Goodbye to the Gem Room
The Hall of Gems after its 1976 opening. © AMNH Library
Many years ago, I brought an old boyfriend to the Hall of Gems and Minerals at the Natural History Museum. I’d told him all about it: how many hours of my childhood had been spent roaming the dun-carpeted halls under the flourescent lights, gazing at the geode cave and the rainbow of precious stones; occasionally sliding down that one irresistible slanted slab of petrified wood when the guard’s back was turned. I’d told him about how my best friend, Elaine, and I on a ten-minute loop, and how we’d watch it over and over and over, shrieking with laughter and shouting along with the dialogue.
