[NHCOLL-L:103] re: Auxiliary collections issues

[Doug Yanega]

>>Who in a museum curates what I would call "auxillary" collections?

Well, I think we at UCR are at the shorter end of the scale here than those
who have responded publicly so far, so I'll contribute our data point to
the discussion; in essence, one person (myself) is in charge of not only
the bulk of the 2 million pinned specimens, but all the alcohol material,
all the microscope slide material, all the reprints, all the books, all the
videos, all the photographic slides, all the field notebooks and other
paraphernalia, all the live critters for outreach, all the teaching
collections, all the databases, plus all the museum hardware and software.
The only real exceptions are a few small things which other individuals
consider their private sub-collections (like the arachnids), and sweeping
the floors. It would be wonderful to have the kind of financial support
needed to have people who could oversee this auxiliary material. I suspect
there are a lot more collections towards our end of the scale, ultimately.

Peace,


Doug Yanega       Dept. of Entomology           Entomology Research Museum
Univ. of California - Riverside, Riverside, CA 92521
phone: (909) 787-4315
                  http://www.icb.ufmg.br/~dyanega/
  "There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness
        is the true method" - Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chap. 82