Biographical Archive

Oscar E. Monnig (1902-1999)

Last update: August 23, 2011

Citation format: Mignan, A. (2011), Oscar E. Monnig (1902-1999). The Tricottet Collection Biographical Archive, at www.thetricottetcollection.com

Notice: The following text is based on the information contained in the two Monnig Collection catalogues (Ehlmann, 1996; 2008) and on the TCU-Monnig Meteorite Gallery website.

Fig. 1: Letter from Monnig to a library, dated 25 February 1948 (the Tricottet Collection Manuscript & Correspondence Archive). It is accompanied by an issue of Contributions of the Society for Research on Meteorites (vol. 3, no. 5, whole no. 12, 1946). This is a rare memento of the period when Monnig was Secretary of The Meteoritical Society.

His Legacy

Oscar E. Monnig (1902-1999), lawyer by training, worked his entire life in his family's wholesale and retail business in Fort Worth, Texas, to finally become CEO of the same company. He began collecting meteorites in the early 1930s. Autodidact, he amassed one of the most important private meteorite collections of the 20th century and played a significant role in the Meteoritics community. On his spare time, he helped recover new meteorite falls and old finds, some of which may have been lost to science without his thorough investigations. He was also Secretary of the Meteoritical Society (Fig. 1).

The Monnig Collection is housed at the Texas Christian University (TCU), located in Fort Worth, city where Monnig spent all of his life. The collection was donated to TCU over a period of eight years, from 1978 to 19861, when Monnig retired from collecting. The original Monnig Collection consisted of 392 different meteorite localities before it was moved to the Geology Department of TCU. Under the supervision of curator Arthur J. Ehlmann and with the help of meteorite dealer David New (starting 1993), many duplicates from the original Monnig Collection were traded to develop the collection (Fig. 2). When Monnig passed away, several million dollars from his estate were donated to the TCU Geology Department, allowing the opening of the world class Oscar Monnig Meteorite Gallery to the public in 2003 (Kunetka, 2003). The collection now contains over 1,700 different meteorites and is constantly growing2.

Fig. 2: Tenham meteorite formerly from the Monnig Collection with David New labels. In addition to helping trade duplicates of the original Monnig collection, It is probable that David New purchased some specimens from TCU for direct resale (13.2 grams, TC76.1)

It also includes a collection of manuscripts and correspondence letters from the Monnig estate. Ehlmann (1996) indicates:

Perhaps as a result of his law training, Oscar was meticulous in keeping files of correspondence, notes on meteorite investigative trips, maps of locations, submitted manuscripts, records of payments for meteorites, etc. The files contain letters representing a veritable honor roll of the famous names in meteoritics, such as Nininger, Leonard, LaPaz, Henderson, and many others [...] The letters which are most informative about Oscar's personality, however, are the letters to various farm and ranch landowners, about their meteorites or their meteor(wrongs), as he jokingly put it. Basically a very humble man, Oscar never disregarded the feelings of even the most uneducated, illeterate people to whom he wrote.

Several letters can be read in Ehlmann (2008).


Monnig numbers and labels

Each specimen of the original Monnig Collection3 can be identified by a collection inventory number, which is directly painted on the specimen, in white. Each identifier starts with the letter M for Monnig, followed by two numbers separated by a dot, the first number being the location index and the second one the specimen number (Fig. 3). Monnig hired Glenn Huss and his wife Margaret of the American Meteorite Laboratory (AML) to catalog and label every specimen of his collection. It is not a surprise then if this inventory system is reminiscent of the AML numbering system. The cataloguing and labelling was done during the hand-over of the collection to TCU. Ehlmann (1996) notes:

[Glenn Huss and his wife] spent over a month in 1981 on site in Fort Worth and continued helping with the organization and identification of some of the specimens until Glenn's untimely death on September 28, 1991.

The match between Monnig numbers and meteorite locations is provided in two catalogues (Ehlmann, 1996; 2008). Meteorite specimens from the Monnig Collection deaccessioned from TCU come with a TCU label (Fig. 4).


Fig. 3: Meteorite specimens formerly from the Monnig Collection: Pultusk M57.15 (TC27.22), Knyahinya M56.6 (TC95.1) and Mighei M63.1 (TC90.1). Each specimen carries the white M number, delicately and precisely hand-painted by Huss. These specimens are listed in the first Monnig catalogue (Elhmann, 1996) but not in the second one (Elhmann, 2008) providing a time window of about a decade for the date of their deaccession.


Fig. 4: Knyahinya meteorite M56.6 (TC95.1) label from the Oscar E. Monnig Collection, Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, Texas. All specimens deaccessioned from TCU are accompanied by such a label.

Rarer are specimens which carry two sets of identifiers: (1) the famous M number and (2) an older set usually consisting of four large upper case white characters on black background of the hand of Monnig himself (Figs. 5, 6). The inventory system is yet unclear as dfferent explanations have been given. Co-star of Meteorite Men TV show Geoffrey Notkin indicates in the Ehlmann (2008) catalogue that the early numbers are coded references for the names of the ranchers from whom Monnig acquired each particular piece. However, one recent discovery, or re-discovery (Fig. 7), made by meteorite dealer Blaine Reed gives another view:

These important specimens are among the very first that Oscar Monnig catalogued for his collection. These were labeled by having a flat spot ground into them and then metal punches were used to apply their catalog number. These all were labeled in the same style as very early Nininger specimens; a number for the locality (number 1 in this case for Deport - the first locality entered into Monnig's collection) followed by a letter for the order in which the specimen was cataloged (A for the first, B for the second and so on). The curators at TCU had no idea that Monnig had ever used such a system of recording and labeling until these pieces were discovered in a batch of what were supposed to be Odessa specimens. Inspection of their Deport specimens revealed though that they indeed had at least one similar labeled specimen. This was an 1158.7 gram Deport individual (now labeled M1.1 and considered the collection's "first specimen") that has the metal punched label 1B.

Most of these Deport specimens never made it to TCU, explaining the missing M number. Can the numbers 12AG and 12AV (Figs. 5, 6) in fact refer to the 33rd and 48th specimens (AG and AV) of the Tulia (a) meteorite (12) instead of being reference codes to ranchers? Huss (1982) notes:

Specimens in many collections may be incorrectly labeled as Tulia or as Dimmitt when they may belong to the other fall (...) Comprehensive study of the 430 Tulia-Dimmitt meteorites from the Monnig collection now at Texas Christian University in Ft. Worth should be undertaken.

It is thus probable that Huss reidentified the Monnig specimens during cataloguing in the early 1980s and kept 12AG as Tulia specimen M12.2 but reclassified 12AV as Dimmitt specimen M138.102.

Fig. 5: Tulia (a) large stone with attractive orange patina and shape, slightly erased painted numbers M12.2 and 12AG and listed in the 1996 Monnig Collection catalogue, pp. 67 (Ehlmann, 1996). The identifier 12AG is from the hand of Monnig himself (1272 grams, TC13.2).

Fig. 6: Dimmitt stone with attractive orange patina and neatly painted numbers M138.102 and 12AV. The identifier 12AV is from the hand of Monnig himself (222 grams, TC29.2).

Fig. 7: Early Monnig Deport meteoritic iron, recently re-discovered by meteorite dealer Blaine Reed, with punched inventory number 1AD (110 grams, TC71.2).

Although the majority of the specimens that form the Monnig Collection were gathered directly from farms or ranches, Monnig bought a number of individual specimens from dealers during the 1930s, while still new to collecting, and in his later years when he was CEO of the Monnig business. He purchased some of his first meteorites from Harvey Nininger, founder of the AML (Fig. 8). Monnig and Nininger were both key figures in the field of Meteoritics and collaborated on many instances. In his autobiography, Nininger (1972) writes:

In the middle thirties I first met Oscar E. Monnig of Fort Worth, Texas. We had corresponded as early as the late twenties. Oscar asked me if the "Nininger method" of discovering meteorites was secret. He reminded me that he had been interested in meteorites almost as long as I had and yet, he said, he had "never found a meteorite larger than could be accommodated in a ordinary desk drawer." We worked cooperatively on numerous occasions. As the years passed Oscar's collection filled many a desk drawer, or comparable receptacle, and several specimens had to be furnished larger quarters.

In addition to specimens from AML, the Monnig Collection includes specimens from a multitude of established sources including dealers and museums. Vintage specimen identification cards from John Davis Buddhue4, John S. Albanese, Ward's Natural Science Establishment and Albert E. Foote are shown in Figure 9. Most of these labels carry the M number (and specimen weight if missing or incorrect) written with a pencil, probably by Huss.


Fig. 8: Dimmitt meteorite slice with two sets of numbers, 584.20 from Nininger and M138.354 from Monnig (9.2 grams, TC29.1).

Fig. 9: Vintage specimen identification cards which accompany meteorites from the Monnig Collection, now part of the Tricottet Collection. Clockwise from top left: John Davis Buddhue (TC86.1), John S. Albanese (TC27.22), Albert E. Foote (TC90.1) and Ward's Natural Science Establishment (TC95.1). The corresponding Pultusk, Knyahinya and Mighei specimens are shown in Figure 3. Three out the four labels carry the M number written with a pencil, probably by Huss. These labels attest of the rich history of the Monnig Collection.

References from the Tricottet Library

Ehlmann, A. J. (1996), The Oscar E. Monnig Meteorite Collection

Ehlmann, A. J. (2008), The Oscar E. Monnig Meteorite Collection Catalog. Signed by the author, no. 63/100.

Kunetka, J. W. (2003), Oscar E. Monnig Meteorite Gallery. In: Meteorite, vol. 9, no. 2, pp. 5-

Monnig, O. E. (1948), Letter to a library. The Meteoritical Society, typed, signed, dated 25 February 1948, 1 pp.

Nininger, H. H. (1972), Find a falling star, Paul Eriksson, Inc., New York, 254 pp. Signed by the author.

Wanted References

Ehlmann, A. J. and T. J. McCoy (1999), Memorial: Oscar E. Monnig. Meteoritics & Planet. Sci., vol. 34, pp. 817

Huss, G. I. (1982), Sorting out the many falls of the Tulia-Dimmitt Area. Meteoritics, vol. 17, pp. 229-230

Monnig, O. E., Meteorites. Brochure about meteorite identification.

Monnig, O. E. - Original manuscripts and correspondence letters.

Footnotes:
1. As indicated by Kunetka (2003) as well as on the TCU-Monnig Meteorite Gallery website. Ehlmann (2008) provides the dates 1975-1985, Ehlmann (1996) the dates 1977-1987.
2. As of September 2011, TCU-Monnig Meteorite Gallery website.
3. Other meteorites have been added to the Monnig Collection through the years by the curators at TCU. New specimens have a TCU label but no painted number.
4. Monnig purchased the complete Buddhue collection in 1974.