[NHCOLL-L:352] RE: Further on the accession by committeequest ion

[Panza, Robin]

-----Original Message-----
From: Deborah A Lewis [mailto:dlewis at IASTATE.EDU]

....  Should 
we instead be telling the researchers that their vouchers will be 
maintained "for at least period x" with some term set (10 years? 20 years? 
50 years?)?  This wouldn't mean that we'll definitely "throw it out" at the 
end of the term, but that we could reevaluate it then to determine its 
relevance to the collection as a whole....


Boy, I have trouble with that one.  Even with birds, better-known than many
other taxa, we find ourselves re-identifying specimens older than 50 years!
We have also documented changes in 'race' over time. For example, the Common
Grackles in Pittsburgh 50 years ago were like those of Ohio.  Now they are
like those of the east coast.  The western and eastern (relative to Pgh!)
'morphs' have not changed, only the location of the change in morph.  

Robin
Robin K Panza                  panzar at carnegiemuseums.org
Collection Manager, Section of Birds      ph:  412-622-3255
Carnegie Museum of Natural History       fax: 412-622-8837
4400 Forbes Ave.
Pittsburgh  PA  15213-4080  USA