In 2008, DGMR received by donation from the University of Virginia (UVA) a large collection of rock, mineral, and fossil specimens that was at risk of imminent disposal or dispersal due to the lack of adequate storage facilities. The collection includes many valuable and irreplaceable geologic specimens collected in Virginia by UVA students, faculty, and geoscientists from the early Virginia Geological Survey. Parts of the collection were at one time displayed in the Lewis Brooks Hall of Natural Science, which opened in 1877. Following the closure of the UVA Department of Geology in the 1960s, the collection was moved to various warehouse storage areas, where it was largely forgotten and inadequately preserved. Inventory records for the collection are incomplete and deteriorating rapidly. The collection is now stored in DGMR facilities in Charlottesville. Inventory, cataloging, and documentation of individual specimens is in progress.
