Pecopteris Fern Fossil

As of June 2020, on display at the  New Harmony Indiana USA Working Men's Institute Museum & Library was this Pecopteris fern fossil. The fossil dates to Pennsylvanian Period. Specimen accession number WMI 300.7 and is part of the James Sampson collection. Fossil found in the Bond Formation at the Rush Creek locality of Posey County, Indiana, USA.

New Harmony was named by Robert Owen in 1825 after purchasing it from the Harmony Society who founded Harmony there in 1814. A number of earlier American geologists lived in this town including William McClure, Gerard Troost, David Dale Owen, F. B. Meek, E. T. Cox, B.F. Shumard, and Richard Owen. Naturalists Thomas Say and Charles-Alexandre Lesueur also lived in New Harmony. Thomas Say is buried near the center of the town.

Ceratites nodosus Ammonite Fossil

This ammonite fossil was seen at the New Harmony Indiana USA Working Men's Institute Museum & Library in June 2020. It was identified as a Ceratites nodosus (Bruguière. 1789). The fossil dates to Cretaceous Period. Specimen accession number WMI 309.7. No locality for this fossil was listed.

The Working Men's Institute (WMI) was created by geologist William Maclure in 1838. Its goal is to provide useful knowledge to those who work with their hands. At one time there were 160 institutes in Indiana and Illinois, only the New Harmony branch remains. The library is longest continuous operating one in the state of Indiana.

Melonechinus Sea Urchin Fossil

This fossil was seen at the New Harmony Indiana USA Working Men's Institute Museum & Library in June 2020. It was identified as a Melonechinus sp. (Meek & Worthen, 1861, p. 396) from St. Louis Limestone. The fossil dates to Mississippian Period (340-330 million years ago) in the Meramecian series. Limestone named by George Engelmann in Remarks on the St. Louis Limestone: American Journal of Science, series 2, volume 3, pages 119-120 (published 1847). Specimen accession number WMI 310.4.

There appears to be a second echinoid fossil on display as well but was not labeled. This one was more intact. The case label read "Mr. James Sampson, 1806-1890, was a saddler, a storekeeper and McClure agent. When he retired in 1858, he followed his fancy for collecting things, natural history mainly along the Wabash River and cut off river." The case is full of nice fossils but almost none of them are labeled. The fossil looked to be about the size of a grapefruit.