A.E. Seaman Mineral Museum

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With my wife, Amy Rock, being such a rockhound while we were camping in the area, we went to visit this museum.

It has an excellent display of information, rock samples, history, and fossils.

The A. E. Seaman Mineral Museum, located on the campus of Michigan Technological University in Houghton, is the designated official mineral museum of Michigan and houses one of the premier mineral collections in North America. Its exhibits showcase over 36,000 global and regional specimens, with a renowned emphasis on native copper and the rich geological history of the Lake Superior basin. Visitors can explore a world-famous fluorescent mineral room that glows under ultraviolet light and view the monumental Copper Pavilion, which protects a Guinness World Record-holding 19-ton native copper boulder recovered from the lake.

Museum Highlights

World-Class Collections: Houses over 36,000 mineral specimens from the Great Lakes region and around the world.
The Copper Pavilion: Features a Guinness World Record-holding 19-ton copper boulder recovered from the bottom of Lake Superior.
Fluorescent Minerals: Displays one of the top glowing mineral exhibits in the United States.
Historic Artifacts: Includes specimens collected by Michigan’s first state geologist, Douglass Houghton.

Location and Visitor Info

Address: 1404 E. Sharon Avenue, Houghton, MI 49931
Setting: Situated on the campus of Michigan Technological University over a past-producing copper mine vein.

Here are some fossils that we saw at the museum. You can find brachiopods at Peninsula Point in Upper Michigan.

An image of the AE Seaman Mineral Museum Houghton MI Trilobites — Trilobites

Here is an interesting rock that looks like hair. It is called Tremolite.

An image of the AE Seaman Mineral Museum Houghton MI Tremolite — Tremolite

Did you know that Titanium Oxide was used to make the white filling of cookies?

The centers of these cookies are colored white using titanium oxide. — Titanium Oxide

Here are some beautiful, artistic rocks that are on display. The Labradorite shimmers as you walk by it, Romanechite looks like a painting of a tree, and Malachite looks like it came from another planet.

An image of the AE Seaman Mineral Museum Houghton MI Stibnite — Stibnite

An image of the AE Seaman Mineral Museum Houghton MI Romanechite — Stibnite

Fluorescent Rocks on display. There are several different types of rocks that glow under a black light. In the second and third image, you can see the before and after images of the rock under fluorescent light.