He began collecting minerals in the early 1980s, eventually selling his first collection in 1998 to develop a new mineral collection that contains a suite of specimens from the Elmwood, Gordonsville, and Cumberland mines in Tennessee. Neely has become an expert on Elmwood minerals. He has written chapters on Elmwood minerals in several books including American Mineral Treasures and Nature’s Garden of Crystals. His talk will discuss the geology of Smith County, Tennessee, and the world-class minerals from the Elmwood, Gordonsville, and Cumberland mines.