We’re delighted to share that WFMJ has featured MVGEM’s ongoing investigation into the Mahoning Valley’s historic fossil record.
“A fossilized forest: 300 million year old Youngstown specimen prompts questions into area’s prehistoric past”
Reported by Camille Sipple, WFMJ, October 30, 2026.
Read the full original report at WFMJ
The story features our recently acquired, historically labeled Youngstown fossils, including three-dimensional Lepidodendron material, and shares our invitation to the community to help recover the region’s collecting history.
Help us fill in the gaps
Do you remember fossil collecting along Mill Creek, old railroad cuts, quarries, or construction sites? Do you have locally collected fossils, handwritten labels, family photographs, notebooks, or maps? Even a remembered location could help us reconstruct the historical record.
We’re seeking information and documentation, not donations of specimens. Our investigation is examining nineteenth-century work associated with J. S. Newberry and possible later collecting activity, including leads from the mid-twentieth century. We are not claiming our newly acquired specimens belong to Newberry’s original collection. We are seeking independent examination of their identification and provenance, and exploring records held by institutions including Yale.
We appreciate Camille Sipple and WFMJ bringing this community research effort to a wider audience. Please read and share their original article, and send leads or photographs to MVGEM330@gmail.com.
