1950-1990

In the decade following the Second World War, the department faced new challenges as increased graduate enrollment put greater demands on the still-diminished faculty. The retirement of veteran professors Field, Thom, and MacClintock (among others) within a relatively brief span of time amplified the necessity of bringing new and reputable instructors to the University's geosciences team. Hess, then department chairman, always remained acutely sensitive to the high demands of the department in the credentials and capabilities of incoming faculty, and recognized that despite the difficulties of the existing workload, they could not afford to compromise on the quality of their instructors. The boom in technological progress occasioned by the war also put severe demands on the available space for scientific equipment in Guyot Hall, while the eventual increase in the number of faculty restricted available office and classroom space. The shortage would not be rectified until 1959, when ground was broken for a new building for the Biology Department adjacent to Guyot Hall, freeing up considerable space in Guyot formerly occupied by Biology personnel.

1970’s: Antrodemus valens, former centerpiece of the old Natural History Museum.

signed print of a smilodon saber tooth tiger

An signed print of a Smilodon, a prehistoric saber-toothed tiger by local artist Laura J. Hollingshead in 1984.

A logo featuring a painting by R. Bruce Horsfall encircled with Princeton Geological Association lettering.

The original smilodon emblem painted in the 1920's by scientific illustrator R. Bruce Horsfall.