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Hitchcock Ichnological Cabinet

1865 establishments in MassachusettsAmherst CollegeCollections of museums in the United StatesTrace fossil stubsTrace fossils
Appleton cabinet, interior, west end, by Lovell, J. L. (John Lyman), 1825 1903
Appleton cabinet, interior, west end, by Lovell, J. L. (John Lyman), 1825 1903

The Hitchcock Ichnological Cabinet is a collection of fossil footmarks assembled between 1836 and 1865 by Edward Hitchcock (1793–1864), noted American geologist, state geologist of Massachusetts, United States, and President of Amherst College. He was one of the first experts in fossil tracks. A footmark impression in stone is a petrosomatoglyph. Begun when the science of ichnology (the study of tracks) was in its infancy, and the word dinosaur had not been coined yet, the collection was made chiefly from the fossils of the Connecticut River Valley (Connecticut River Valley trackways). By 1875 this collection consisted of 21,773 tracks representing 120 species. It is the world's largest collection of dinosaur tracks.Starting in 1855, the collection was located in the lower level of Appleton Cabinet on the Amherst College campus. It has subsequently been twice relocated, and can now be found in the Amherst College Museum of Natural History.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Hitchcock Ichnological Cabinet (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Hitchcock Ichnological Cabinet
Merrill Science Drive,

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N 42.371963888889 ° E -72.514238888889 °
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Amherst College

Merrill Science Drive
01002
Massachusetts, United States
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Appleton cabinet, interior, west end, by Lovell, J. L. (John Lyman), 1825 1903
Appleton cabinet, interior, west end, by Lovell, J. L. (John Lyman), 1825 1903
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Amherst College

Amherst College ( AM-ərst) is a private liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts. Founded in 1821 as an attempt to relocate Williams College by its then-president Zephaniah Swift Moore, Amherst is the third oldest institution of higher education in Massachusetts. The institution was named after the town, which in turn had been named after Jeffery, Lord Amherst, Commander-in-Chief of British forces of North America during the French and Indian War. Originally established as a men's college, Amherst became coeducational in 1975.Amherst is an exclusively undergraduate four-year institution; 1,971 students were enrolled in fall 2021. Admissions is highly selective. Students choose courses from 41 major programs in an open curriculum and are not required to study a core curriculum or fulfill any distribution requirements; students may also design their own interdisciplinary major. Amherst competes in the New England Small College Athletic Conference. Amherst has historically had close relationships and rivalries with Williams College and Wesleyan University, which form the Little Three colleges. The college is also a member of the Five College Consortium, which allows its students to attend classes at four other Pioneer Valley institutions: Mount Holyoke College, Smith College, Hampshire College, and the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Among its alumni, faculty and affiliates are six Nobel Prize laureates, twenty Rhodes Scholars, Pulitzer Prize recipients, MacArthur Fellows, winners of the Academy, Tony, Grammy and Emmy Awards, President Calvin Coolidge, Chief Justice Harlan F. Stone, and other notable writers, academics, politicians, entertainers, businesspeople, and activists.

Dickinson Historic District
Dickinson Historic District

The Dickinson Historic District is a historic district in Amherst, Massachusetts. Its centerpiece is the Emily Dickinson Home, a National Historic Landmark. The district boundaries encompass Main and Lessey Streets, east of Amherst center, from their junction eastward to Gray Street and the Amherst railroad station, which marks the eastern end of the district. In addition to a number of properties on Main and Lessey Streets, the district also includes Sweetser Park and contributing properties on Tyler Place as well as Triangle, Gray and Kellogg Streets. The district was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1977. It was designated because of its architecture, and its connection with the locally influential Dickinson family, who (in addition to renowned poet Emily Dickinson) were a locally influential family with roots dating back to early colonial times. The Emily Dickinson House, built in 1813, is the oldest house within the district, with prominence beyond its association with the poet. Her grandfather Samuel, who built the house, was a founder of Amherst College, and a prominent local politician, as was her father Edward. Her brother William Austin Dickinson was also active in the political and economic life of Amherst, helping found its water and gas companies. Leonard Hills, who lived in two separate houses in the district, ran a distinctive business that manufactured hats out of palm leaves, and was a key figure in the founding of Massachusetts Agricultural College (now the University of Massachusetts at Amherst). The district also includes Amherst's Gothic First Congregational Church (1867), and the brick Italianate Central Vermont Railroad depot (1853), one of the oldest surviving railroad stations in the state.