From Arizona to a Cabinet at Caerhays

Work has started recently to catalogue and restore the Mineral Collection at Caerhays.

In appears the collection was started by John Williams (1753 -1841) in the late eighteenth century but, for reasons as yet unknown, the collection was boxed up and packed away in the early 1900’s and stored in the cellars. This was the situation  until Charles Williams decided to undertake the cataloguing and restoration of the collection as part of the ongoing archive and historical research work underway here on the estate. Until July of this year no one was sure of exactly what type of minerals were in the boxes and drawers or what condition they were in.

With the help of a local mineral expert the boxes and drawers have now been unpacked, sorted and cleaned and are in the process of being catalogued, with some fine examples being put back on display in the cabinets which were originally designed for them. This will add an extra item of interest for visitors to the house next year.

While many of the samples are of local origin, as would have been expected considering the Williams family connection with mining, there are some rare and unusual exhibits including some believed to come from the from the Longfellow Mine in Arizona. Research is still going on into the origins and history of many of the specimens but if preliminary results are anything to go by one or two of the pieces could have been sourced from the very areas where only 10 years before the Apache Wars were still going on.

In the late 19^th and early 20^th century parts of the collection were donated to various museums or educational facilities and some can still be seen at the Natural History Museum today. Here at Caerhays the detective work is under way to try to find out not only the history and origins of the magnificent pieces still here but also what happened to those other rocks ie. where they went, when and what happened to them.

A lot of work still to be done but also I am sure some interesting stories behind the pieces still here and it is already becoming apparent that the samples come from a very wide geographical area and represent a wide and varied spectrum of different minerals.