The Jacksonville Gem and Mineral Society http://www.jaxgemandmineral.org was established in 1959. It is located in Jacksonville Florida. It is now a 501 c3 IRS recognized non-profit. The Society was originally established by a small group of people interested in the study of Rocks, and Mineralogy, and well as the art of Lapidaryskills. This small group of approximately 5 members has now grown to over 155 members not including other family members such as husbands, wives and children. Members of the society have the common goal of wanting to stimulate interest in rocks, minerals in the field of Earth science; as well as to help disseminate knowledge, methods and procedures for the collection, identification, classification, cutting, polishing, setting, and mounting of specimens.
All members are asked to help participate in helping to educate schools and local organizations, as well as all help to educate all those interested in the field of earth sciences as it relates to rocks and minerals, and the Lapidary Arts. Society members besides learning about the lapidary arts, also can participate in a variety of collecting field trips to collect specimens, picnics, shows, and other activities. Members of the society who join are asked to participate and to help promote good fellowship, proper ethics, and good conduct with not only the society members, but the general public as well.
Membership is maintained on an annual basis, with renewals due on the anniversary of application acceptance. There are two levels of membership - Individual and Family, and both are extremely reasonable (family membership is easily less than one night out, with popcorn, at the movies).
The club members generally meet every first Thursday of the month, with the business meeting starting at 7:00 PM and class sign-up starting a half-hour earlier at 6:30 PM. Social time (a.k.a. refreshment, individual and group discussions, show-and-tell indepth reviews, more class sign-up, etc.) starts right after the business portion of the evening.