BY ROBERT SANCHEZ
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Cincinnati is home to baseball, chili and the largest Upper Ordovician fossil collection in the world.
The collection, though, is moving from its basement storage room at the University of Cincinnati to a more up-to-date facility at Cincinnati Museum Center, 1720 Gilbert Ave.
The transfer is part of a grant from the National Science Foundation, which donated $283,000 to back the project. Another matching donation was made by the museum center.
"I'm tickled pink to have these," said Colin Sumerall, curator of invertebrate paleontology, who is overseeing the fossil transfer. "It's an important collection. I'm probably the envy of every other geologist."
Almost 250,000 fossils, which are 450 million years old, will combine with the more than 20,000 fossils at the museum center. The fossil numbers make it the most extensive collection of this type in the world.
The Tristate abounds with the Upper Ordovician, also called Cincinnatian Epoch, fossils.
The school and the museum center had continuing talks about the possibility of moving the fossils to a place that is better suited for cataloging and displaying. The deal was made final in 1996, and the move will begin in July.
David Meyer, who teaches geology at UC, was designated a part-time curator of the fossils in 1975.
"This is important, but there are a lot of commitments that go along," he said. "To a minor degree I'll be sad to see them go, but I'm glad we came to an agreement."
Scientists and students throughout the world have used the university's fossil resources. More than 5,000 of the university's fossils have been illustrated in scientific literature.
"This school has been one of of the cornerstones for geology in North America," he said. "We've proved that with these fossils."
The collection is a combination of donations to the school and fossils that students and professors found.
Keeping track of specimens that can be as small as a millimeter is difficult, Mr. Meyer said. The move will allow the fossils to be viewed and studied in a better environment.
The museum center, formerly the Natural History Museum, is being renovated to protect the fossils.
At UC, Mr. Meyer is happy he can regain his life.
"I'm getting more time, and we're freeing up some space," he said. "I figure it will be pretty empty down here. I guess that means that we're going to have to try and start this thing all over again."
The move is expected to take three weeks, but it could be a year before the collection is organized and is ready to be researched.
