History of the Colburn Earth Science Museum

The Colburn Earth Science Museum is the legacy of engineer and bank president Burnham Standish Colburn. Colburn retired to Asheville because of its proximity to North Carolina's mineral fields which contain the greatest variety of minerals in the nation. He formed the Southern Appalachian Mineral Society in 1927 and amassed a significant collection of North Carolina minerals including the world's largest collection of the rare gem hiddenite. Specimens from Colburn's collection can be seen at the British Museum, the Cranbrook Institute, the McKissick Museum, and the Smithsonian Institution.

After his death in 1959, the Colburn family offered the best of Colburn's specimens to the Southern Appalachian Mineral Society for display to the public. Adding from their own collections, volunteers from the Society opened the Burnham Colburn Memorial Mineral Museum in July of 1960 in a space provided by the NC State Mineral Research Laboratory. In 1972, the Museum moved to the lower level of the Asheville Civic Center. The Museum's collections continued to grow and in 1982, the Colburn Earth Science Museum was established as an independent, non-profit organization.

July 1992 marked the Museum's move to its current location in the multi-museum complex Pack Place Education, Arts & Science Center in downtown Asheville. For this new setting, the Museum exhibits were redesigned and professionally mounted and lighted. Access to the Museum's collections is gained through exhibitions, educational programming, and research opportunities.