Our Story
Why we are here for you
Click here to listen to a recorded audio version
My wife and I established our Jewels of the Sea Museum in Troy, New York in 2012. After 25 years of collecting, my seashell collection had grown to the point of filling a small room held in drawer cases, and neither I nor anyone else could appreciate it or enjoy it. It happened to be about the time when the Rensselaer County Junior Museum — a wonderful place in Troy with hands-on displays and live animal exhibitions — moved from a city neighborhood accessible by foot or bus to a location out of Troy, completely eliminating accessibility and stifling opportunity. The museum also transitioned to dedicating itself to technologies and eliminating the nature and physics components — the backbone of our human relationship with our world. I sought to reestablish a natural foothold in Troy, accessible to those who would otherwise not have the opportunity to experience the wonders of our natural world and the sciences that strive to examine how it works and what it means to us all.
Ron on Schenectady Today with Ann Parillo in 2014.
The Collections and Displays
We have made every effort to bring the experience of being in our museum to your screen. Using stereoscope photography, we can provide 3-dimensional images. We have inexpensive viewers specifically for viewing computer screens at a comfortable seated distance. Providing multi-faceted, accessible information for you is my first priority.
There are over 1,000 species of marine mollusk, land and freshwater mollusks, many species of marine life as well as comparisons to similar organic structures on land. Too, pictorial information on shell structure, the animals that form their shells, explorers, natural arithmatics and STEAM and what these animals look like in their natural environments. And sea turtles, cetaceans, marine mammals, pinnipeds, and fossils and modern descendants.
Accessibility Features
It’s important to us that this site is accessible to everyone. We’ve researched best practices for creating a website that can be easily navigated using a screen reader. We also hope in the future to launch more products and features that will help bring the wonder of the natural world to everyone. If you have any comments, suggestions or requests for how we can make this website more accessible, please contact us.
In The Newshttps://www.travellens.co/best-things-to-do-in-troy-ny/
Go to:
https://www.news10.com/off-the-beaten-path/off-the-beaten-path-3d-seashell-photo-exhibit/
News Coverage
Click here to read the story Karen Bjornland in the Daily Gazette in 2014, or see the copy of the article below.
