Revealing the Kemp Mineral Resources Museum 
By: Jessie Bunke

During Great Lakes State Weekend on Friday, October 27, and Saturday, October 28, an open house was held at the C. Ernest Kemp Mineral Resources Museum. The museum is still under construction, but students and visitors could come and catch a glimpse of the museums progress. The project is being directed by a steering committee with retired Professor David Knowles as Curator, James Knight as Campaign Chair, and Dave Eitland as Executive Director.
The museum is being built in honor of C. Ernest Kemp who taught at LSSU for forty-nine years and passed away in 1997. Once the museum is constructed it will show visitors the relationship between current standard of living and the consumption of irreplaceable mineral resources produced by natural means. 
The museum is located in Crawford Hall on the ground floor and is divided up into three sections. The first part is the Geology section where visitors are introduced to the Earths basic geologic process and products (minerals), how immense the geologic time line really is, and that the irreplaceable resources we use are created by specialized geologic processes. Also on display will be varies minerals and fossils. The second part will be the Resources section where there will be interactive displays and exhibits illustrating known products and where they come from. It will also show the amount of energy needed to change non-renewable resources into valuable products for consumers. The third part will be the Society section which will give visitors a look into the past of the positive effects of extraction and use of resources in the region to our society. Also included are exhibits describing the environmental results left from mining and the processing of minerals. On the floor of the museum will be a ninety-foot path of tiles illustrating the earths geological and evolutionary history. 
Curator Dr. Knowles said, With the museum, we want to convince visitors that our standard of living is in jeopardy. Once the mineral and non-renewable resources are gone nature wont replace them again. We are going to run out of the resources we use everyday.
Once all of the necessary funding has been raised,the museum will be completed within one year.

