Externship Job Listing

The Natural History Bureau of the New Jersey State Museum is comprised of approximately 250,000 specimens, which in addition to their scientific significance, also have historic and cultural significance. These collections developed from the holdings of the New Jersey Geological Survey that began systematic surveys of industrial mineralogy and paleontology in 1836. The collections are especially strong in industrial minerals and ores, paleontology (fossils), comparative osteology specimens (bone), modern shells, and a systematic ornithology (bird) study skin component. Additional smaller subcollections include entomology (pinned insects), mammal and reptile study skins, fluid-preserved fauna, a systematic mineral collection, taxidermy mounts and trophies, glass lantern slides, and historic field reports and photographs. Natural History also holds an extraordinary collection from the Ellisdale Dinosaur Site, including the first Cretaceous mammals (75 million years old) to be found in eastern North America.

The Collection is the repository for about 300 Type (earliest documented) specimens of Paleozoic and Mesozoic fossils, as well as a huge number of fossils documenting the Paleozoic strata that now form the little known phylum Conulariida and the earliest vertebrates known from the State (Silurian jawless fish). Minerals from the zinc-mining locality of Franklin-Sterling Hill, with the largest number of mineral species exhibiting fluorescent properties are well-representedt.