BETHEL — The Maine Mineral and Gem Museum will host a groundbreaking reception from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 5, at 103 Main St.

Participants who want to learn more about the new museum, which is scheduled to open to the public next summer, are asked to RSVP by Friday, Sept. 28, by calling (207) 824-3036 or writing info@mainemineralmuseum.org.

On June 30, 2012, the Bethel Planning Board approved the museum’s site plans to build the new museum in two adjacent buildings on Main Street.

The former Odd Fellows Hall and 103 Main St. will be joined by historically sensitive new construction to create a three-story museum building, according to the museum’s website at www.mainemineralmuseum.org.

Architect, James Reuter of Smith Reuter Lull Architects of Lewiston and Bethel presented the plans.

Museum building plans show two floors of exhibit halls, the museum store, a multipurpose lecture and classroom space, the archive and library, offices and support facilities, the website states.

Initially, the museum was to have been added to the Bethel Historical Society, but it quickly outgrew the space.

The new museum is to hold what will be the largest collection of Maine gems and minerals in the world.

For the past seven years, several major collections have been purchased to comprise the permanent collection, the website states. These include the Perham’s Collection, the Ray Woodman Collection, the Addison and Roberta Saunders Collection, and the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences Maine mineral suite.

“The astounding (museum) collection numbers thousands of outstanding and rare rocks, minerals, gems, and meteorite specimens, as well as rare books, maps and mining ephemera,” Barbra Barrett, museum chief of operations, said in an article on the website.

The collection was assembled by the museum’s founders, Dr. Lawrence T.P. Stifler and Mary McFadden, longtime residents of Brookline, Mass., and Albany Township.

Stifler and McFadden have been working with local jeweler and miner Jim Mann to help preserve western Maine’s gem and mineral heritage, Alison Aloisio, reporter of The Bethel Citizen, wrote in May.

In 2005, Stiffler and McFadden bought the Bumpus Mine, which in the mid-20th century produced some of the world’s largest beryl crystals, some of which were acquired by the American Museum of Natural History, Barrett said.

Educational tours of the Bumpus Mine are available seasonally to school groups.

Barrett said Stifler and McFadden are active nationally in land and water conservation, and locally with the Mahoosuc Land Trust, Maine Conservation Camp and other regional nonprofit organizations.

The museum’s exhibits are being designed by the Paulus Design Group of Bath and Washington, D.C., the website states.

tkarkos@sunjournal.com

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