[Nhcoll-l] Why retain physical specimens

[Callomon,Paul]

In the 1940s we took in the vast collection of Partula land snails that resulted from Henry Crampton's field work in Tahiti and the Society Islands during the preceding decades. The large and famous museum he was working at didn't want to keep them because they were just large-scale samples (thousands of shells and bodies) of a common species.
Partula is now extinct in the Society Islands. We have some of the only large-scale DNA-bearing samples, using which we should be able to reconstruct the native populations and figure out (a) what was once there and (b) how humans screwed it up.

Good thing we kept them, then...

PC

Paul Callomon
Collection Manager, Malacology and General Invertebrates
________________________________
Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, Philadelphia
1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia PA 19103-1195, USA
callomon at ansp.org<mailto:callomon at ansp.org> Tel 215-405-5096 - Fax 215-299-1170




From: Nhcoll-l <nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu> On Behalf Of Sarah K. Huber
Sent: Thursday, September 26, 2019 2:00 PM
To: nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu
Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Why retain physical specimens


External.
Recently I've been fielding a lot of questions about why our collection should retain a physical specimen once it has been digitized (e.g., CT-scanned, photographed, x-rayed, etc.). I'm curious how often other museum professionals are asked this question and what your general responses are for justifying the retention of a physical specimen. Why do you tell people it's important to retain a specimen?

If anyone knows of article that have addressed this specific question I would appreciate references so that I can have them on hand for particularly curious visitors.

Thanks,
Sarah

Sarah K. Huber, Ph.D.
Curatorial Associate, VIMS Nunnally Ichthyology Collection
Office 804.684.7104 | Collection 804.684.7285
skhuber at vims.edu<mailto:skhuber at vims.edu> | http://www.vims.edu/research/facilities/fishcollection/index.php
PO Box 1346 | 1370 Greate Rd., Gloucester Pt., VA 23062

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