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Bruce Dice Mineralogical Museum

The Bruce Dice Mineralogical Museum has a rotating display of more than 500 unique geological specimens collected from around the world.

The Dice Museum displays include gold nuggets, copper leaves, 100-million-year-old fossils, meteorites, and an interactive ultraviolet case to showcase fluorescent minerals. Our page on current displays includes information sheets for display cases, mineral spotlights, and specimen descriptions. Our visitor map (pdf) lists all of the current displays with their locations.

Winner of the 2013 American School and University Outstanding Design for Exhibition Space/Galleries award, this unique space designed by GMB a+e has attracted over 25,000 visitors since its opening in November 2012. We invite you to come and see the Dice Museum and its exhibits for yourself.

Visiting the Museum

The museum has open hours on Tuesday–Friday during most of the academic year and in the summer (see details below). Informal tours are offered by student docents during all open hours or you can explore the collection on your own. Formal tours and educational lectures by faculty and/or staff are available by request. For a formal tour or if you are a group wanting to visit, please call the museum at 616-526-8100 or email Kent Ratajeski (kent.ratajeski@calvin.edu) to make arrangements.

Open Hours (Fall 2024)

Tuesday to Friday, from 12:30–5:00 p.m.

  • Educational groups are encouraged to contact Museum Director Kent Ratajeski at (616) 526-6769 to arrange special tours.
  • The Museum is occasionally open for special hours on Saturdays or in the evening. Look under Special Events (below) for information about upcoming unusual open hours.

The Museum will be closed on the following dates for Thanksgiving and Christmas break:

  • November 27-29
  • December 14 - January 21

Special Events

  • TBD
  • If you would like to be added to an email list for occasional updates (2-3 times a year) or for announcements of new displays and special events, please sign up for updates

Directions to the Dice Museum

We are located on the first floor of North Hall at Calvin University campus at 3201 Burton St. SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49546. Use Google Maps for driving directions and location. Admission is free.

A preview of the Dice Museum, located on the first floor of North Hall at Calvin University, opens a larger map.
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History

Mr. Bruce Dice '48 Bruce Dice, a 1948 Calvin alumnus and geologist from Houston, Texas, was an avid rock and mineral collector for as long as he could remember. From childhood digging in his backyard, to spelunking in mines in New Zealand and Mexico, Dice practiced the art of mineral collecting.

During his last 4 decades, Dice invested considerable time and effort into improving his exquisite collection. World-wide travels provided him opportunities to acquire rare and valuable samples. One of his favorite minerals on display is a sample of crocoite, an unusual and rare lead chromate (PbCrO4) which forms into red, tabular crystals. The museum’s specimen was obtained from a small, family-owned mine in Australia.

Through the years Dice worked to improve the variety and quality of minerals in the collection. Recent purchases included a suite of stunning fluorescent specimens from Franklin, New Jersey, and a fascinating collection of fossil fish from Lebanon.

After many years of building a personal collection, Bruce Dice felt something was missing: “I decided it was time to share … so [the collection] went to the love of my life — Calvin College.” A short time later, his mineral collection was delivered to professional museum staff for mounting, photographing, appraisal and documentation. Back at Calvin, faculty, staff, and students were enthusiastic when construction broke ground in March of 2012. A new addition to North Hall was erected, and over 300 mineral, meteorite, and fossil specimens were relocated to their new home on Calvin’s campus.

Both Dice and those at Calvin University agree that the collection is a magnificent way to marvel at God’s creation. The museum continues to change through the years as new specimens are displayed from acquisitions and storage, thereby offering fresh displays of God’s handiwork to be enjoyed time and again.

Quick Facts

  • 500+ unique mineral and fossil specimens
  • 100 million age of a fossilized octopus in years
  • 6.8-ounce gold nugget

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