Robert M. Linsley Geology Museum

Linsley Geology Museum interior, as seen from a corner of the museum space

Museum Hours

Mon–Fri: 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Evening hours are scheduled periodically to accommodate Ho Tung Visualization Lab visitors.
Special weekend hours typically are posted for campus events, such as Family Weekend, graduation, and Reunion.

About the Museum

The Robert M. Linsley Geology Museum exhibits minerals, rocks, and fossils, highlighting the beauty and wonder of these objects while also informing visitors about how geologists study

Labradorite sample from the Linsley Museum

the Earth. Threaded throughout the museum is a specific focus on what we know about New York State's geologic past.

The Collection

We are fortunate to have many specimens of exceptional quality in the museum including spectacular gems and mineral clusters, and well-preserved fossils of scorpion-like eurypterids, large dipleura trilobites, and a seven-foot-long mammoth tusk, just to name a few.

On the wall above the fossil cases, a mural by local artist, Rachel Amann, depicts what life in Hamilton would have been like 375 million years ago when these organisms lived here. Nearby, a wall of skulls illustrates the mass extinction of large-bodied animals that occurred around 15,000 years ago, and questions its possible connection to the climate change and increasing human impacts that were taking place at that time.

Click here to read about the museum's opening in October of 2009

Colgate's Dinosaur Egg

The most famous fossil in the Linsley Museum is Colgate's oviraptor dinosaur egg, one of
the first dinosaur eggs ever discovered. The egg is displayed along with its rich history, including not only its origin and discovery but also how it came to Colgate, its many Colgate connections, and its infamous Colgate past.

Who Was Robert M. Linsley?

The Robert M. Linsley Geology Museum is dedicated to Professor Linsley who from 1955 to 1992, enraptured and inspired Colgate students with his superb teaching and love for geology. A paleontologist, Professor Linsley taught courses on invertebrate fossils,

evolution, and the history of life. His research interests focused on the functional morphology, classification, and origin of gastropod mollusks (snails).

Bob is fondly remembered for his enthusiastic teaching style, resounding laughter, and ever-present bottle of Coke. (click Linsley's picture for a larger version)

The mural on the wall of the Linsley Museum

A New Fluorescent Mineral Display

Children observing the fluorescent mineral display.

The geology department also recently added a small but beautiful fluorescent mineral display in the Robert H.N. Ho Science Center. It is located in a darkened exit corridor off of the Ho Tung Visualization Lab, and is a popular stop after one of the Vis Lab shows. This display was made possible by two generous gifts to the geology department: a suite of 70 fluorescent minerals donated by Steven and Matthew Shramko '13, and funding for the display's construction provided by Rand and Carol April.