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Join us Spring April 1, 2026
MINERAL SCIENCE AND RESEARCH
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The Franklin and Sterling Ogdensburg zinc deposits have been the subject of extensive study by mineralogists, geologists, and geochemists for over 200 years. Despite significant research, the intricate nature of these deposits has left many aspects of their genesis still unresolved. With more than 400 identified mineral species, including key groups such as pyroxenes and amphiboles, numerous opportunities for exploration remain. The Franklin Mineral Museum is committed to advancing research on these deposits and welcomes university students, professors, industry scientists, and knowledgeable collectors to participate in this vital endeavor.
Information about minerals can be found here. Feel free to peruse the available documents.
Why Minerals Fluoresce
Mission Statement
The Franklin Mineral Museum’s mission is to preserve and disseminate knowledge related to the mineral wealth, geology, and history of “the greatest mineral locality on Earth,” and to foster scientific inquiry into those subjects. To that end, the museum acquires, preserves, and displays mineralogical and geological specimens, artifacts, and documents related to the history and mineralogy of the Franklin-Sterling Hill mining district. The museum also acquires and displays archaeological and paleontological specimens, as well as other items of interest. The Franklin Mineral Museum, a nonprofit educational institution, is located at 32 Evans Street, Franklin, Sussex County, New Jersey. The museum was created solely for educational and scientific purposes, and was incorporated on June 2, 1964. The museum first opened its doors to visitors on October 9, 1965.
Museum History
Franklin, New Jersey, and its close neighbor, Ogdensburg, are the homes of the world’s most famous zinc mines.
The zinc ore here was fabulously rich, averaging nearly 25% zinc by weight, and there was a lot of it; over the years, these two mines produced 33 million tons of ore. By any measure, these two orebodies and the metamorphosed limestone that encloses them comprise one of the top ten mineral localities in the world, a fact known to mineral collectors and professional mineralogists alike.
The Franklin orebody, in particular, is famous for its spectacular fluorescent minerals and abundance of rare mineral species. Indeed, nothing closely resembling it has been found anywhere else on our planet, save its sister orebody at Sterling Hill, 2.5 miles away in Ogdensburg.
By the early 1950s, the Franklin mine was nearing the end of its life, and in 1954, the last of the ore was raised to the surface. Many in the community at that time wished to preserve the heritage of this great locality. Miners sold specimens to collectors out of their basements, scientific papers on the deposits continued to be published, and, in 1959, a group of collectors banded together to form the Franklin-Ogdensburg Mineralogical Society (FOMS), still in existence today. One of the stated goals of FOMS from the start was to assist in the founding and support of a museum in Franklin dedicated to the local minerals.
Enter the Franklin Kiwanis club, which took on the challenge of creating just such a museum as a community project. Five years later, thanks to the efforts of the Kiwanians, some of whom were also FOMS members, the Franklin Mineral Museum opened its doors to the public.
Franklin Furnace ca. 1900 ​​
MINERAL SCIENCE AND RESEARCH:
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The Franklin and Sterling (Ogdensburg) zinc deposits have been studied by mineralogists, geologists, and geochemists for more than 200 years. Much has been learned over that long span of time, but such is the complexity of these deposits that only recently has accord been reached on even the general outlines of their genesis. With more than 400 different mineral species in the local area, many of which appear in multiple assemblages, even the descriptive aspects of the deposits remain woefully incomplete. Major mineral groups (pyroxenes, amphiboles, feldspars, micas, serpentines) remain in need of modern study, and both deposits have yet to have a detailed geologic map made of the exposed rock units.
Part of the Franklin Mineral Museum’s mission is to foster research on these deposits to help deepen our understanding and appreciation of them. To that end, we encourage university students, professors, industry scientists, knowledgeable collectors, and others to join us in the never-ending quest for knowledge about two of the most complicated mineral deposits on Earth.
Potential topics for study are many and varied: Review this short list of some obvious avenues for research, but these just barely scratch the surface. Prospective researchers are asked to contact the museum curator, Dr. Earl Verbeek, to discuss their proposed research and explore opportunities for cooperation and potential museum support.
The Franklin Mineral Museum is positioned to offer research support in several ways: Access to collections, the Museum houses thousands of specimens of the local minerals, and routinely furnishes materials for chemical and isotopic analyses to qualified researchers. Nearly all of its specimens are numbered and entered into a searchable database. Access to equipment: Petrographic microscopes and stereo zoom microscopes are available for mineralogical study. Scientific support immediately at hand is experts on the local geology, plus knowledgeable mineral enthusiasts who among them possess more than 200 years of experience in identifying the local minerals. Monetary support: on occasion the Museum provides funds to support research. Grants are usually small, between $500 and $2,000, and closely targeted to a subject of particularly strong local interest. Recent examples include funds for critical age determinations of rocks and funds for isotopic studies. Normal requirements for research support through the FMM are that copies of all research data be supplied to the Museum for its scientific files, and that a summary of the research findings be published in The Picking Table, the journal of the Franklin-Ogdensburg Mineralogical Society.