Editor: Charles P. Berkey
The Geological Society of America reached the half-century mark in 1938, and that event was duly observed at the Annual Meeting in New York. For the Semicentennial at New York, following a two-day program for the presentation of the usual scientific papers, a full third day was devoted to special celebration. A representative group of Fellows long intimately concerned with the affairs of the Society and the interests of geologic research were invited for the program of that day, and particular note was made of the historical significance of the occasion. The papers of the special Anniversary Day program were assembled and issued as a group in the March 1939 number of the GSA Bulletin. Up to this time the Society had only once used the radio at its meetings to reach a wider audience, but on this anniversary occasion two special broadcasts were delivered, and arrangements were made later for a series of eight weekly broadcasts under the general title Frontiers of Geology. The texts of these broadcasts were issued separately for immediate distribution and then were assembled in a single brochure under date of December 1939. Through its Committee on Semicentennial Celebration the Council had also planned for the preparation of a comprehensive Anniversary Volume which would review the progress of geology in the 50 years of the existence of the Geological Society. In the planning it was soon appreciated that it would not be practicable to follow the usual unit form of treatment by a single author. Branches of geologic science not thought of 50 years ago have taken form, and some have many times greater numbers of workers than the whole science had at the time the Society was founded. Some of the major branches have become so clearly differentiated that they are often referred to as independent sciences. Some of these already have their own societies, and the borderlands on the outskirts of former well-recognized fields now furnish apparently the best opportunity for new development. Most of these societies are rather specialistic in emphasis, dealing chiefly with a single branch or division of the general subject. Only The Geological Society of America assumes responsibility in its foundation to cover the entire range of geologic science.
Published: 6/01/1941
Pages: 578
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