The David and Sandra Douglass Collection, Dave’s Down to Earth

Rock Shop, and their Prehistoric Life Museum

The following is a timeline of the development of the Douglass Collection, the retail shop, and its museum (free and open to the public). The data comes in part from documents in the museum archive as well as interviews with David Douglass himself.
 
Note: I’ve known the Douglass family for a number of years, having met Dave for the first time back in 2005. In January of 2023, I was hired as Manager of the David and Sandra Douglass Collection. This includes fossils on display in their Prehistoric Life Museum, as well as numerous cabinets of extraordinary specimens in storage. I specialize in Mazon Creek flora and fauna – collaborating in several book projects on the subject - so it’s where I’ve focused my curatorial and research attention. I’ve also learned that the Mazon Creek area is where Dave Douglass got his start with collecting in the late 1950s, and though the museum showcases fossils of all geologic time periods, the Illinois examples are definitely the most meaningful to Dave. In recent years, there’s been a renaissance in the study of Mazon Creek fossils, so my efforts have been concentrated on facilitating this amazing collection into productive scientific settings.​
The late 1950s: 
​Fishing in Wisconsin had traditionally been the vacation destination for the Douglass family, until a young Dave Douglass (about 8 years old) encouraged his parents to try fossil collecting. Their first experience was at the Greer Earth Moving School – formerly Pit 1 of the Northern Illinois Coal Corporation and now Cinder Ridge Golf Course in Wilmington, Illinois. According to Dave, they spotted a couple carrying a bag of stones and a rock hammer. After being shown what to look for and how to open the concretions, they were hooked.
The early 1960s:
​Mazon Creek fossil collecting became a primary activity for the Douglass family. With coal strip mining operations still active in Northeastern Illinois, concretions were constantly being unearthed. Local clubs – such as the Earth Science Club of Northern Illinois (ESCONI) – started organizing regular field trips out to the mining areas. At the same time, Dr. Eugene Richardson Jr., Curator of Fossil Invertebrates at the Field Museum, was fostering collaborative relationships within the amateur collecting community, both for scientific study and to expand interest in this regional paleontological treasure. In addition to Greer Earth Moving School, Pit 1, Wilmington, IL, the Douglass’ principal collecting localities eventually included Dresden Lakes, Wilmington, IL; South Wilmington Sportsmen’s Club, Pit 11, Essex, IL; and Chowder Flats, Morris, Illinois.
Dr. Michael Eagar, Dr. Eugene Richardson Jr., and David Douglass - circa 1965.
​The Douglass family met with Dr. Richardson at the museum on an almost weekly basis, and young David was allowed to roam freely among the fossil storage cabinets. Occasionally, Richardson would receive visiting scholars at The Field Museum whom the Douglasses would host at home or on collecting trips to the mines. Among the memorable guests was Dr. Michael Eagar, Curator at the Manchester University Museum in Manchester, England. Dr. Eagar became a specialist in non-marine bivalves and, when visiting Illinois and the Mazon Creek area, asked to look for clam fossils. The Douglasses took him collecting and also gave him specimens of their own to take back.
​Dr. Hiroshi Ozaki, Director of the Department of Geology at the National Science Museum in Tokyo, was another researcher who, along with his son, Isao, was taken by David and his family in search of concretions. Richardson pointed many international scientists to the Douglass family, all of whom received from them a gift collection of 20 to 30 Mazon Creek specimens– a sort of “one of each” sampling for their home institutions. Soft-bodied organisms are rare in the fossil record, but relatively plentiful in the Mazon Creek fauna, which makes a grouping of even the more common varieties a treasure to foreign collectors.
Isao Ozaki, Dr. Hiroshi Ozaki, David Douglass, and Lincoln Douglass - circa 1968. 
The late 1960s /early 70s:
​The relationship with the Field Museum and research at the time was a fertile one. In the decade or so when the Douglass family knew and worked with Dr. Richardson, three new fossil species were found, later described, and ultimately bore the Douglass name. Note: the images show the specimens' original museum labels:
​                                                             Mischoptera douglassi Carpenter & Richardson, 1968
                                                                    Insect nymph: named for Lincoln E. Douglass
                                                                      ESCONI field trip, Com Ed private property
​​The Mischoptera specimen above has an interesting story: at the time of its description, researchers called it “the most important fossil insect ever found.” Frank Carpenter, Curator of Fossil Insects at the Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology, didn’t want Richardson to risk sending the specimen in the mail, so he instead flew in to Chicago to hand-carry the fossil back to Cambridge, Massachusetts.
​         Jeletzkya douglassae Johnson & Richardson, 1968
                 Cephalopod:  named for June L. Douglass,
   South Wilmington Sportsmen’s Club, Pit 11, Essex, Illinois
​     Titanoscorpio douglassi Kjellesvig-Waering, 1969 / 1986                         Scorpion claw: named for David L. Douglass                            Greer Earth Moving School, Pit 1, Coal City, Illinois
Click below for more detailed information on the above holotypes, plus other figured and referred specimens from the Douglass Collection.
​The Douglasses also crossed paths and/or collected with other amateur fossil hunters that had multiple animal species named after them: familiars such as Pieko, Konecny, McLuckie, and Herdina. Many specimens from these magnificent collections reside in museums today. For all the breadth and quality of the McLuckie collection, apparently when Lucy McLuckie met Dave Douglass she had yet to find for herself a Tully Monster fossil (Tullimonstrum gregarium) in the field. As Dave tells it, he took her to an area where his family had previously found nice examples and pointed to an elongated concretion on the ground already opened by natural freezing and thawing. Lucy excitedly reached for the stone and it was a complete Tully: her very first.
      Display showing Tully Monster specimen, photograph by
​      Dr. Eugene Richardson, and metal model of the animal.
​Dave and family, as with other collectors, had their favorite fossil-hunting spots around the sprawling landscape comprised of steep hills and gullies carved by strip mining operations. Denuded of vegetation, erosion would expose concretions in the shale spoils and seasonal elements would in time tend to open them naturally. Dave said that an average day might mean finding 15 open shrimp fossils, and a Tully or two, on a single hill. On one occasion, collector Jerry Herdina was making his way to join with the Douglasses and, en route, picked up a couple of beautiful horseshoe crab specimens. Amateurs today, especially those new to the hobby, are both fascinated and breathless to hear of such bounty, back in what some refer to as the “Golden Age” of Mazon Creek collecting.  
Perhaps as a precursor to building the museum, Dave’s early desire to share and showcase his fossil finds compelled him to enter a Juniors display competition with the American Federation of Mineralogical Societies (AFMS), an organization that still promotes youth education in the Earth Sciences. In 1968, Dave presented animal fossils of the famous Peabody Coal Company Pit 11 (from where many of his best Mazon Creek fossils come). He was judged on the quality of the specimens, the organization and accuracy of the labels, small details such as color and spacing, and I would imagine the overall impression of the case. Apparently, Dave scored more points than most of the adults in the event, so he was given a winner’s certificate and plaque in the higher category. Even recently, Dave has said, “What good is collecting stuff if other people don’t see it?” Other early display venues included banks and local libraries.
​During all of their early collecting years, Dave explains that wherever they lived in Illinois – be it La Grange Highlands, Western Springs, or Evanston – the crucial requirement for the home (and, eventually, the store) was a basement large enough to accommodate their impressive – and growing – fossil load. Local mining operations uncovered millions of potentially fossiliferous concretions, relatively small in size, free of matrix, and easy to transport. Each unopened stone was like a scratch-off lottery ticket, hiding its secrets inside. The more you hunted, the better your chances at finding something spectacular. Enthusiastic collectors could easily fill their basements, garages, and yards in just a few seasons. In 1970, during his college days at Northwestern University, Dave Douglass opened Dave’s Down to Earth Rock Shop on Chicago Avenue, just north of Dempster Street, in Evanston, Illinois. It was a small storefront operation, which his parents tended while Dave and his wife Sandra traveled to collect and purchase material for the shop. 
           Douglass Collection fossils displayed in a wood-and-glass case typical of popular, late-19th century "Curio Cabinets." 
The late 1970s:
​In 1977, Dave and Sandra Douglass moved to Yachats, Oregon, where they lived and worked for about ten years. During this time, Dave’s parents maintained the shop in Illinois while Dave and Sandra continued to collect on the west coast, and it was there they started a small museum display with everything they had found and decided to keep. They called it the Prehistoric Life Museum and the idea was to share their collection with other fossil enthusiasts, and to do so free of charge.
             Signage and organization are the hallmarks of educational display. Every collector has a personal system for this.
​Collectors at heart will tend to tap into whatever is available and underfoot, wherever they are. When Dave and Sandra settled in the Northwest, collecting petrified wood was popular in Eastern Oregon. They also ran into a collector from Vancouver who told them about crab fossils in concretions. Washington State is famous for a particular species of crab – Pulalius vulgaris Rathbun, 1926 – that is from the Lincoln Creek Formation and Oligocene in age (about 33.7 – 23.8 million years ago). Dave and Sandra harvested these concretions on an 8 to 25 foot wall of shale using a long “pike pole” to lever them out of the matrix. After prepping the stones with dental tools, they would sell them at rock shows around the country and became known as the primary supplier of these special crabs. As with so much in the paleontological world, the finding of a specimen only precedes the arduous task of processing the fossil either for sale or display.  In 1978, Sandra Douglass published a beautifully illustrated article in the Lapidary Journal (Vol. 32, No. 7, pp. 1602-1604) entitled, “Fossils Crabs of the Pacific Northwest.” Today, the Douglass Prehistoric Life Museum features an entire case of crab fossils, some of which came from these Washington forays.
​                    Pilumnoplax hannibalanus Rathbun, 1926. Late Eocene in age (approximately 38 – 33.9 million years ago):
​                    Clallam County, Washington State, USA - shown here displayed in the present-day Prehistoric Life Museum.
                                     Branchioplax washingtoniana Rathbun, 1916. Eocene Epoch, Hoko River Formation                                                                    (approximately 41.2 - 38 million year old), Neah Bay, Clallam County, Washington State, USA.
                                                   Portunites triangulum Rathbun, 1926. Oligocene in age, from the
​                                         Lincoln Creek Formation (approximately 38 - 15 mya), Washington State, USA
The late 1980s:
​When Dave and Sandra returned to Illinois in 1987, they decided to move the Evanston shop to a larger location on Main Street. Having a sizable basement and a space durable enough for the weight of their rocks were essential criteria in the search. The new building had a lower level that could accommodate their expanding collection, both in storage and for the Prehistoric Life Museum. Hosting school groups, various clubs, and Scouting troops to the museum became a regular affair, sometimes as many as one or two per week. As in his younger years, Dave still enjoyed talking about the collection and took every opportunity to engage the young fossil enthusiasts. 
                                                  The David and Sandra Douglass Collection - Prehistoric Life Museum
​Though there are exquisite fossil specimens representing all geologic periods when life existed on Earth, the Mazon Creek section of the museum is by far the most comprehensive considering the site. After all, this is where the Douglass family got their start and it’s very close to home. The vast majority of the Mazon Creek specimens in the collection were personally found by the Douglasses. 
​After returning to Illinois from Oregon, fleshing out the museum cases by time periods became a priority. There were a few additional acquisitions made for the Mazon Creek display. Dave bought additional specimens never with the idea of reselling them; rather, he says, it was something of a rescue mission. He wanted to preserve the rare and more complete examples so that they “wouldn’t go overseas or become lost to science.” Over the years, the Douglasses have made numerous donations to the Field and other museums expressly for the purpose of education and research.
               Details of Prehistoric Life Museum cases showing exquisite Mazon Creek flora (left) and fauna (right) specimens.
The 1990s:
​Probably before but no later than 1995, Dave Douglass ceased making additions to his private museum. In the late-1990s, or possibly 2000, Dave hired a young hobbyist – a high school kid named Evan Graff – to re-catalog his entire fossil collection. Many of the earliest and more special specimens already had numbers on them (usually with just three digits) left over from the original recordkeeping. But, by the late 1990s, the collection had grown so large that a new, more comprehensive cataloging system was in order. The fossil count was in the thousands, and everything identifiable received a new number:  in most cases, a characteristic white swatch with black ink numerals on top. The Mazon Creek section alone – including storage and those fossils on display – amounts to well over 5000 cataloged specimens!
          Some of many cataloged specimen cabinets in the Douglass study             collection. Right: entire drawers dedicated to rare species.
The 2000s:
​In 2008, David and Sandra Douglass moved to Placitas, New Mexico. Dave’s Down to Earth Rock Shop was then owned and managed by family members, James and Susanne Ali. For a number of years, Dave joined them at the Tucson and Denver rock shows to assist with purchasing and introducing them to his long-time dealer friends. After forty-nine years of attending the Tucson Gem, Mineral & Fossil Showcase, Dave had many established relationships. Today, Jamie and Susanne continue the tradition of selling high-quality fossils and minerals, as well as jewelry, handmade Indigenous crafts, and books pertaining to the natural world. Their staff is super-knowledgeable and also dedicated to educating the store patrons and school groups on their visits. The Prehistoric Life Museum is maintained by the new proprietors, but still belongs to Dave and Sandra.  In 2015, the shop and its museum were moved across the street where they are now open Saturdays and weekdays, except Wednesday (711 Main Street, Evanston, IL 60202 – davesrockshop.com).
                      Dave's Down to Earth Rock Shop, 711 Main Street, Evanston, Illinois, USA 60202 - davesrockshop.com
Present Day:
​In recent years, Mazon Creek specimens from the David and Sandra Douglass Collection have been rediscovered by researchers. Recognized for their quality and uniqueness, they are being sought after by all sorts of specialists for study and publication. Further, new technology has had a part in what is possible to “see” in a fossil these days. Since working for Dave the past two and a half years, his input has been instrumental in helping me develop a safer, more trusting system for loaning fossils (with potential donation) between private collectors, researchers, and institutions. Thus far, this program – in partnership with University of Wisconsin professor, Victoria E. McCoy, and the Lauer Foundation for Paleontology, Science and Education – has attracted collaborators from all over the world, including those of the Field Museum, the Yale Peabody Museum, the Berlin Museum of Natural History, the American Museum of Natural History, and universities in Canada, Brazil, Germany, England, and Australia. Using the Douglass Collection as a basis (as well as some examples from other private collections), the goal is to connect important specimens with scientists willing to work as team, marrying techniques and expertise for the best possible outcome. Currently, there are over 100 Douglass Collection fossils being researched, with many more in line. Scientific papers involving their specimens have been published in every year since I’ve been on board: 2023, 2024, and already several in 2025.  Echoing the discovery of new species when Dr. Richardson of the Field Museum worked closely with the Douglasses over 50 years ago (trusting them to eventually safeguard the precious holotypes), a remarkable Mazon Creek spider-like animal was described and named after the family in 2024.
​                                             Douglassarachne acanthopoda Selden and Dunlop, 2024 (spiny arachnid):
                                               Named for David L. Douglass, with original hand-written "spider" label
                                                Peabody Coal Company, Pit 15 Northern Mine, Lake Shannon, Illinois
​The gift that David and Sandra Douglass have given the community by way of their free private museum is now extending again into the research realm. Scientists and their publications, as well as repositories that will house the special fossils, will continue the legacy of a lifelong family passion that started over 65 years ago with just a hammer and a bag full of unopened stony concretions.
Andrew Young, September 2025
Copyright © 2021 Andrew Young. All specimen images on this page and in the fossil galleries may be protected by copyright. They are presented here in ​accordance with fair use principles and are only being used for informational and educational purposes. They may not be republished electronically or in print without the written consent of the individuals and institutions who have lent them here.