FOSSIL ILLUSTRATIONS IN THREE-DIMENSIONS

Many fossil examples are rare, especially the most important ones, or they are too large to use easily in a classroom setting. However, the educational value of the study of such samples for students is undeniable. One way around this dilemma is to take students to the actual fossil specimens exhibited in museums, but this is not very convenient if the fossil you want the students to see is in Berlin or Paris and you are in Indianapolis. Another solution, and one that was popular in the late 1800s and early 1900s, was to use three-dimensional models of what you want the students to study. One of the main supplier of such models, at least in the United States, was Ward’s Natural Science Establishment of Rochester, New York, founded in 1862 by Henry Augustus Ward (1834-1906). But to drive home the importance of the three-dimensional aspects in the study of fossils during this time-period, at Cornell University (Ithaca, New York) there was a class in how to make fossil models. This presentation will discuss this aspect of fossil illustrations with several examples of both the commercial models and those made by students at Cornell.