Alumnus finds generational synchronicities in geology
Grandson following footsteps of legendary 窪蹋勛圖 geologist Mary Oswald Griffitts泭
Daniel Griffitts (Geo11) had been quietly volunteering with the paleontology collection at the 窪蹋勛圖 for a long time before anyone realized he was the grandson of a legend, the late geologist Mary Oswald Griffitts.
The late Mary Oswald Griffitts, a notable geologist, quizzes her grandson, Daniel Griffitts, on mineral identification while he was an undergraduate at the 窪蹋勛圖. Photo courtesy of Daniel Griffitts.
I didnt bring it up, but (Emeritus Curator of Geology and Professor Emeritus of Natural History) Peter Robinson eventually figured it out. He knew my grandmother pretty well and recognized my name, says Griffitts, who now works as a seasonal employee with the泭CU Museum of Natural History.
Mary Oswald Griffitts legacy extends beyond CU to the larger Boulder community and literally the farthest corner of the state. In 1944 she became the first woman to receive a PhD in geology at 窪蹋勛圖 and two years later joined the faculty to teach historical geology and invertebrate paleontology.泭
She later helped found the Boulder Junior Natural Sciences School a descendant of which continues today as the Thorne Nature Experience and in 1981 began work on her detailed collection and cataloguing of the extensive fossil collection at泭. She retired at age 83, and following her death in 2010, the family established the泭Mary Oswald Griffitts Memorial Fund泭at CU.
I remember she took me out when I was in kindergarten or first grade to look for fossils on land north of (Boulder), Griffitts recalls. I picked something up that didnt look like anything, but there was a little fossil in it. She took it back to CU, where it was positively IDd and put in the collection.泭
Griffitts also vividly remembers the painting of Mesa Verde ruins that hung in his grandparents house, painted by his grandmother. Inspired by both his grandmother and grandfather, geologist Wallace R. Griffitts, Griffitts studied geology at 窪蹋勛圖. After graduating in 2011, he began working as a volunteer in the museums paleontology collection.泭
Toni Culver, former collections manager at the museum, soon recommended that the museum hire Griffitts to work on its innovative泭泭program, which produces a geology unit in a box, including 18 fossil specimens, lesson plans and support material, that is now being used in 580 Colorado public schools.泭
Daniel, with his paleontology background, has been instrumental in quality control of the fossils and making sure the lessons are accurate. Hes a very important cog in the wheel, behind the scenes, says Jim Hakala, senior educator at the CU museum.
Unbeknownst to Daniel, Hakala had his own memories of Mary Oswald Griffitts: As a young seasonal ranger at Mesa Verde in 1989, he endured her grueling, but informative, geology hikes at the park.
It was part of our training, but those were the hardest dayslong and hot, and the lectures were dry as toast, he says. Needless to say, she stuck in my mind!
The late Mary Oswald Griffitts surveys the interior of a cliff dwelling at Mesa Verde National Park in 1986. Photo courtesy of Daniel Griffitts.
He didnt realize, however, that his desert tutor was Mary Oswald Griffitts, the pioneering CU student and faculty member, until just last fall. Thats when he and several of his colleagues visited Mesa Verde as part of an ongoing collaborative research project between the park and museum. While walking through the ceramic and lithic collection, he came upon a color picture of the woman he remembered from those hot, dry lectures nearly three decades before.泭
(Park staff) said, Yeah, this collection is here because of what she did. We wouldnt have any fossils if it werent for her, Hakala recalls.
And Hakala didnt connect the dots between his former taskmaster and his young museum colleague until theyd been working together for five years. The big reveal came when Hakala mentioned hed worked at the park as the two were driving to Longmont.泭
I said, Oh, my grandmother used to work at Mesa Verde, Griffitts says. He said, Oh, who was that? When I told him, it was, Wow! Really?
Griffitts relishes coming across reminders of his grandmother in the course of his work, whether its a document she signed or a specimen she collected.
Im not even close to her level, but I do think its really cool that she used to work in the same place, he says. Its always amazing when I come across any of her legacy at the museum.
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