Dr. Wonnacott and the “International Courses of Paleontology”
Dr. F.M. Wonnacott carried out several prospecting and harvesting campaigns in La Pedrera, in 1954, 1955, 1956 (this one with the participation of H.W. Bell), 1957 and 1958. To understand Dr. Wonnacott’s participation in La Pedrera, it is first necessary to comment on the figure of Dr. Miquel Crusafont, a renowned palaeontologist, specialist in Miocene mammals and who founded, in 1969, the Provincial Institute of Paleontology of Sabadell. Before this milestone, Dr. Crusafont was already very active with his European colleagues thanks to some palaeontology courses that he organised from Sabadell and attended by researchers from all over Europe. One of these participants was Dr. Wonnacott, who attended the “Cursillo” in 1954.
Prior to his stay in the quarry, Wonnacott wrote to Dr. Crusafont, on March 17 (document 9747, Crusafont Archive/ICP) to ask him for information regarding the Serra del Montsec site. In the letter, Wonnacott tells him that he has read with great interest the article by Lluís Ferrer i Condal from 1951 (Ferrer i Condal, 1951) on “the finds in the Upper Jurassic of Montsec” and that he would like to visit the site, together with his wife. In the letter he asks Crusafont which town (“La Pasarela” or “Vilanova de Meyá”) would be the most suitable to find accommodation for three or four nights, for the two of them, in addition to asking him for inns and shops where to get food for the expedition.
In a second letter, dated 21 April (document 9752, Arxiu Crusafont/ICP), he thanked Crusafont for all the information it had given him in relation to the issues detailed in the first letter. In this letter he tells Dr. Crusafont that he is already looking forward to meeting with Ferrer i Condal.
In another letter to Crusafont himself, dated August 28, 1954 (document 9769, Crusafont archive), he thanked him for his kindness both for his stay in Sabadell and for the excursion to Lleida, Zaragoza, Teruel, Valencia and Tortosa. In the same letter, he remarks on the success of the expedition to the Serra del Montsec thanks to the attention of Ferrer and Condal and tells him that he is already planning a new visit to Rúbies and the site.
On 12 August 1955, Wonnacott wrote to Dr. Crusafont (document 9851, Crusafont Archive/ICP) to explain his plans to visit the Rúbies site for that year. He plans to arrive in Barcelona with his wife and brothers-in-law on August 31, to spend a few days in the city and go, after a week, to Salàs and Rúbies, where they plan to stay until September 18-20. In this same letter, Wonnacott tells Crusafont that he expects to find new fossil plants at the site.
In a subsequent letter, dated 2 September (document 9855, Crusafont archive), Wonnacott confirms to Crusafont that they have already arrived in Barcelona after a trip to France and confirms that they will go to Salàs and the Montsec mountain range on 8 September.
