MINERAL COLLECTING -AND ROCK & GEM

Evolving Together FOR 54 YEARS

- STEVE VOYNICK

The popularity of the early Tucson Gem and Mineral Show was among the reasons for the founding of R&G in 1971. Wikimedia Commons

Rock & Gem readers were saddened to learn of the passing of Bob Jones on May 30, 2024. Bob had been a part of this magazine since its inception, contributing more than 1,500 articles and columns, and finishing his lengthy tenure as a contributor with the well-deserved title of editor emeritus. In the September 2024 R&G, editor-in-chief Pam Freeman posthumously honored Bob by reprinting his first-ever R&G article from the September/October 1971 issue.

Early R&G articles often covered the “how-to” aspects of such lapidary arts as gem cutting, cabbing, tumbling, and jewelry making. Wikimedia Commons

After noting that this reprint was much longer than R&G features today, I began thinking of the many other things that had changed since Bob wrote that first article 54 years ago. Sweeping transitions have come to mineral collecting and magazine publication, and both R&G and Bob enjoyed ringside seats to observe, participate in and report on these many remarkable changes.

Top, near right: The covers of early R&G issues were quite different then those of today. Steve Voynick

THE FIRST ISSUES

When R&G began publication, the Vietnam War was dragging on, Janis Joplin and John Denver topped the charts, gasoline was 36 cents per gallon, and cell phones, digital cameras and personal computers were not yet in existence. During this time, higher levels of education and disposable income had increased public interest in various aspects of nature and science, including mineral collecting. R&G was founded as a response to the surprising popularity of the first big gem-and-mineral shows at Tucson, Arizona, and Denver, Colorado, and to the nation's rapidly growing number of mineral collectors.