
This is Throwback Thursday #299. In these, we look back into the past at ESCONI specifically and Earth Science in general. If you have any contributions, (science, pictures, stories, etc …), please send them to esconi.info@gmail.com. Thanks! email:esconi.info@gmail.com. This post is a follow up to last week’s Throwback Thursday, where we mentioned the mineral species Macfallite.…
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WHY DINOSAURS? Award-Winning Dinosaur Documentary!
The award winning documentary “Why Dinosaurs” is now available on Youtube! The documentary covers quite a bit of the history and the science of paleontology. Did I mention that ESCONI’s own Rob Sula has his own segment? Oh, there’s also a great website – whydinosaurs.com. The website has extended interviews and other extras! Check it…
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Throwback Thursday #298: Looking Back At ESCONI For January 2026
A look back at January 1956, 1976, and 2001
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Mazon Monday #302: The Wreck of the 5560
The Marion Power Shovel Company was an American company that designed, manufactured, and built steam shovels, power shovels, blast hole drills, excavators, and dragline excavators. The company was headquartered in Marion, Ohio and operated from 1884 to 1997, when it was acquired by its competitor Bucyrus International, Inc. Marion-built shovels and other products were among…
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Fossil Friday #297: Alethopteris serlii
This is the “Fossil Friday” post #297. Expect this to be a regular feature of the website. We will post fossil pictures you send in to esconi.info@gmail.com. Please include a short description or story. Check the #FossilFriday Bluesky/Twitter hash tag for contributions from around the world! This week’s Fossil Friday is a favorite of many…
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Throwback Thursday #297: Season’s Greetings from the Langfords!
In 1939, their Christmas card included a photo of the “Fossil Gardens of Northern Illinois”. The picture is a view of the strip mines about 1 mile south of Wilmington, IL, at a place that was not far from where Cinder Ridge Golf Course is today.
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50 Insane Geography Facts About Illinois (You Won’t Believe)
Here’s a way to educate yourself about Illinois geography. This video is from the Across the Globe channel on Youtube. Illinois isn’t just cornfields, Chicago traffic, and deep-dish pizza, it’s one of the strangest states in America, and it’s hiding some of the wildest secrets in the entire Midwest. In this video, we reveal 50…
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Throwback Thursday #296: More Don Auler Mineral Slab Paintings
Don was a very good artist. He did the artwork for the “Creature Corner” and ESCONI “Keys” books. He also was known for doing little painting on various mineral slabs. His paintings were integrated will the mineral colors and grain.
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Fossil Friday #295: Juvenile Dvinosaur From Mazon Creek
This is the “Fossil Friday” post #295. Expect this to be a regular feature of the website. We will post fossil pictures you send in to esconi.info@gmail.com. Please include a short description or story. Check the #FossilFriday Bluesky/Twitter hash tag for contributions from around the world! We have a particularly special Mazon Creek fossil to share…
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Throwback Thursday #295: Snowflake Collecting
Yes, you read that correctly… Snowflake Collecting. Is that even possible? Well, ESCONI member Mark Blazek wrote this article for the January 1975 issue of the ESCONI newsletter.
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Mazon Monday #298: The Freeze/Thaw Method
With winter arriving this weekend, it’s the perfect time to set out a few containers of Mazon Creek concretions and let nature do the work. Many collectors take advantage of the season’s freeze/thaw cycles to speed up the opening process, by placing buckets or smaller containers of nodules gathered throughout the year outside to weather…
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Throwback Thursday #293: Field Museum – Charles Knight
This is Throwback Thursday #293. In these, we look back into the past at ESCONI specifically and Earth Science in general. If you have any contributions, (science, pictures, stories, etc …), please send them to esconi.info@gmail.com. Thanks! email:esconi.info@gmail.com. The Field Museum has an interesting Photo Archive page about Charles Knight. Knight was an American wildlife and…
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National Geographic: New Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi features two fighting T. rexes
National Geographic has a story about the new Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi, which opened on November 22nd, 2025. The videos for the story are stunning. It huge with not one, but four sauropods on display. They have two T-rexes, which are displayed fighting. The museum also documents the natural history of the region and…
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Mazon Monday #297: Pit 11 Coal Mining Artifact
This is Mazon Monday post #297. What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com. We often focus on the beautiful fossils found in the Mazon Creek deposit, but sometimes overlook the rich history that surrounds them. Coal mining played a central role in shaping the Wilmington, Braidwood, and Coal City area, from the deep…
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Throwback Thursday #292: Isabel Bassett Wasson… revisited
This is Throwback Thursday #292. In these, we look back into the past at ESCONI specifically and Earth Science in general. If you have any contributions, (science, pictures, stories, etc …), please send them to esconi.info@gmail.com. Thanks! email:esconi.info@gmail.com. You may remember Throwback Thursday #284, where we discussed Isabel Bassett Wasson. Wasson (1897-1994) was one of the…
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Mazon Monday #296: Jim Turnbull in Pit 11
Jim Turnbull, namesake for Anthracomedusa turnbulli (see Mazon Monday #278), worked for Abbott Labs for many years. Abbott has/had an internal newsletter called “AbbotTopics”. In the October 8th, 1965 edition, Jim is the subject of an article titled “Prehistoric Insect Discovery May Bear Abbott Man’s Name”.
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Throwback Thursday #291: 60 Years of ESCONI by Kathy Dedina
This is Throwback Thursday #291. In these, we look back into the past at ESCONI specifically and Earth Science in general. If you have any contributions, (science, pictures, stories, etc …), please send them to esconi.info@gmail.com. Thanks! email:esconi.info@gmail.com. Happy 76th Birthday, ESCONI! Our 76th Birthday was on November 11th, 2025. The dedication for the 60th Anniversary was…
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Indigenous Americans dragged, carried or floated 5-ton tree more than 100 miles to North America’s largest city north of Mexico 900 years ago
Live Science has a fascinating story about an ancient tree, which was part of Cahokia. Cahokia was the large city north of Mexico 900 years ago, with a population of around 20,000 people. It was built on earthen mounds in the southwestern Illinois, next to the Mississippi River, between East St. Louis and Collinsville. Scientists…
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Throwback Thursday #290: Looking Back At ESCONI For November 2025
A look back at November 1955, 1975, and 2000
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Mazon Monday #294: Montceau-les-Mines
This is Mazon Monday post #294. What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com. Montceau-les-Mines is a commune located in the Saône-et-Loire department of the Bourgogne–Franche-Comté region in eastern France. It lies southwest of the city of Dijon and today has a population of just under 20,000 people. The town was officially established on…
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Throwback Thursday #289: Happy 200th Birthday, Erie Canal!
The Chicago Sun Times ran an interesting piece about the Erie Canal about the 200th birthday of the Erie Canal on October 26th, 2025. The article was written by by Neil Steinberg, a Sun Times Columnist. Steinberg states the Erie Canal was the most significant event in the history of Chicago.
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Mazon Monday #293: Mazon Creek Project Slides
The Mazon Creek Project was a program sponsored by Northeastern Illinois University. Founded in the 1960s, by the late Eugene Richardson Curator of Fossil Invertebrates at the Field Museum in Chicago Illinois. It was originally an attempt to encourage more communication between paleontologists and amateur collectors. After Peabody Coal Company sold Pit 11 to Commonwealth…
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Throwback Thursday #288: For the fun of it!
This is Throwback Thursday #288. In these, we look back into the past at ESCONI specifically and Earth Science in general. If you have any contributions, (science, pictures, stories, etc …), please send them to esconi.info@gmail.com. Thanks! email:esconi.info@gmail.com. Here are a few limericks from the December 1999 edition of the newsletter. The attibution “Complements of ‘The…
