Object Status:
Unlocated
Accession Date:
November 1783
Primary Source Reference:
Du Simitière Memorandum Books, Library of Congress, fol. 69v
Notes:
Soapstone (also known as steatite or soaprock) is a talc-schist, which is a type of metamorphic rock. It is composed largely of the magnesium rich mineral talc.
The donor, Johann David Schoepf, or Schöpf (1752-1800), was a German botanist, zoologist, and physician. He was in America from 1777 to 1800, serving as the chief surgeon for the Ansbach regiment of Hessian troops and then, following the war, traveling around the new nation, including visits to Philadelphia. He recorded his visit to Du Simitière's Museum in July 1783 (Travels in the Confederation, 1783-1784, ed. Alfred J. Morrison [Philadelphia, 1911], pp. 85--86.
