New on Archive.org, a note from Rocks and Minerals (July 1946) concerning Lovecraft’s friend Morton and his appearance in Lovecraft’s “The Call of Cthulhu”…

This led me to the mentioned “Passing of a noted mineralogist” obituary for Morton, in the October 1941 issue of the same monthly journal…

Lovecraftians will note here that Morton was keen on collecting the fluorescent (i.e. glow-in-the-dark) minerals, which is something about him that I had not heard before. Indeed, he made a “finest in the world” collection of such. The American Mineralogist obituary makes no mention of these, but the writer does not appear to have personally seen the Paterson collection.

And is this a possible photo of Morton in his prime? It seemed to me unlikely that the writer (the editor and publisher, Peter Zodac) would be so crass as to have his own picture on an obituary of a colleague. Although the large signature hinted otherwise. Could it be Morton with his waved hair shaved down, no moustache and wearing glasses? I then quickly rescued the picture from the microfilm, as far as is possible, to get a better look. Though I did not colourise it as I was not convinced they had the right file-photo. It could also be a picture of Zodac, the editor.

I then found a comparative picture of Zodac. Though he was turned, picking through a rock-pile in the late 1950s…

Yes, on looking at that and another picture I’m now certain that the editor really did slap his own picture on Morton’s obituary. Oh well, so… it’s not a new picture of Morton all spruced up with a haircut and shave and ready for his museum job. Maybe Zodac was rushing for a printer’s deadline, and had left space but at the last minute found he still had no picture of Morton? Such are the tough decisions of an editor with a deadline to meet.

But at least he reveals to the world Morton’s “glow in the dark” minerals collection. One wonders where this world-class part of the collection is now, and if it still glows?