Unearthed: Exploring the Smithsonian National Gem Collection with Dr. Jeffrey Post

LabelInformation
  Dates & times
  • Wed, 12/04/2024 - 2:00pm
  Category Special Event
  Age Groups Adult
  Location Zoom

 

2024-12-04 Dr. Jeffrey Post

McKinley Memorial Library is pleased to announce we are in partnership with the Library Speakers Consortium (LSC). The Consortium is a group of libraries that pool resources to hire well-known fiction and nonfiction adult, children's, and young adult authors to speak to their patrons. All programs are broadcast live (online) and recorded for later viewing. You can access our LSC webpage to see a list of upcoming speakers and view past recordings. You can also SUBSCRIBE to monthly event email reminders about current and upcoming speakers from the Library Speakers Consortium!


REGISTER for this online event. You do not need to have a library card to register.

Join us for an absolutely dazzling presentation with the emeritus curator of the Smithsonian's National Gem Collection, Dr. Jeffrey E. Post as he talks about The Smithsonian National Gem Collection Unearthed: Surprising Stories Behind the Jewels.

The Smithsonian’s Unearthed explores the scandals, mysteries, and human stories behind the world's greatest gems. In this original book, the surprising stories behind this world-renowned gem collection are brought to life by Dr. Jeffrey E. Post, curator of the Smithsonian's National Gem Collection for over 30 years. In this webinar, fact is separated from fiction and Dr. Post will reveal fresh information and regale the viewers with anecdotes and tales of some of the world's greatest and most famous gemstones. Inside the illustrious pages of Unearthed, Dr. Post tells the stories of the Smithsonian's most famous gems, including the Hope Diamond, Star of Asia Sapphire, Carmen Lucia Ruby, Hooker Emerald, and Blue Heart Diamond and presents the tales, details, and fascinating facts surrounding rarely displayed gems from the Smithsonian vault and recent additions made to the collection.

Shine bright with us this holiday season and register now!

FIND THE BOOK in the online catalog. 

About the Author and Presenter:

Dr. Jeffrey Edward Post, a native of Wisconsin, received Bachelor of Science degrees in geology and chemistry from the University of Wisconsin - Platteville, and his Ph.D. in chemistry, with a specialty in geochemistry, from Arizona State University.  Prior to joining the Department of Mineral Sciences at the Smithsonian Institution’s Museum of Natural History in 1984, he was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow for three years in the Department of Geological Sciences at Harvard University.  He was Chairman of the Department of Mineral Sciences 1989-1994 and 2014-2019, and from 1991 to 2023 served as Curator-in-Charge of the U.S. National Gem and Mineral Collection. Dr. Post was the lead Curator for the Janet Annenberg Hooker Hall of Geology, Gems and Minerals that opened in 1997. In May 2023 he was appointed research curator, emeritus.

His areas of research interest include mineralogy, gemology, and geochemistry.  He has published more than 150 scientific articles in these fields.  He is the author of The National Gem Collection, and the recently published: The Smithsonian National Gem Collection—Unearthed: Surprising Stories Behind the Jewels.