Grandson following footsteps of legendary CU Boulder geologist Mary Oswald GriffittsĢż
Daniel Griffitts (Geoā11) had been quietly volunteering with the paleontology collection at the Ā鶹ŹÓʵ for a long time before anyone realized he was the grandson of a legend, the late geologist Mary Oswald Griffitts.
āI didnāt bring it up, but (Emeritus Curator of Geology and Professor Emeritus of Natural History) Peter Robinson eventually figured it out. He knew my grandmother pretty well and recognized my name,ā says Griffitts, who now works as a seasonal employee with theĢżCU Museum of Natural History.
Mary Oswald Griffittsā legacy extends beyond CU to the larger Boulder community and literally the farthest corner of the state. In 1944 she became the first woman to receive a PhD in geology at CU Boulder and two years later joined the faculty to teach historical geology and invertebrate paleontology.Ģż
She later helped found the Boulder Junior Natural Sciences School ā a descendant of which continues today as the Thorne Nature Experience ā and in 1981 began work on her detailed collection and cataloguing of the extensive fossil collection atĢż. She retired at age 83, and following her death in 2010, the family established theĢżMary Oswald Griffitts Memorial FundĢżat CU.
āI remember she took me out when I was in kindergarten or first grade to look for fossils on land north of (Boulder),ā Griffitts recalls. āI picked something up that didnāt look like anything, but there was a little fossil in it. She took it back to CU, where it was positively IDād and put in the collection.āĢż
Griffitts also vividly remembers the painting of Mesa Verde ruins that hung in his grandparentsā house, painted by his grandmother. Inspired by both his grandmother and grandfather, geologist Wallace R. Griffitts, Griffitts studied geology at CU Boulder. After graduating in 2011, he began working as a volunteer in the museumās paleontology collection.Ģż
Toni Culver, former collections manager at the museum, soon recommended that the museum hire Griffitts to work on its innovativeĢżĢżprogram, which produces a geology āunit in a box,ā including 18 fossil specimens, lesson plans and support material, that is now being used in 580 Colorado public schools.Ģż
āDaniel, with his paleontology background, has been instrumental in quality control of the fossils and making sure the lessons are accurate. Heās a very important cog in the wheel, behind the scenes,ā says Jim Hakala, senior educator at the CU museum.
Unbeknownst to Daniel, Hakala had his own memories of Mary Oswald Griffitts: As a young seasonal ranger at Mesa Verde in 1989, he endured her grueling, but informative, geology hikes at the park.
āIt was part of our training, but those were the hardest daysālong and hot, and the lectures were dry as toast,ā he says. āNeedless to say, she stuck in my mind!ā
He didnāt realize, however, that his desert tutor was Mary Oswald Griffitts, the pioneering CU student and faculty member, until just last fall. Thatās when he and several of his colleagues visited Mesa Verde as part of an ongoing collaborative research project between the park and museum. While walking through the ceramic and lithic collection, he came upon a color picture of the woman he remembered from those hot, dry lectures nearly three decades before.Ģż
ā(Park staff) said, āYeah, this collection is here because of what she did. We wouldnāt have any fossils if it werenāt for her,āā Hakala recalls.
And Hakala didnāt connect the dots between his former taskmaster and his young museum colleague until theyād been working together for five years. The big reveal came when Hakala mentioned heād worked at the park as the two were driving to Longmont.Ģż
āI said, āOh, my grandmother used to work at Mesa Verde,āā Griffitts says. āHe said, āOh, who was that?ā When I told him, it was, āWow! Really?āā
Griffitts relishes coming across reminders of his grandmother in the course of his work, whether itās a document she signed or a specimen she collected.
āIām not even close to her level, but I do think itās really cool that she used to work in the same place,ā he says. āItās always amazing when I come across any of her legacy at the museum.ā
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