Hitchcock Ichnological Cabinet

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The Hitchcock Ichnological Cabinet is a remarkable collection of fossil footmarks assembled between 1836-1865 by Edward Hitchcock (1793–1864), noted American geologist, state geologist of Massachusetts, and President of Amherst College.

Begun when the science of ichnology (the study of tracks) was unknown and made chiefly from the fossils of the Connecticut River Valley (Connecticut River Valley trackways), by 1875 this collection was considered one of the largest and most valuable in the world, consisting of 21,773 tracks representing 120 species.

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.

[edit] References

E. Hitchcock, "An attempt to discriminate and describe the animals that made the fossil footmarks of the United States, and especially of New England", American Academy of Arts & Sciences Memoir, 3:129-256. 1848.
E. Hitchcock, Ichnology of New England: A report on the sandstone of the Connecticut Valley, especially its fossil footmarks, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, 220 pp. 1858.
E. Hitchcock, Supplement to the Ichnology of New England, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, 96 pp. 1865.
C. H. Hitchcock, A synopsis of the genera and species of the Lithichnozoa in the Hitchcock Ichnological Museum of Amherst College, unpublished document, Pratt Museum of Natural History, Amherst College, 1859.
Amherst College web page