At Monmouth, curiosity doesn’t stop at the classroom door. Cases in point: Associate Professor of English Stanley Blair (above left) and Professor of Journalism John Morano, two scholars whose research interests have taken them deep into the past.

Blair, a literary historian with a love of New Jersey folklore, recently found a 19th-century map that revealed where a mastodon skeleton was unearthed in Ocean Township, New Jersey, in 1823. The story of the skeleton and its untimely fate had been lost to history—until Blair retraced it through forgotten journals and archives. 

Morano, meanwhile, enjoys fossil hunting, a pursuit befitting the author of eco-adventure novels. His latest find? Rare 65-million-year-old turtle fossils, pulled from a creek in western Monmouth County. Morano donated them to the New Jersey State Museum, where they’re helping scientists understand ancient ecosystems—and perhaps even climate change.

Together, Blair and Morano’s work underscores the boundless curiosity that defines scholarship. It also serves as a reminder that history isn’t buried—it’s just waiting for the right pair of hands.