[Nhcoll-l] Natural history museum controversies?

[Haff, Tonya (NCMI, Crace)]

Very interesting thread, and I also second, third, or 10th what Sarah had to say.

Chris Filardi's collecting of a Moustached Kingfisher also came to mind, though it's only published in Audubon and not a peer reviewed journal, and it was a controversy about collecting, not collections.  https://www.audubon.org/news/why-i-collected-moustached-kingfisher
[https://nas-national-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/styles/hero_mobile/s3/800px-actenoidesbougainvilleikeulemans.jpg?itok=NchgIeta]<https://www.audubon.org/news/why-i-collected-moustached-kingfisher>
Why I Collected a Moustached Kingfisher | Audubon<https://www.audubon.org/news/why-i-collected-moustached-kingfisher>
Editor's Note: Last week, we published a story detailing how researchers in Guadalcanal had found and photographed the first male Moustached Kingfisher ever recorded, then euthanized the individual bird to preserve as part of the scientific record. Many readers expressed concern at the specimen collection, so we reached out to the researcher, who explains his decision below.
www.audubon.org


There are very good reasons to still collect, but I find that the general public opinion is still quite negative, due in large part misunderstandings and preconceptions. In addition, there is often great reluctance to get in front of such potential controversy to reframe in the public perception of what collecting is today. Anyway, this is probably tangential from what you asked for Derek!

Cheers,

Tonya

________________________________
From: Nhcoll-l <nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu> on behalf of William Poly <wpoly at calacademy.org>
Sent: Thursday, 15 October 2020 6:58 AM
To: Derek Sikes <dssikes at alaska.edu>
Cc: ECN-L at listserv.unl.edu <ECN-L at listserv.unl.edu>; nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu <nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu>
Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] Natural history museum controversies?

Hi Derek,

See the stories of Colonel Richard Meinertzhagen, who had been in the British military in Africa and India and also was an ornithologist.  It turned out he also committed much fraud concerning some of his published bird records -- he'd steal specimens from museum collections and relabel them as his own.  I can send some specific literature references if you like.

Bill


William J. Poly

Research Associate

Department of Ichthyology

California Academy of Sciences

55 Music Concourse Drive, Golden Gate Park

San Francisco, California 94118

wpoly at calacademy.org<mailto:wpoly at calacademy.org>

https://www.calacademy.org/scientists/ichthyology/wpoly

On Tue, Oct 13, 2020 at 9:45 PM Derek Sikes <dssikes at alaska.edu<mailto:dssikes at alaska.edu>> wrote:


Do any of you know of any *published* natural history / science controversies in museums that are quite famous? These could range from taking on specimens or collections that are controversial, to research conducted by museums staff/curators that was deemed controversial, etc.

Ideally, I'd like a publication or documentary / video that has the details. No need to reply with unpublished accounts! & These should involve museum specimens (so no need to reply with stories of misbehaviors of museum personnel if specimens were not involved).

Thanks!
Derek



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