From lflanders at gmail.com Fri Oct 1 09:14:47 2021 From: lflanders at gmail.com (Lowell Flanders) Date: Fri, 1 Oct 2021 09:14:47 -0400 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] =?utf-8?q?Hiring_for_CMS_Assistant_-_College_of_Physi?= =?utf-8?q?cians_of_Philadelphia/M=C3=BCtter_Museum?= Message-ID: I'm hiring someone to support our transition to EMu. Position is in Philly, duties consist primarily of assisting me as we work with the vendor for setup/design and crosswalk; then assisting with a collections audit. Position is grant funded and term is two years. Feel free to pass along to anyone you know who might be interested. See below or attachment for details: POSITION DESCRIPTION Title: Collection Management System (CMS) Assistant, M?tter Museum Division: Museum Supervisors: Collections Manager and Project Manager Exemption: Non-Exempt Hours: Full-time Date: September 1, 2021 ABOUT THE COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS OF PHILADELPHIA: Founded in 1787, The College of Physicians of Philadelphia is one of the oldest professional medical organizations in the country and home to: the M?tter Museum; the Historical Medical Library; the HistoryofVaccines.org; and a dynamic Center for Education. We host over seventy (70) yearly public events, and have a busy facilities rental calendar. More than one-hundred-eighty-eight-thousand (188,000) guests visit us annually, and we are extremely proud of our mission to advance the cause of health while upholding the ideals and heritage of medicine. Function of the Position The Collection Management System (CMS) Assistant works with the Collections Manager and Project Director to assist in a transition to a new collections management system, and to support and perform a collections audit. This is a two-year, contract grant-funded position. Full-time, hybrid in office / remote. Salary is $35,000 per year. Level of Responsibility Under the supervision of the Collections Manager, the CMS Assistant will assist with data migration, entry, and updates to the new CMS system. The CMS Assistant: - Assists the Collections Manager in assessing current data, transfer of information, and updating of entries in the CMS systems. - May work under direct supervision or independently to gather or research information, prepare analytical reports, and attend meetings. - Represents the Collections Manager at meetings and consultations, and performs as liaison to vendors, museum professionals, and others, as directed. The Collections Manager and Project Director jointly coordinate and supervise the workload of the CMS Assistant. Training and Experience College degree in a relevant field (museum studies, library sciences, information management, etc.) is required; in progress degrees will also considered, depending on availability of candidate during the project term. Previous experience with EMu or other similar collections management software is desired. The CMS Assistant must work well with others in a team environment. Excellent interpersonal and verbal skills, organizational skills, and the ability to manage multiple priorities are essential; a service orientation and ability to work independently and effectively under pressure are also necessary for success in this position. The CMS Assistant must be proficient in Microsoft Office software; basic photography skills are preferred but not required. Previous experience working in a non-profit environment is preferred. Principal Duties and Responsibilities 1. Museum functions (100%) The CMS Assistant may perform some or all of the tasks below, under direction of the Collections Manager: - Assist in migrating existing data to new database and cleaning up data post-migration; - Update objects records and attach related documents, photographs, etc.; - Audit collection and update object records, as appropriate; - Confirm object location and tracking code accuracy; - Assess quality of existing object photos and need for new photography; - Photograph objects as part of audit process; - Other duties, as assigned by Collections Manager. The CMS Assistant may perform some or all of the tasks below, under direction of the Project Director: - Provide timeline updates of project progress; - Provide narrative updates on project progress and challenges for grant report drafting; - Assist in coordination with professional photographer of photography of large and/or difficult-to-capture objects. TO APPLY: Please email cover letter and resume to: Lowell Flanders at lflanders at collegeofphysicians.org Required Subject Line: M?tter Museum CMS Assistant - 2021 Factors such as demonstrated hard and soft skills, level of education, history in the nonprofit sector, and relevant work experience will all be evaluated. Review of applications will begin immediately and continue until the position is filled. The College of Physicians of Philadelphia is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. Lowell M. Flanders (202) 309-2317 (Cell) (215) 560-8004 (M?tter) lflanders at collegeofphysicians.org lflanders at gmail.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: CPP_CMS_Assistant-9-10-2021.pdf Type: application/pdf Size: 786815 bytes Desc: not available URL: From rlupia at ou.edu Tue Oct 5 17:47:40 2021 From: rlupia at ou.edu (Lupia, Richard) Date: Tue, 5 Oct 2021 21:47:40 +0000 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Sam Noble Museum Positions: Assistant Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology & Assistant Curator of Invertebrate Paleontology Message-ID: TWO POSITIONS?University of Oklahoma 1. Assistant Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology, Sam Noble Museum & Assistant Professor, School of Geosciences, Mewbourne College of Earth and Energy; and 2. Assistant Curator of Invertebrate Paleontology, Sam Noble Museum & Assistant Professor, School of Geosciences, Mewbourne College of Earth and Energy The Sam Noble Museum (https://samnoblemuseum.ou.edu/) and the School of Geosciences (https://www.ou.edu/mcee/geosciences) at the University of Oklahoma seek two innovative and enthusiastic colleagues to fill tenure-track split positions as Assistant Curators at the Sam Noble Museum and Assistant Professors in the School of Geosciences to begin in July 2022. We seek colleagues who will establish discipline-leading, student-involved, and externally funded research programs; build collaborations within and outside the University; and work with colleagues and students toward OU?s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion goals. The ideal candidates for these Assistant Curator/Assistant Professor positions will perform specimen-based research in any related subfield of vertebrate or invertebrate paleontology, including but not limited to biodiversity, paleoecology, phylogeny reconstruction, evolutionary or conservation paleobiology, isotope or trace element geochemistry, and/or paleoclimatology, and would have experience working with museum collections. In the Sam Noble Museum, the Curators will be responsible for growing and curating the museum?s collection of fossil vertebrates or invertebrates from around the world, obtaining grants, and interpreting its community, public and intellectual significance through research, exhibits, education and outreach. With over 80,000 cataloged specimens spanning over 300 million years, the nucleus of the vertebrate paleontology collection was made under the auspices of the Works Projects Administration led by the museum?s first director, J. Willis Stovall. The collection has roughly tripled in size since the late 1980s, and the numbers of type and figured specimens have increased accordingly. The collection is especially strong in Early Permian tetrapods, Jurassic dinosaurs, Cretaceous vertebrate faunas from the Western Interior including important microvertebrate (e.g., mammals and lizards) faunas, and Mio-Pliocene mammals of Oklahoma. With nearly one million specimens from every major invertebrate fossil group, the invertebrate paleontology collection is among the most scientifically important in North America. It contains nearly 3,000 primary type specimens and about 7,000 figured specimens. A large donation of fossils from BP-Amoco expanded the collection into a unique resource for research. Much of the collection comprises Paleozoic-age specimens from the southern mid-continent, with significant material from the Mesozoic and Cenozoic of Alaska. The School of Geosciences has over a century of history preparing students for impactful careers in basic and applied geosciences. In the School of Geosciences, the successful candidates will teach and mentor undergraduates from diverse backgrounds in support of the major and the School?s popular paleontology concentration, which includes courses in vertebrate paleontology, invertebrate paleontology, evolutionary paleobiology), and/or through general education classes. The candidates for these positions will also provide invested mentorship and instruction in the graduate program at Master?s and Ph.D. levels, as well as teach graduate level courses in their specialization. The Assistant Curators/Assistant Professors will play an important role in facilitating wider synergies among the Museum, the School, and other units on campus and around the State. The University of Oklahoma is committed to achieving a diverse, equitable, and inclusive university community by embracing each person?s unique contributions, background and perspectives. The University of Oklahoma recognizes that fostering an inclusive environment for all, with particular attention to the needs of historically marginalized populations, is vital to the pursuit of excellence in all aspects of our institutional mission. The commitment enhances the OU experience for all students, faculty and staff and for the communities we engage. The University of Oklahoma (OU) is a Carnegie-R1 comprehensive public research university known for excellence in teaching, research, and community engagement, serving the educational, cultural, economic, and healthcare needs of the state, region, and nation from three campuses: Norman, Health Sciences Center in Oklahoma City and the Schusterman Center in Tulsa. OU enrolls over 30,000 students and has more than 2,700 full-time faculty members in 21 colleges. In Fall 2019, approximately 23% of OU?s freshmen were first-generation students, 33% of all students belonged to a minority race/ethnicity and 6% were international. Qualifications Applicants must have: * Ph.D. in geoscience, biology, or other related field in hand by start date; * an established record of high-quality research and publications; * a demonstrated record of or clear potential for strong extramural funding; * a familiarity with and commitment to inclusive teaching and mentoring; * a record of specimen-based collection experience and of, or potential for, specimen-based curation and obtaining collection grants; * a record of or potential for collection interpretation, exhibition, and outreach and community engagement; * a demonstrated or explicit commitment to outreach, community engagement, and service to the museum, school, university, and discipline. Application Instructions For the position of Assistant Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology & Assistant Professor of Geosciences, please submit to https://apply.interfolio.com/93461. For the position of Assistant Curator of Invertebrate Paleontology & Assistant Professor of Geosciences, please submit to https://apply.interfolio.com/93465. Review of applications will begin November 15, 2021 and the search will continue until the positions are filled. The anticipated starting date for both positions is July 2022. Applicants are requested to submit the following documents as (1-3 pages each): 1) a cover letter describing your interests in and qualifications for the position including your museum experience with collections, collection interpretation, exhibition, and outreach and community engagement; 2) your current CV including contact information for three potential references; 3) a teaching statement briefly describing your past instructional and mentorship experiences, your pedagogical philosophy, and your plans/goals for teaching at OU (including existing and proposed courses) and advising a diverse cohort of undergraduate and graduate students; 4) a diversity statement describing your knowledge of and/or experience addressing diversity, equity, and inclusion issues in the geosciences and an outline of plans for contributing to diversity, equity, and inclusivity efforts through research, teaching, and/or service; 5) and a research statement describing your research focus, methods, and future trajectory. Questions, information requests, and nominations should be addressed to Dr. Richard Lupia, University of Oklahoma, Sam Noble Museum, 2401 Chautauqua Ave, Norman, OK 73072 or rlupia at ou.edu. Application Process This institution is using Interfolio's Faculty Search to conduct this search. Applicants to this position receive a free Dossier account and can send all application materials, including confidential letters of recommendation, free of charge. Equal Employment Opportunity Statement The University of Oklahoma, in compliance with all applicable federal and state laws and regulations does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, genetic information, gender identity, gender expression, age, religion, disability, political beliefs, or status as a veteran in any of its policies, practices, or procedures. This includes, but is not limited to: admissions, employment, financial aid, housing, services in educational programs or activities, or health care services that the University operates or provides. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From sergio.montagud at gmail.com Wed Oct 6 11:27:02 2021 From: sergio.montagud at gmail.com (Sergio Montagud) Date: Wed, 06 Oct 2021 17:27:02 +0200 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Guata / Watte for curation subjects Message-ID: <8035F08D-73FF-4EC1-8E65-110FAC80CBC8@gmail.com> Hi everyone, Yesterday, a company that helps us to transport specimens for a coming exposition, come to the museum to prepare all the material. I help them in the process and when we want to arrange a large box of bird eggs, I see they wanted to use a thing close to the cotton to ensure the samples. They told me that that material was "Guata" (I think watte in English), and I can use it extremely well to ensure individual each egg on his box. My question is if anybody has used this material in his museum work and if somebody knows negative effects for the specimens, such as acid components in the fiber that can damage thespecimens or something like that. Thanks for help! Sergio Sergio Montagud Museu [UV] Hist?ria Natural Universitat de Val?ncia C/. Dr. Moliner, 50 E-46100 Burjassot (Valencia). Spain -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From prc44 at drexel.edu Wed Oct 6 12:09:18 2021 From: prc44 at drexel.edu (Callomon,Paul) Date: Wed, 6 Oct 2021 16:09:18 +0000 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Guata / Watte for curation subjects In-Reply-To: <8035F08D-73FF-4EC1-8E65-110FAC80CBC8@gmail.com> References: <8035F08D-73FF-4EC1-8E65-110FAC80CBC8@gmail.com> Message-ID: Hi Sergio, ?Watte? is the Japanese word for cotton wool, so I think it?s an international term. If they are using polyester batting (sold for stuffing pillows, toys etc.) then there?s no problem. Short-term use of cotton wool is also OK, but it is not suitable for long-term storage in closed environments as it is cellulose and can thus (theoretically at least) cause ?Byne?s Disease? in calcium compounds. https://conchologistsofamerica.org/bynes-disease-questions-and-answers/ Paul Callomon Collection Manager, Malacology and General Invertebrates ________________________________ Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University 1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia PA 19103-1195, USA prc44 at drexel.edu Tel 215-405-5096 - Fax 215-299-1170 From: Nhcoll-l On Behalf Of Sergio Montagud Sent: Wednesday, October 6, 2021 11:27 AM To: nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu Cc: Sergio Montagud Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Guata / Watte for curation subjects External. Hi everyone, Yesterday, a company that helps us to transport specimens for a coming exposition, come to the museum to prepare all the material. I help them in the process and when we want to arrange a large box of bird eggs, I see they wanted to use a thing close to the cotton to ensure the samples. They told me that that material was "Guata" (I think watte in English), and I can use it extremely well to ensure individual each egg on his box. My question is if anybody has used this material in his museum work and if somebody knows negative effects for the specimens, such as acid components in the fiber that can damage thespecimens or something like that. Thanks for help! Sergio Sergio Montagud Museu [UV] Hist?ria Natural Universitat de Val?ncia C/. Dr. Moliner, 50 E-46100 Burjassot (Valencia). Spain -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maru.digi at gmail.com Wed Oct 6 12:15:52 2021 From: maru.digi at gmail.com (Mariana Di Giacomo) Date: Wed, 6 Oct 2021 12:15:52 -0400 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Guata / Watte for curation subjects In-Reply-To: References: <8035F08D-73FF-4EC1-8E65-110FAC80CBC8@gmail.com> Message-ID: Hi Sergio, "Guata" is batting, so hopefully it is polyester batting, although you should ask just to be safe. For short term transport it is ok but make sure that if they're using this material for permanent storage, that it is placed correctly because eggs are so light that they can spring if the batting is compressed. Another thing to keep in mind is if you have broken eggs, because the batting can get caught in the cracks, so whoever is manipulating these, should be very careful. In short, it is an acceptable material with certain caveats that you should examine for your specific case. Let me know if you have any other questions, estoy a las ?rdenes. Best, Mariana *Mariana Di Giacomo, PhD* *Natural History Conservator, Yale Peabody Museum* Associate Editor, Collection Forum, SPNHC Secretary/Communications APOYOnline El mi?, 6 oct 2021 a las 12:09, Callomon,Paul () escribi?: > Hi Sergio, > > > > ?Watte? is the Japanese word for cotton wool, so I think it?s an > international term. If they are using polyester batting (sold for stuffing > pillows, toys etc.) then there?s no problem. Short-term use of cotton wool > is also OK, but it is not suitable for long-term storage in closed > environments as it is cellulose and can thus (theoretically at least) cause > ?Byne?s Disease? in calcium compounds. > https://conchologistsofamerica.org/bynes-disease-questions-and-answers/ > > > > > > Paul Callomon > > Collection Manager, Malacology and General Invertebrates > ------------------------------ > > *Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University* > > 1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia PA 19103-1195, USA > *prc44 at drexel.edu Tel 215-405-5096 - Fax 215-299-1170* > > > > > > > > *From:* Nhcoll-l *On Behalf Of *Sergio > Montagud > *Sent:* Wednesday, October 6, 2021 11:27 AM > *To:* nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu > *Cc:* Sergio Montagud > *Subject:* [Nhcoll-l] Guata / Watte for curation subjects > > > > *External.* > > Hi everyone, > > > > Yesterday, a company that helps us to transport specimens for a coming > exposition, come to the museum to prepare all the material. I help them in > the process and when we want to arrange a large box of bird eggs, I see > they wanted to use a thing close to the cotton to ensure the samples. They > told me that that material was "Guata" (I think watte in English), and I > can use it extremely well to ensure individual each egg on his box. My question is if anybody has used this material in his museum > work and if somebody knows negative effects for the specimens, such as > acid components in the fiber that can damage thespecimens or something like that. > Thanks for help! > > Sergio > > > > Sergio Montagud > > Museu [UV] Hist?ria Natural > > Universitat de Val?ncia > > C/. Dr. Moliner, 50 > > E-46100 Burjassot (Valencia). Spain > > > _______________________________________________ > Nhcoll-l mailing list > Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu > https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l > > _______________________________________________ > NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of > Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose > mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of > natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to > society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. > Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From montagudsergio at gmail.com Wed Oct 6 12:48:18 2021 From: montagudsergio at gmail.com (Sergio Montagud) Date: Wed, 06 Oct 2021 18:48:18 +0200 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Guata / Watte for curation subjects In-Reply-To: References: <8035F08D-73FF-4EC1-8E65-110FAC80CBC8@gmail.com> Message-ID: <868F79A0-9BAF-4B61-B042-681EE453C82C@gmail.com> Thank you very much, Mariana and Paul for your answer. The link of Byne?s disease is very interesting. And yes, we will be careful with the batting and the eggs. I presume this methodology is better than to keep them as they are, in a wooden tray with cotton! Thanks again! Sergio Sergio Montagud Museu [UV] Hist?ria Natural Universitat de Val?ncia C/. Dr. Moliner, 50 E-46100 Burjassot (Valencia). Spain From: Mariana Di Giacomo Date: Wednesday, 6 October 2021 at 18:16 To: "Callomon,Paul" Cc: Sergio Montagud , "nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu" , Sergio Montagud Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] Guata / Watte for curation subjects Hi Sergio, "Guata" is batting, so hopefully it is polyester batting, although you should ask just to be safe. For short term transport it is ok but make sure that if they're using this material for permanent storage, that it is placed correctly because eggs are so light that they can spring if the batting is compressed. Another thing to keep in mind is if you have broken eggs, because the batting can get caught in the cracks, so whoever is manipulating these, should be very careful. In short, it is an acceptable material with certain caveats that you should examine for your specific case. Let me know if you have any other questions, estoy a las ?rdenes. Best, Mariana Mariana Di Giacomo, PhD Natural History Conservator, Yale Peabody Museum Associate Editor, Collection Forum, SPNHC Secretary/Communications APOYOnline El mi?, 6 oct 2021 a las 12:09, Callomon,Paul () escribi?: Hi Sergio, ?Watte? is the Japanese word for cotton wool, so I think it?s an international term. If they are using polyester batting (sold for stuffing pillows, toys etc.) then there?s no problem. Short-term use of cotton wool is also OK, but it is not suitable for long-term storage in closed environments as it is cellulose and can thus (theoretically at least) cause ?Byne?s Disease? in calcium compounds. https://conchologistsofamerica.org/bynes-disease-questions-and-answers/ Paul Callomon Collection Manager, Malacology and General Invertebrates Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University 1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia PA 19103-1195, USA prc44 at drexel.edu Tel 215-405-5096 - Fax 215-299-1170 From: Nhcoll-l On Behalf Of Sergio Montagud Sent: Wednesday, October 6, 2021 11:27 AM To: nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu Cc: Sergio Montagud Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Guata / Watte for curation subjects External. Hi everyone, Yesterday, a company that helps us to transport specimens for a coming exposition, come to the museum to prepare all the material. I help them in the process and when we want to arrange a large box of bird eggs, I see they wanted to use a thing close to the cotton to ensure the samples. They told me that that material was "Guata" (I think watte in English), and I can use it extremely well to ensure individual each egg on his box. My question is if anybody has used this material in his museum work and if somebody knows negative effects for the specimens, such as acid components in the fiber that can damage thespecimens or something like that. Thanks for help! Sergio Sergio Montagud Museu [UV] Hist?ria Natural Universitat de Val?ncia C/. Dr. Moliner, 50 E-46100 Burjassot (Valencia). Spain _______________________________________________ Nhcoll-l mailing list Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l _______________________________________________ NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From couteaufin at btinternet.com Wed Oct 6 13:20:12 2021 From: couteaufin at btinternet.com (Simon Moore) Date: Wed, 6 Oct 2021 18:20:12 +0100 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Guata / Watte for curation subjects In-Reply-To: <868F79A0-9BAF-4B61-B042-681EE453C82C@gmail.com> References: <8035F08D-73FF-4EC1-8E65-110FAC80CBC8@gmail.com> <868F79A0-9BAF-4B61-B042-681EE453C82C@gmail.com> Message-ID: <2517B5D9-1769-4CD2-B58E-30D816B6B90D@btinternet.com> The terms for cotton wool and others tends to gets rather mixed in Euro languages. Watte means (used to mean?) cotton wool in German as opposed to Baumwolle which meant lint. Perhaps someone can help here? Anyway, I have found that mollusc shells stored in cotton wool (this was early 20th century cotton wool) acquired a very unhealthy coating of Byne?s disease after a particularly damp winter (RH rising to average 70%). The same phenomenon also happened to some bird eggs stored in VOC active wooden cabinets - the eggs smelled of acetic acid and lost their markings. I have always found that p-ester batting is (so far) good for storage of these vulnerable materials. With all good wishes, Simon Simon Moore MIScT, RSci, FLS, ACR Conservator of Natural Sciences and Cutlery Historian, www.natural-history-conservation.com > On 6 Oct 2021, at 17:48, Sergio Montagud wrote: > > > Thank you very much, Mariana and Paul for your answer. The link of Byne?s disease is very interesting. > > And yes, we will be careful with the batting and the eggs. I presume this methodology is better than to keep them as they are, in a wooden tray with cotton! > > Thanks again! > > Sergio > > Sergio Montagud > Museu [UV] Hist?ria Natural > > Universitat de Val?ncia > > C/. Dr. Moliner, 50 > > E-46100 Burjassot (Valencia). Spain > > > > From: Mariana Di Giacomo > Date: Wednesday, 6 October 2021 at 18:16 > To: "Callomon,Paul" > Cc: Sergio Montagud , "nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu" , Sergio Montagud > Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] Guata / Watte for curation subjects > > Hi Sergio, > > "Guata" is batting, so hopefully it is polyester batting, although you should ask just to be safe. For short term transport it is ok but make sure that if they're using this material for permanent storage, that it is placed correctly because eggs are so light that they can spring if the batting is compressed. Another thing to keep in mind is if you have broken eggs, because the batting can get caught in the cracks, so whoever is manipulating these, should be very careful. In short, it is an acceptable material with certain caveats that you should examine for your specific case. > > Let me know if you have any other questions, estoy a las ?rdenes. > Best, > Mariana > > Mariana Di Giacomo, PhD > Natural History Conservator, Yale Peabody Museum > Associate Editor, Collection Forum, SPNHC > Secretary/Communications APOYOnline > > > > El mi?, 6 oct 2021 a las 12:09, Callomon,Paul () escribi?: >> Hi Sergio, >> >> ?Watte? is the Japanese word for cotton wool, so I think it?s an international term. If they are using polyester batting (sold for stuffing pillows, toys etc.) then there?s no problem. Short-term use of cotton wool is also OK, but it is not suitable for long-term storage in closed environments as it is cellulose and can thus (theoretically at least) cause ?Byne?s Disease? in calcium compounds. >> https://conchologistsofamerica.org/bynes-disease-questions-and-answers/ >> >> >> Paul Callomon >> Collection Manager, Malacology and General Invertebrates >> Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University >> 1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia PA 19103-1195, USA >> prc44 at drexel.edu Tel 215-405-5096 - Fax 215-299-1170 >> >> >> >> From: Nhcoll-l On Behalf Of Sergio Montagud >> Sent: Wednesday, October 6, 2021 11:27 AM >> To: nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu >> Cc: Sergio Montagud >> Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Guata / Watte for curation subjects >> >> External. >> Hi everyone, >> >> Yesterday, a company that helps us to transport specimens for a coming exposition, come to the museum to prepare all the material. I help them in the process and when we want to arrange a large box of bird eggs, I see they wanted to use a thing close to the cotton to ensure the samples. They told me that that material was "Guata" (I think watte in English), and I can use it extremely well to ensure individual each egg on his box. My question is if anybody has used this material in his museum work and if somebody knows negative effects for the specimens, such as acid components in the fiber that can damage thespecimens or something like that. >> Thanks for help! >> >> Sergio >> >> Sergio Montagud >> Museu [UV] Hist?ria Natural >> >> Universitat de Val?ncia >> >> C/. Dr. Moliner, 50 >> >> E-46100 Burjassot (Valencia). Spain >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Nhcoll-l mailing list >> Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu >> https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l >> >> _______________________________________________ >> NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of >> Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose >> mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of >> natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to >> society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. >> Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. > _______________________________________________ > Nhcoll-l mailing list > Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu > https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l > > _______________________________________________ > NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of > Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose > mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of > natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to > society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. > Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. From Tonya.Haff at csiro.au Wed Oct 6 18:54:48 2021 From: Tonya.Haff at csiro.au (Haff, Tonya (NCMI, Crace)) Date: Wed, 6 Oct 2021 22:54:48 +0000 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Guata / Watte for curation subjects In-Reply-To: References: <8035F08D-73FF-4EC1-8E65-110FAC80CBC8@gmail.com> Message-ID: Thanks for this thread, it?s very interesting. The discussion of Byne?s Disease makes me nervous, though, as most of our eggs are on cotton wool. We are in a very dry environment, and soon to be moving to a site with controlled humidity. I have avoided cushioning eggs with Dacron/polyester batting because it tends to be a bit springier and clingier, and I worried about it getting caught in any rough edges on poorly blown or cracked eggs. I?m curious if any of you have opinions on whether we should be rethinking the use of cotton wool in light of the potential problems with Byne?s Disease? Cheers, Tonya From: Nhcoll-l On Behalf Of Mariana Di Giacomo Sent: Thursday, 7 October 2021 3:16 AM To: Callomon,Paul Cc: Sergio Montagud ; nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu; Sergio Montagud Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] Guata / Watte for curation subjects Hi Sergio, "Guata" is batting, so hopefully it is polyester batting, although you should ask just to be safe. For short term transport it is ok but make sure that if they're using this material for permanent storage, that it is placed correctly because eggs are so light that they can spring if the batting is compressed. Another thing to keep in mind is if you have broken eggs, because the batting can get caught in the cracks, so whoever is manipulating these, should be very careful. In short, it is an acceptable material with certain caveats that you should examine for your specific case. Let me know if you have any other questions, estoy a las ?rdenes. Best, Mariana Mariana Di Giacomo, PhD Natural History Conservator, Yale Peabody Museum Associate Editor, Collection Forum, SPNHC Secretary/Communications APOYOnline El mi?, 6 oct 2021 a las 12:09, Callomon,Paul (>) escribi?: Hi Sergio, ?Watte? is the Japanese word for cotton wool, so I think it?s an international term. If they are using polyester batting (sold for stuffing pillows, toys etc.) then there?s no problem. Short-term use of cotton wool is also OK, but it is not suitable for long-term storage in closed environments as it is cellulose and can thus (theoretically at least) cause ?Byne?s Disease? in calcium compounds. https://conchologistsofamerica.org/bynes-disease-questions-and-answers/ Paul Callomon Collection Manager, Malacology and General Invertebrates ________________________________ Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University 1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia PA 19103-1195, USA prc44 at drexel.edu Tel 215-405-5096 - Fax 215-299-1170 From: Nhcoll-l > On Behalf Of Sergio Montagud Sent: Wednesday, October 6, 2021 11:27 AM To: nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu Cc: Sergio Montagud > Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Guata / Watte for curation subjects External. Hi everyone, Yesterday, a company that helps us to transport specimens for a coming exposition, come to the museum to prepare all the material. I help them in the process and when we want to arrange a large box of bird eggs, I see they wanted to use a thing close to the cotton to ensure the samples. They told me that that material was "Guata" (I think watte in English), and I can use it extremely well to ensure individual each egg on his box. My question is if anybody has used this material in his museum work and if somebody knows negative effects for the specimens, such as acid components in the fiber that can damage thespecimens or something like that. Thanks for help! Sergio Sergio Montagud Museu [UV] Hist?ria Natural Universitat de Val?ncia C/. Dr. Moliner, 50 E-46100 Burjassot (Valencia). Spain _______________________________________________ Nhcoll-l mailing list Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l _______________________________________________ NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From Tonya.Haff at csiro.au Wed Oct 6 22:00:28 2021 From: Tonya.Haff at csiro.au (Haff, Tonya (NCMI, Crace)) Date: Thu, 7 Oct 2021 02:00:28 +0000 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] acetone Message-ID: Hello everyone, I wonder if any of you have opinions on using acetone as a cleaner on mammal bones and teeth? If so, at what concentrations and is there a preferred method? And if not, do you all have better suggestions? This is in preparation for making casts of teeth and jaws. Cheers, Tonya Tonya M. Haff Collection Manager Australian National Wildlife Collection CSIRO -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From couteaufin at btinternet.com Thu Oct 7 04:23:39 2021 From: couteaufin at btinternet.com (Simon Moore) Date: Thu, 7 Oct 2021 09:23:39 +0100 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Guata / Watte for curation subjects In-Reply-To: References: <8035F08D-73FF-4EC1-8E65-110FAC80CBC8@gmail.com> Message-ID: <5D778E02-5643-489E-9E9E-0F41044BE4D1@btinternet.com> Hi Tonya, If the environmental conditions are good, you should have nothing to worry about. The experience that I mentioned occurred due to old cotton wool (100 years old) and a rather different formulation I suspect, high RH and the eggs were stored in VOC active wooden cabinets since these were the norm back in the early 1900s in grand houses. With all good wishes, Simon Simon Moore MIScT, RSci, FLS, ACR Conservator of Natural Sciences and Cutlery Historian, www.natural-history-conservation.com > On 6 Oct 2021, at 23:54, Haff, Tonya (NCMI, Crace) wrote: > > Thanks for this thread, it?s very interesting. The discussion of Byne?s Disease makes me nervous, though, as most of our eggs are on cotton wool. We are in a very dry environment, and soon to be moving to a site with controlled humidity. I have avoided cushioning eggs with Dacron/polyester batting because it tends to be a bit springier and clingier, and I worried about it getting caught in any rough edges on poorly blown or cracked eggs. I?m curious if any of you have opinions on whether we should be rethinking the use of cotton wool in light of the potential problems with Byne?s Disease? > > Cheers, > > Tonya > > From: Nhcoll-l On Behalf Of Mariana Di Giacomo > Sent: Thursday, 7 October 2021 3:16 AM > To: Callomon,Paul > Cc: Sergio Montagud ; nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu; Sergio Montagud > Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] Guata / Watte for curation subjects > > Hi Sergio, > > "Guata" is batting, so hopefully it is polyester batting, although you should ask just to be safe. For short term transport it is ok but make sure that if they're using this material for permanent storage, that it is placed correctly because eggs are so light that they can spring if the batting is compressed. Another thing to keep in mind is if you have broken eggs, because the batting can get caught in the cracks, so whoever is manipulating these, should be very careful. In short, it is an acceptable material with certain caveats that you should examine for your specific case. > > Let me know if you have any other questions, estoy a las ?rdenes. > Best, > Mariana > > Mariana Di Giacomo, PhD > Natural History Conservator, Yale Peabody Museum > Associate Editor, Collection Forum, SPNHC > Secretary/Communications APOYOnline > > > > El mi?, 6 oct 2021 a las 12:09, Callomon,Paul () escribi?: > Hi Sergio, > > ?Watte? is the Japanese word for cotton wool, so I think it?s an international term. If they are using polyester batting (sold for stuffing pillows, toys etc.) then there?s no problem. Short-term use of cotton wool is also OK, but it is not suitable for long-term storage in closed environments as it is cellulose and can thus (theoretically at least) cause ?Byne?s Disease? in calcium compounds. > https://conchologistsofamerica.org/bynes-disease-questions-and-answers/ > > > Paul Callomon > Collection Manager, Malacology and General Invertebrates > Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University > 1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia PA 19103-1195, USA > prc44 at drexel.edu Tel 215-405-5096 - Fax 215-299-1170 > > > > From: Nhcoll-l On Behalf Of Sergio Montagud > Sent: Wednesday, October 6, 2021 11:27 AM > To: nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu > Cc: Sergio Montagud > Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Guata / Watte for curation subjects > > External. > > Hi everyone, > > Yesterday, a company that helps us to transport specimens for a coming exposition, come to the museum to prepare all the material. I help them in the process and when we want to arrange a large box of bird eggs, I see they wanted to use a thing close to the cotton to ensure the samples. They told me that that material was "Guata" (I think watte in English), and I can use it extremely well to ensure individual each egg on his box. My question is if anybody has used this material in his museum work and if somebody knows negative effects for the specimens, such as acid components in the fiber that can damage thespecimens or something like that. > Thanks for help! > > Sergio > > Sergio Montagud > Museu [UV] Hist?ria Natural > > Universitat de Val?ncia > > C/. Dr. Moliner, 50 > > E-46100 Burjassot (Valencia). Spain > > > _______________________________________________ > Nhcoll-l mailing list > Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu > https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l > > _______________________________________________ > NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of > Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose > mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of > natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to > society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. > Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. > _______________________________________________ > Nhcoll-l mailing list > Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu > https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l > > _______________________________________________ > NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of > Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose > mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of > natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to > society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. > Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: PastedGraphic-2.tiff Type: image/tiff Size: 38900 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: MA logo.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 19375 bytes Desc: not available URL: From prc44 at drexel.edu Thu Oct 7 08:33:27 2021 From: prc44 at drexel.edu (Callomon,Paul) Date: Thu, 7 Oct 2021 12:33:27 +0000 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Guata / Watte for curation subjects In-Reply-To: <5D778E02-5643-489E-9E9E-0F41044BE4D1@btinternet.com> References: <8035F08D-73FF-4EC1-8E65-110FAC80CBC8@gmail.com> <5D778E02-5643-489E-9E9E-0F41044BE4D1@btinternet.com> Message-ID: I agree that the risk of Byne's Disease from cotton alone is far lower than that from wooden storage cases. Cotton is cellulose, but the mass of that material per cubic inch is far lower compared with wood. We remove cotton where we find it in the collections, but in terms of strategy have concentrated more on replacing wood and wood-based materials like Masonite and plywood. Paul Callomon Collection Manager, Malacology and General Invertebrates ________________________________ Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University 1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia PA 19103-1195, USA prc44 at drexel.edu Tel 215-405-5096 - Fax 215-299-1170 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From mhowe at bgs.ac.uk Thu Oct 7 08:49:12 2021 From: mhowe at bgs.ac.uk (Michael Howe - BGS) Date: Thu, 7 Oct 2021 12:49:12 +0000 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Wooden storage cabinets In-Reply-To: References: <8035F08D-73FF-4EC1-8E65-110FAC80CBC8@gmail.com> <5D778E02-5643-489E-9E9E-0F41044BE4D1@btinternet.com> Message-ID: Byne's Disease is clearly a potential problem, but has anyone done research onto ways of minimising the effects of VOCs (perhaps active charcoal absorption), because wooden cabinets provide more stable temperature and humidity conditions (especially in the more energy conscious world) and they protect better against fire than do most steel cabinets? Any thoughts? Regards, Mike Howe Chief Curator, British Geological Survey / UKNGR ________________________________ From: Nhcoll-l on behalf of Callomon,Paul Sent: 07 October 2021 13:33 To: Simon Moore ; Haff, Tonya (NCMI, Crace) Cc: NHCOLL-new ; Sergio Montagud ; Sergio Montagud Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] Guata / Watte for curation subjects I agree that the risk of Byne?s Disease from cotton alone is far lower than that from wooden storage cases. Cotton is cellulose, but the mass of that material per cubic inch is far lower compared with wood. We remove cotton where we find it in the collections, but in terms of strategy have concentrated more on replacing wood and wood-based materials like Masonite and plywood. Paul Callomon Collection Manager, Malacology and General Invertebrates ________________________________ Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University 1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia PA 19103-1195, USA prc44 at drexel.edu Tel 215-405-5096 - Fax 215-299-1170 This email and any attachments are intended solely for the use of the named recipients. If you are not the intended recipient you must not use, disclose, copy or distribute this email or any of its attachments and should notify the sender immediately and delete this email from your system. UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) has taken every reasonable precaution to minimise risk of this email or any attachments containing viruses or malware but the recipient should carry out its own virus and malware checks before opening the attachments. UKRI does not accept any liability for any losses or damages which the recipient may sustain due to presence of any viruses. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From randalas at umich.edu Thu Oct 7 09:07:47 2021 From: randalas at umich.edu (Randy Singer) Date: Thu, 7 Oct 2021 09:07:47 -0400 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Survey on fish collections and ecological data Message-ID: Calling all Fish Collection Folks (including vertebrate collections that contain fishes)! We hope that you will consider completing a short survey on *fish* collections, catalogue and database attributes, and associated ecological data. We are interested in learning more about the resources available in museum collections to examine patterns of environmental and biodiversity change. In this survey, we ask about the availability of this ancillary data related to specimens catalogued in museum fish collections. We will use this survey to examine approaches for digitizing untapped, historical records and incorporating them into museum catalogs. Integrating digitized historical records with museum specimens promises to reveal ecological patterns which will help us to better understand the impacts of environmental changes on biodiversity over recent history and into the future. The results will also help to direct future efforts with recording and sharing ecological data in collection records/field notes. The survey is voluntary and should take 15-25 minutes to complete once you have relevant material on hand. A copy of the survey questions can be found at this link if you would like to consider them before beginning. Respondents can enter into the drawing for a $50 Visa gift card. The survey will be open until October 29th, 2021. *-----> *Here is a link to the survey : https://umich.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_eQH093U2kzLEKx0 *<------ * If you have any questions please feel free to contact Dr. Karen Alofs ( kmalofs at umich.edu). Thank you for your time! Karen Alofs, SEAS, University of Michigan Hernan Lopez-Fernandez, EEB Museums, University of Michigan Justin Schell, Shapiro Design Lab, University of Michigan Libraries Randal Singer, EEB Museums, University of Michigan Andrea Thomer, UMSI, University of Michigan Kevin Wehrly, Institute for Fisheries Research and Michigan Department of Natural Resources [image: Related image] [image: image.png] [image: image.png] [image: image.png] [image: image.png] -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... 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Name: image.png Type: image/png Size: 14316 bytes Desc: not available URL: From neumann at snsb.de Thu Oct 7 09:14:35 2021 From: neumann at snsb.de (Dirk Neumann) Date: Thu, 7 Oct 2021 15:14:35 +0200 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Wooden storage cabinets In-Reply-To: References: <8035F08D-73FF-4EC1-8E65-110FAC80CBC8@gmail.com> <5D778E02-5643-489E-9E9E-0F41044BE4D1@btinternet.com> Message-ID: <57756b54-8805-6ac9-9289-d9178736df7b@snsb.de> .... colleagues at the Museum f?r Naturkunde in Berlin looked into VOCs in a workshop and had some collaboration with an institute specialised in this field, but I am not sure if any subsequent projects or research evolved out of this. A general disadvantage of (closed) cabinets is that in principle they act as an trap for any VOCs or humidity related issues, and closed (non-transparent) doors increase the time for the required monitoring. From that perspective, there is not much difference between wood and steel cabinets, only that steel cabinets - compared to new wooden furniture - do not release VOCs; maybe the varnish. For this reason (if installed properly), chemical safety cabinets usually need to be connected to HVAC systems and be ventilated, also to minimise corrosive atmospheres inside and prevent unwanted chemical reactions. All the best Dirk Am 07.10.2021 um 14:49 schrieb Michael Howe - BGS: > Byne's Disease is clearly a potential problem, but has anyone done > research onto ways of minimising the effects of VOCs (perhaps active > charcoal absorption), because wooden cabinets provide more stable > temperature and humidity conditions (especially in the more energy > conscious world) and they protect better against fire than do most > steel cabinets? Any thoughts? > > Regards, > > Mike Howe > Chief Curator, British Geological Survey / UKNGR > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > *From:* Nhcoll-l on behalf of > Callomon,Paul > *Sent:* 07 October 2021 13:33 > *To:* Simon Moore ; Haff, Tonya (NCMI, > Crace) > *Cc:* NHCOLL-new ; Sergio Montagud > ; Sergio Montagud > *Subject:* Re: [Nhcoll-l] Guata / Watte for curation subjects > > I agree that the risk of Byne?s Disease from cotton alone is far lower > than that from wooden storage cases. Cotton is cellulose, but the mass > of that material per cubic inch is far lower compared with wood. We > remove cotton where we find it in the collections, but in terms of > strategy have concentrated more on replacing wood and wood-based > materials like Masonite and plywood. > > Paul Callomon > > Collection Manager, Malacology and General Invertebrates > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > *Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University*** > > 1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia PA 19103-1195, USA > /prc44 at drexel.edu Tel 215-405-5096 - Fax > 215-299-1170/ > > > > This email and any attachments are intended solely for the use of the > named recipients. If you are not the intended recipient you must not > use, disclose, copy or distribute this email or any of its attachments > and should notify the sender immediately and delete this email from > your system. UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) has taken every > reasonable precaution to minimise risk of this email or any > attachments containing viruses or malware but the recipient should > carry out its own virus and malware checks before opening the > attachments. UKRI does not accept any liability for any losses or > damages which the recipient may sustain due to presence of any viruses. > > > _______________________________________________ > Nhcoll-l mailing list > Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu > https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l > > _______________________________________________ > NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of > Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose > mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of > natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to > society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. > Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. -- Dirk Neumann Tel: 089 / 8107-111 Fax: 089 / 8107-300 neumann(a)snsb.de Postanschrift: Staatliche Naturwissenschaftliche Sammlungen Bayerns Zoologische Staatssammlung M?nchen Dirk Neumann, Sektion Ichthyologie / DNA-Storage M?nchhausenstr. 21 81247 M?nchen Besuchen Sie unsere Sammlung: http://www.zsm.mwn.de/sektion/ichthyologie-home/ --------- Dirk Neumann Tel: +49-89-8107-111 Fax: +49-89-8107-300 neumann(a)snsb.de postal address: Bavarian Natural History Collections The Bavarian State Collection of Zoology Dirk Neumann, Section Ichthyology / DNA-Storage Muenchhausenstr. 21 81247 Munich (Germany) Visit our section at: http://www.zsm.mwn.de/sektion/ichthyologie-home/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: hpljecgpehfmhhjj.png Type: image/png Size: 23308 bytes Desc: not available URL: From prc44 at drexel.edu Thu Oct 7 09:32:56 2021 From: prc44 at drexel.edu (Callomon,Paul) Date: Thu, 7 Oct 2021 13:32:56 +0000 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Wooden storage cabinets In-Reply-To: <57756b54-8805-6ac9-9289-d9178736df7b@snsb.de> References: <8035F08D-73FF-4EC1-8E65-110FAC80CBC8@gmail.com> <5D778E02-5643-489E-9E9E-0F41044BE4D1@btinternet.com> <57756b54-8805-6ac9-9289-d9178736df7b@snsb.de> Message-ID: Wood is a better thermal insulator than metal, so if the temperature in your space fluctuates significantly then the atmosphere inside tightly-sealed wooden cabinets will tend to react less to that. Metal cabinets react much faster, and if humidity is high this can lead to condensation issues such as mold and rust as the cabinets can be the coldest things in a humid, warming room. Tightly-sealed wood cabinets are nevertheless hazardous for Byne's because acetic and formic acids are volatile at room temperature, so they will migrate out of the wood and go in search of things to eat regardless of atmospheric conditions. Lower humidity within the cabinets mitigates this problem to some degree, but does not solve it, and some woods such as oak are known to exude a lot of acid. It may be possible to mitigate this with the equivalent of the "sacrificial anode" on a wooden ship (that is, place a tray of hygroscopic alkaline material in the cabinet that is more attractive to the acids than the specimens) but I have not seen this done. On the other hand, powder-coated metal (not painted) exudes no VOCs (we tested; see https://www.researchgate.net/publication/267271211_A_grand_scale_rehousing_the_mollusk_collection_at_the_Academy_of_Natural_Sciences) and of course resists fire over long periods better than wood, which burns. For short fires, however, the thermal insulation qualities of a wooden cabinet might actually protect the contents better than metal. How good are (a) your fire brigade and (b) your institution's disaster plan? Finally, the wood used to make cabinets will originally have been kiln-dried to a low water content (5% or less) to make it stable enough for joinery and finishing. If it was then varnished or painted, its water content is not likely to have risen much since - and in many buildings it will actually have continued to dry and shrink, especially if they are heated. Paul Callomon Collection Manager, Malacology and General Invertebrates ________________________________ Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University 1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia PA 19103-1195, USA prc44 at drexel.edu Tel 215-405-5096 - Fax 215-299-1170 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From jpandey at aibs.org Thu Oct 7 10:09:19 2021 From: jpandey at aibs.org (Jyotsna Pandey) Date: Thu, 7 Oct 2021 10:09:19 -0400 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] International Workshop Series: How does sharing genetic sequence data impact biodiversity science and conservation? In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: International Workshop Series: How does sharing genetic sequence data impact biodiversity science and conservation? With support from the National Science Foundation, the American Institute of Biological Sciences and the USA Nagoya Protocol Action Group are organizing an online workshop series to explore how the international scientific community can study biodiversity in the changing landscape of international policy. Registration is now open for the first two sessions scheduled for October 27 and 29, 2021. Stay tuned for information about additional sessions in this series. Visit the series page: io.aibs.org/nagoya *Emerging Pathogen Research Across the Americas* Digital Sequence Information (DSI), such as genetic sequence data, play a critical role in understanding and addressing infectious diseases. DSI about pathogens provides key information, such as mutation rate, provenance, and migration trajectories, which can all enable disease management in a variety of systems. Furthermore, exemplary research on zika, lyme disease, malaria, and SARS viruses have relied on international partnerships. Join this virtual workshop to recognize and document the value of DSI for infectious disease research. *Date*: October 27, 2021 *Time*: 1:00 - 3:00 PM EST or 5:00 - 7:00 PM UTC (this program will be recorded) *Location*: Online via Zoom *Hosted by:* American Society of Mammalogists, Natural Science Collections Alliance & Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections *Learn more and register at*: https://www.aibs.org/news/2021/210920-nagoya-workshop-one.html *The Role of International Collaborations in Resolving Viral Diseases of Cassava in Africa* Despite decades of work around the world to address cassava viral diseases, which are among the most devastating crop diseases in Africa, we are only just beginning to understand the complexity of the system. Continued international collaboration ? and particularly robust inclusion of researchers on the continent, as well as sharing of data among labs around the world ? will be critical to advance the research toward disease mitigation or prevention. *Date*: October 29, 2021 *Time*: 9:00 - 11:00 AM EST or 1:00 - 3:00 PM UTC (this program will be recorded) *Location*: Online via Zoom *Hosted by:* American Society of Plant Biologists *Learn more and register at:* https://www.aibs.org/news/2021/211005-nagoya-workshop-two.html ___________________ Jyotsna Pandey, Ph.D. Director of Public Policy American Institute of Biological Sciences (AIBS) -- This message is confidential and should only be read by its intended recipients.? If you have received it in error, please notify the sender and delete all copies. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From dyanega at gmail.com Thu Oct 7 12:06:35 2021 From: dyanega at gmail.com (Douglas Yanega) Date: Thu, 7 Oct 2021 09:06:35 -0700 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Wooden storage cabinets In-Reply-To: References: <8035F08D-73FF-4EC1-8E65-110FAC80CBC8@gmail.com> <5D778E02-5643-489E-9E9E-0F41044BE4D1@btinternet.com> <57756b54-8805-6ac9-9289-d9178736df7b@snsb.de> Message-ID: <4b3f9d77-5c91-23f0-549c-3edc97f263bf@gmail.com> While the earlier parts of the thread about cotton wool and such did not seem to be something that would ever concern me, the following does: On 10/7/21 6:32 AM, Callomon,Paul wrote: > Tightly-sealed wood cabinets are nevertheless hazardous for Byne?s > because acetic and formic acids are volatile at room temperature, so > they will migrate out of the wood and go in search of things to eat > regardless of atmospheric conditions. Lower humidity within the > cabinets mitigates this problem to some degree, but does not solve it, > and some woods such as oak are known to exude a lot of acid. It may be > possible to mitigate this with the equivalent of the ?sacrificial > anode? on a wooden ship (that is, place a tray of hygroscopic alkaline > material in the cabinet that is more attractive to the acids than the > specimens) but I have not seen this done. I manage a very large insect collection, and ALL insect collections, without exception, use wooden drawers (though maybe not wooden *cabinets* any more); my collection has over 5500 wooden drawers, ranging in age from 1 to about 70 years. After over 20 years going to international meetings for insect collection curators (the Entomological Collections Network - ECN), I don't think I have ever heard anyone say that keeping insect specimens in wooden drawers was something that - *in and of itself* - was probably causing significant damage to them over time. If there are acidic volatiles produced by wood and paper, then insect collections ARE going to experience significant exposure, and there are certain things one gets familiar with in insect collections (black exoskeletons turning red/brown after a few decades, pins embedded in cork corroding where they contact the cork and getting stuck, etc.) that might be related to this, but not fully appreciated as to the cause. That strikes me as an odd "disconnect", that a major part of the NH museum community that very much stands to be affected by this phenomenon would be so poorly-informed on the subject compared to other subsets of the community. Has any of the literature and research on this ever been performed by entomologists, or published in entomological journals, where it could get broader attention, and it's just being overlooked, or have we genuinely been left out of the proverbial loop? A fairly targeted Google search reveals essentially nothing in the entomological literature except a short note from 1992 (evidently by a colleague in my own department) suggesting that acid outgassing from wood might cause corrosion in insect pins. If I'm not mistaken, then maybe one of you folks who is familiar with the risks of VOCs outgassing from wood would be willing and interested in contacting the program chairs for the impending annual ECN meeting, which is online this year, via https://ecnweb.net/ecn2021/meeting/ - the meeting is in only a few weeks (Oct. 25-27), and most of the program is already set, but I have the impression that the organizers would do their best to find a time for such a potentially important presentation. Sincerely, -- Doug Yanega Dept. of Entomology Entomology Research Museum Univ. of California, Riverside, CA 92521-0314 skype: dyanega phone: (951) 827-4315 (disclaimer: opinions are mine, not UCR's) https://faculty.ucr.edu/~heraty/yanega.html "There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness is the true method" - Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chap. 82 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From prc44 at drexel.edu Thu Oct 7 12:12:09 2021 From: prc44 at drexel.edu (Callomon,Paul) Date: Thu, 7 Oct 2021 16:12:09 +0000 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Wooden storage cabinets In-Reply-To: <4b3f9d77-5c91-23f0-549c-3edc97f263bf@gmail.com> References: <8035F08D-73FF-4EC1-8E65-110FAC80CBC8@gmail.com> <5D778E02-5643-489E-9E9E-0F41044BE4D1@btinternet.com> <57756b54-8805-6ac9-9289-d9178736df7b@snsb.de> <4b3f9d77-5c91-23f0-549c-3edc97f263bf@gmail.com> Message-ID: Doug et al., I've also often wondered why the insect world persists with wooden cases. It may be because there are few calcitic structures in most insects - my limited understanding of them is that they are made mostly of protein and carbohydrates like chitin - so Byne's, which is specific to calcium carbonate (and perhaps calcium phosphate, mammalogy colleagues?) is less likely to rear its fuzzy head. PC Paul Callomon Collection Manager, Malacology and General Invertebrates ________________________________ Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University 1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia PA 19103-1195, USA prc44 at drexel.edu Tel 215-405-5096 - Fax 215-299-1170 From: Nhcoll-l On Behalf Of Douglas Yanega Sent: Thursday, October 7, 2021 12:07 PM To: nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] Wooden storage cabinets External. While the earlier parts of the thread about cotton wool and such did not seem to be something that would ever concern me, the following does: On 10/7/21 6:32 AM, Callomon,Paul wrote: Tightly-sealed wood cabinets are nevertheless hazardous for Byne's because acetic and formic acids are volatile at room temperature, so they will migrate out of the wood and go in search of things to eat regardless of atmospheric conditions. Lower humidity within the cabinets mitigates this problem to some degree, but does not solve it, and some woods such as oak are known to exude a lot of acid. It may be possible to mitigate this with the equivalent of the "sacrificial anode" on a wooden ship (that is, place a tray of hygroscopic alkaline material in the cabinet that is more attractive to the acids than the specimens) but I have not seen this done. I manage a very large insect collection, and ALL insect collections, without exception, use wooden drawers (though maybe not wooden *cabinets* any more); my collection has over 5500 wooden drawers, ranging in age from 1 to about 70 years. After over 20 years going to international meetings for insect collection curators (the Entomological Collections Network - ECN), I don't think I have ever heard anyone say that keeping insect specimens in wooden drawers was something that - in and of itself - was probably causing significant damage to them over time. If there are acidic volatiles produced by wood and paper, then insect collections ARE going to experience significant exposure, and there are certain things one gets familiar with in insect collections (black exoskeletons turning red/brown after a few decades, pins embedded in cork corroding where they contact the cork and getting stuck, etc.) that might be related to this, but not fully appreciated as to the cause. That strikes me as an odd "disconnect", that a major part of the NH museum community that very much stands to be affected by this phenomenon would be so poorly-informed on the subject compared to other subsets of the community. Has any of the literature and research on this ever been performed by entomologists, or published in entomological journals, where it could get broader attention, and it's just being overlooked, or have we genuinely been left out of the proverbial loop? A fairly targeted Google search reveals essentially nothing in the entomological literature except a short note from 1992 (evidently by a colleague in my own department) suggesting that acid outgassing from wood might cause corrosion in insect pins. If I'm not mistaken, then maybe one of you folks who is familiar with the risks of VOCs outgassing from wood would be willing and interested in contacting the program chairs for the impending annual ECN meeting, which is online this year, via https://ecnweb.net/ecn2021/meeting/ - the meeting is in only a few weeks (Oct. 25-27), and most of the program is already set, but I have the impression that the organizers would do their best to find a time for such a potentially important presentation. Sincerely, -- Doug Yanega Dept. of Entomology Entomology Research Museum Univ. of California, Riverside, CA 92521-0314 skype: dyanega phone: (951) 827-4315 (disclaimer: opinions are mine, not UCR's) https://faculty.ucr.edu/~heraty/yanega.html "There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness is the true method" - Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chap. 82 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From neumann at snsb.de Thu Oct 7 12:33:51 2021 From: neumann at snsb.de (Dirk Neumann) Date: Thu, 7 Oct 2021 18:33:51 +0200 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Wooden storage cabinets In-Reply-To: References: <8035F08D-73FF-4EC1-8E65-110FAC80CBC8@gmail.com> <5D778E02-5643-489E-9E9E-0F41044BE4D1@btinternet.com> <57756b54-8805-6ac9-9289-d9178736df7b@snsb.de> <4b3f9d77-5c91-23f0-549c-3edc97f263bf@gmail.com> Message-ID: ... might potentially foster or stimulate metal corrosion of historic insect pins (of poor quality) to some extent - depending on amount of VOCs that accumulated inside the drawer in combination with temperature and humidity (shifts)? ... With best wishes Dirk Am 07.10.2021 um 18:12 schrieb Callomon,Paul: > > Doug et al., > > I?ve also often wondered why the insect world persists with wooden > cases. It may be because there are few calcitic structures in most > insects ? my limited understanding of them is that they are made > mostly of protein and carbohydrates like chitin ? so Byne?s, which is > specific to calcium carbonate (and perhaps calcium phosphate, > mammalogy colleagues?) is less likely to rear its fuzzy head. > > PC > > Paul Callomon > > Collection Manager, Malacology and General Invertebrates// > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > *Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University*** > > 1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia PA 19103-1195, USA > /prc44 at drexel.edu Tel 215-405-5096 - Fax > 215-299-1170/ > > *From:* Nhcoll-l *On Behalf Of > *Douglas Yanega > *Sent:* Thursday, October 7, 2021 12:07 PM > *To:* nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu > *Subject:* Re: [Nhcoll-l] Wooden storage cabinets > > *External.* > > While the earlier parts of the thread about cotton wool and such did > not seem to be something that would ever concern me, the following does: > > On 10/7/21 6:32 AM, Callomon,Paul wrote: > > Tightly-sealed wood cabinets are nevertheless hazardous for Byne?s > because acetic and formic acids are volatile at room temperature, > so they will migrate out of the wood and go in search of things to > eat regardless of atmospheric conditions. Lower humidity within > the cabinets mitigates this problem to some degree, but does not > solve it, and some woods such as oak are known to exude a lot of > acid. It may be possible to mitigate this with the equivalent of > the ?sacrificial anode? on a wooden ship (that is, place a tray of > hygroscopic alkaline material in the cabinet that is more > attractive to the acids than the specimens) but I have not seen > this done. > > I manage a very large insect collection, and ALL insect collections, > without exception, use wooden drawers (though maybe not wooden > *cabinets* any more); my collection has over 5500 wooden drawers, > ranging in age from 1 to about 70 years. After over 20 years going to > international meetings for insect collection curators (the > Entomological Collections Network - ECN), I don't think I have ever > heard anyone say that keeping insect specimens in wooden drawers was > something that - *in and of itself* - was probably causing significant > damage to them over time. If there are acidic volatiles produced by > wood and paper, then insect collections ARE going to experience > significant exposure, and there are certain things one gets familiar > with in insect collections (black exoskeletons turning red/brown after > a few decades, pins embedded in cork corroding where they contact the > cork and getting stuck, etc.) that might be related to this, but not > fully appreciated as to the cause. > > That strikes me as an odd "disconnect", that a major part of the NH > museum community that very much stands to be affected by this > phenomenon would be so poorly-informed on the subject compared to > other subsets of the community. Has any of the literature and research > on this ever been performed by entomologists, or published in > entomological journals, where it could get broader attention, and it's > just being overlooked, or have we genuinely been left out of the > proverbial loop? A fairly targeted Google search reveals essentially > nothing in the entomological literature except a short note from 1992 > (evidently by a colleague in my own department) suggesting that acid > outgassing from wood might cause corrosion in insect pins. > > If I'm not mistaken, then maybe one of you folks who is familiar with > the risks of VOCs outgassing from wood would be willing and interested > in contacting the program chairs for the impending annual ECN meeting, > which is online this year, via https://ecnweb.net/ecn2021/meeting/ > > - the meeting is in only a few weeks (Oct. 25-27), and most of the > program is already set, but I have the impression that the organizers > would do their best to find a time for such a potentially important > presentation. > > Sincerely, > > -- > Doug Yanega????? Dept. of Entomology?????? Entomology Research Museum > Univ. of California, Riverside, CA 92521-0314???? skype: dyanega > phone: (951) 827-4315 (disclaimer: opinions are mine, not UCR's) > https://faculty.ucr.edu/~heraty/yanega.html > ? "There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness > ??????? is the true method" - Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chap. 82 > > _______________________________________________ > Nhcoll-l mailing list > Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu > https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l > > _______________________________________________ > NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of > Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose > mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of > natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to > society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. > Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. -- Dirk Neumann Tel: 089 / 8107-111 Fax: 089 / 8107-300 neumann(a)snsb.de Postanschrift: Staatliche Naturwissenschaftliche Sammlungen Bayerns Zoologische Staatssammlung M?nchen Dirk Neumann, Sektion Ichthyologie / DNA-Storage M?nchhausenstr. 21 81247 M?nchen Besuchen Sie unsere Sammlung: http://www.zsm.mwn.de/sektion/ichthyologie-home/ --------- Dirk Neumann Tel: +49-89-8107-111 Fax: +49-89-8107-300 neumann(a)snsb.de postal address: Bavarian Natural History Collections The Bavarian State Collection of Zoology Dirk Neumann, Section Ichthyology / DNA-Storage Muenchhausenstr. 21 81247 Munich (Germany) Visit our section at: http://www.zsm.mwn.de/sektion/ichthyologie-home/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: kchimdognnajnoap.png Type: image/png Size: 23308 bytes Desc: not available URL: From dyanega at gmail.com Thu Oct 7 14:24:10 2021 From: dyanega at gmail.com (Douglas Yanega) Date: Thu, 7 Oct 2021 11:24:10 -0700 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Wooden storage cabinets In-Reply-To: References: <8035F08D-73FF-4EC1-8E65-110FAC80CBC8@gmail.com> <5D778E02-5643-489E-9E9E-0F41044BE4D1@btinternet.com> <57756b54-8805-6ac9-9289-d9178736df7b@snsb.de> <4b3f9d77-5c91-23f0-549c-3edc97f263bf@gmail.com> Message-ID: <7d4ae699-e6e9-d117-d522-4656ac8b6c2d@gmail.com> On 10/7/21 9:12 AM, Callomon,Paul wrote: > > Doug et al., > > I?ve also often wondered why the insect world persists with wooden > cases. It may be because there are few calcitic structures in most > insects ? my limited understanding of them is that they are made > mostly of protein and carbohydrates like chitin ? so Byne?s, which is > specific to calcium carbonate (and perhaps calcium phosphate, > mammalogy colleagues?) is less likely to rear its fuzzy head. > Insect exoskeleton is predominantly made of sclerotin, which is a modified form of chitin: "As it matures, freshly formed sclerotin becomes a hard, horn-like substance with a range of yellow-brown colors. As animals adapted to life on land, increasingly diverse needs for organic stiffening components arose (as opposed to mineral stiffening components such as calcium carbonates and phosphates). Among the invertebrates, this need was met largely by the development of sclerotins and other cross-linked proteins that allowed insects to adapt to existence on the land and later to develop wings. Sclerotin is biochemically variable; different species incorporate different proteins in different proportions, and the same insect will use different compositions in forming the different components of its body. In general, however, it is formed by cross-linking the various protein molecules with phenolic compounds ? a tanning process under enzymatic control." along with resilin, a remarkable elastomeric protein: "Resilin is often found as a composite with chitin in insect cuticle, where chitin serves as the structural component." While it may not contain anywhere nearly as much calcium as a mollusc or crustacean specimen, it seems reasonable to expect that after decades of exposure to acid fumes, an insect specimen *will* suffer. Given that the average insect specimen also has two or three labels, it is probably helpful that most collections have switched to using only acid-free paper for their labels, but - in reality - I think the switch was made not to protect the specimens, but to avoid problems with the labels disintegrating over time. Of course, it might be that label disintegration has never been solely a matter of intrinsic acidity, but exacerbated by outgassed VOCs, in which case we may STILL have labels falling apart decades from now, even *with* acid-free paper. That's the kind of thing people might want to know about. Why we persist is, I think, simply a matter of cost and practicality. An insect drawer made of poplar wood with a glass top costs less than $50, and if properly constructed affords very good protection from dermestids and other pests, along with structural protection from vibration and impacts and chemicals. They can also be produced by anyone who has a modest woodworking skill and the right tools. I'm not sure that any alternative material (like acrylic) would necessarily be cheaper (simple acrylic boxes seem to cost in the range of 25-50 dollars, an acrylic insect drawer would probably cost more because of specialized design and more limited market), or not have its own chemical outgassing issues, but maybe it would be worth investigating. Such investigation might be tricky, if one cannot manufacture "test models" of alternatives easily or cheaply. Peace, -- Doug Yanega Dept. of Entomology Entomology Research Museum Univ. of California, Riverside, CA 92521-0314 skype: dyanega phone: (951) 827-4315 (disclaimer: opinions are mine, not UCR's) https://faculty.ucr.edu/~heraty/yanega.html "There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness is the true method" - Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chap. 82 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From prc44 at drexel.edu Thu Oct 7 16:21:10 2021 From: prc44 at drexel.edu (Callomon,Paul) Date: Thu, 7 Oct 2021 20:21:10 +0000 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] 4-dram vial caps Message-ID: Just a random note: if you use 4-dram borosilicate shell vials from Fisher or other vendors with a 21mm internal diameter, you've probably noticed that their makers no longer offer a poly closure for them. Well, Acme Vial in California make an 8-dram vial whose closure fits a Fisher/Kimble 4-dram and they'll sell them separately. Its part number is AG5B. That is all Paul Callomon Collection Manager, Malacology and General Invertebrates ________________________________ Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University 1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia PA 19103-1195, USA prc44 at drexel.edu Tel 215-405-5096 - Fax 215-299-1170 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From Tonya.Haff at csiro.au Thu Oct 7 22:21:52 2021 From: Tonya.Haff at csiro.au (Haff, Tonya (NCMI, Crace)) Date: Fri, 8 Oct 2021 02:21:52 +0000 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Guata / Watte for curation subjects In-Reply-To: <5D778E02-5643-489E-9E9E-0F41044BE4D1@btinternet.com> References: <8035F08D-73FF-4EC1-8E65-110FAC80CBC8@gmail.com> <5D778E02-5643-489E-9E9E-0F41044BE4D1@btinternet.com> Message-ID: Thanks, Simon, that eases my concerns a bit! Yes it?s very dry here, phew. Our egg clutches are also typically not so old. Mostly they are from the 1920s-1070s, and we have been transferring them from their pretty old wooden cabinets to archival boxes in HDPE drawers when we get new collections in. We have used cotton or ?raylon? as bedding for many of the clutches, however. We will probably not go back and transfer those clutches onto new synthetic material, so thanks for easing my mind about that?but I suppose we should seriously consider getting polyester bedding for the clutches that still need bedding?. Anyone have suggestions for a fine/soft version of Dacron? Incidentally, our emeritus curator of birds just told me that the egg membrane becomes very acidic when eggs get close to hatching (to help weaken the shell so the chicks can get out more easily), and that he noticed some problems with eggs (sounds similar to Byne?s Disease?) that had been collected at very late stages where the membrane was not removed. Cheers, Tonya From: Simon Moore Sent: Thursday, 7 October 2021 7:24 PM To: Haff, Tonya (NCMI, Crace) Cc: Mariana Di Giacomo ; Callomon,Paul ; Sergio Montagud ; NHCOLL-new ; Sergio Montagud Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] Guata / Watte for curation subjects Hi Tonya, If the environmental conditions are good, you should have nothing to worry about. The experience that I mentioned occurred due to old cotton wool (100 years old) and a rather different formulation I suspect, high RH and the eggs were stored in VOC active wooden cabinets since these were the norm back in the early 1900s in grand houses. With all good wishes, Simon Simon Moore MIScT, RSci, FLS, ACR Conservator of Natural Sciences and Cutlery Historian, www.natural-history-conservation.com [cid:image001.png at 01D7BC47.71E98BF0][cid:image002.jpg at 01D7BC47.71E98BF0] On 6 Oct 2021, at 23:54, Haff, Tonya (NCMI, Crace) > wrote: Thanks for this thread, it?s very interesting. The discussion of Byne?s Disease makes me nervous, though, as most of our eggs are on cotton wool. We are in a very dry environment, and soon to be moving to a site with controlled humidity. I have avoided cushioning eggs with Dacron/polyester batting because it tends to be a bit springier and clingier, and I worried about it getting caught in any rough edges on poorly blown or cracked eggs. I?m curious if any of you have opinions on whether we should be rethinking the use of cotton wool in light of the potential problems with Byne?s Disease? Cheers, Tonya From: Nhcoll-l > On Behalf Of Mariana Di Giacomo Sent: Thursday, 7 October 2021 3:16 AM To: Callomon,Paul > Cc: Sergio Montagud >; nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu; Sergio Montagud > Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] Guata / Watte for curation subjects Hi Sergio, "Guata" is batting, so hopefully it is polyester batting, although you should ask just to be safe. For short term transport it is ok but make sure that if they're using this material for permanent storage, that it is placed correctly because eggs are so light that they can spring if the batting is compressed. Another thing to keep in mind is if you have broken eggs, because the batting can get caught in the cracks, so whoever is manipulating these, should be very careful. In short, it is an acceptable material with certain caveats that you should examine for your specific case. Let me know if you have any other questions, estoy a las ?rdenes. Best, Mariana Mariana Di Giacomo, PhD Natural History Conservator, Yale Peabody Museum Associate Editor, Collection Forum, SPNHC Secretary/Communications APOYOnline El mi?, 6 oct 2021 a las 12:09, Callomon,Paul (>) escribi?: Hi Sergio, ?Watte? is the Japanese word for cotton wool, so I think it?s an international term. If they are using polyester batting (sold for stuffing pillows, toys etc.) then there?s no problem. Short-term use of cotton wool is also OK, but it is not suitable for long-term storage in closed environments as it is cellulose and can thus (theoretically at least) cause ?Byne?s Disease? in calcium compounds. https://conchologistsofamerica.org/bynes-disease-questions-and-answers/ Paul Callomon Collection Manager, Malacology and General Invertebrates Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University 1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia PA 19103-1195, USA prc44 at drexel.edu Tel 215-405-5096 - Fax 215-299-1170 From: Nhcoll-l > On Behalf Of Sergio Montagud Sent: Wednesday, October 6, 2021 11:27 AM To: nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu Cc: Sergio Montagud > Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Guata / Watte for curation subjects External. Hi everyone, Yesterday, a company that helps us to transport specimens for a coming exposition, come to the museum to prepare all the material. I help them in the process and when we want to arrange a large box of bird eggs, I see they wanted to use a thing close to the cotton to ensure the samples. They told me that that material was "Guata" (I think watte in English), and I can use it extremely well to ensure individual each egg on his box. My question is if anybody has used this material in his museum work and if somebody knows negative effects for the specimens, such as acid components in the fiber that can damage thespecimens or something like that. Thanks for help! Sergio Sergio Montagud Museu [UV] Hist?ria Natural Universitat de Val?ncia C/. Dr. Moliner, 50 E-46100 Burjassot (Valencia). Spain _______________________________________________ Nhcoll-l mailing list Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l _______________________________________________ NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. _______________________________________________ Nhcoll-l mailing list Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l _______________________________________________ NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: image001.png Type: image/png Size: 29034 bytes Desc: image001.png URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: image002.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 19375 bytes Desc: image002.jpg URL: From RogersS at CarnegieMNH.Org Mon Oct 11 12:19:23 2021 From: RogersS at CarnegieMNH.Org (Rogers, Steve) Date: Mon, 11 Oct 2021 16:19:23 +0000 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Collection Manager Section of Birds at Carnegie Museum Message-ID: Position open for Collection Manager Section of Birds at Carnegie Museum. Application Closes November 3. Collection Manager - Section of Birds - Career Portal (dayforcehcm.com) Stephen P. Rogers (Mr.) Collection Manager of Section of Birds Carnegie Museum of Natural History 4400 Forbes Avenue Pittsburgh PA 15213-4080 Phone: 412-622-3255 The information contained in this message and/or attachments is intended only for the person or entity to which it is addressed and may contain confidential and/or privileged material. Any review, retransmission, dissemination or other use of, or taking of any action in reliance upon, this information by persons or entities other than the intended recipient is prohibited. If you received this in error, please contact the sender and delete the material from any system and destroy any copies. Any views expressed in this message are those of the individual sender. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From mahoneymer at gmail.com Tue Oct 12 10:39:58 2021 From: mahoneymer at gmail.com (Meredith Mahoney) Date: Tue, 12 Oct 2021 09:39:58 -0500 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] job: NAGPRA collections assistant, Illinois State Museum Society Message-ID: Details at link. Deadline to apply is October 29. http://www.illinoisstatemuseum.org/content/nagpra-collections-assistant -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From Tonya.Haff at csiro.au Tue Oct 12 16:24:11 2021 From: Tonya.Haff at csiro.au (Haff, Tonya (NCMI, Crace)) Date: Tue, 12 Oct 2021 20:24:11 +0000 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Shelving for ETOH collections? Message-ID: Hi everyone, I have a question regarding the best material for shelving in an ETOH vault. Right now we are considering using 316 stainless steel for the shelves. I know this type of stainless steel is chemical resistant to some degree, but I am not totally sure it is the best option, and I wonder if it could still corrode over time with exposure to accidental drips of leaks from jars...especially those with formalin fixed specimens in them. Any thoughts on the best materials we could use in this environment would be really appreciated! Cheers, Tonya -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From Lennart.Lennuk at loodusmuuseum.ee Wed Oct 13 03:47:35 2021 From: Lennart.Lennuk at loodusmuuseum.ee (Lennart Lennuk) Date: Wed, 13 Oct 2021 07:47:35 +0000 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] easy way to calibrate temperature humidity sensors Message-ID: <6b0e3c6ef44c475b9970b8651cde893f@loodusmuuseum.ee> Hi! In our herbaarium we have one quite old and one new temperature humidity sensor. The data is quite diferent though these sensors are placed in the same spot. Do you know any good and cheap ways to calibrate those senors? Best regards! Lennart Lennuk Head of collections Estonian Museum of Natural History +372 6603404, 56569916 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From christopher.tacker at naturalsciences.org Wed Oct 13 08:36:14 2021 From: christopher.tacker at naturalsciences.org (Tacker, Christopher) Date: Wed, 13 Oct 2021 12:36:14 +0000 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] [External] easy way to calibrate temperature humidity sensors In-Reply-To: <6b0e3c6ef44c475b9970b8651cde893f@loodusmuuseum.ee> References: <6b0e3c6ef44c475b9970b8651cde893f@loodusmuuseum.ee> Message-ID: A saturated solution of NaCl in distilled water imposes a relative humidity of about 75%. It works best for a small contained airspace. If you don't have reagent grade materials, it's ok, it just won't be exactly as predicted. But it will be the same for both instruments. I'll post the reprint when I'm back at my computer. That will give other solutions and the RH% they impose. Cheers, Chris Tacker Get Outlook for Android ________________________________ From: Nhcoll-l on behalf of Lennart Lennuk Sent: Wednesday, October 13, 2021 3:47:35 AM To: nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu Subject: [External] [Nhcoll-l] easy way to calibrate temperature humidity sensors CAUTION: External email. Do not click links or open attachments unless you verify. Send all suspicious email as an attachment to Report Spam. Hi! In our herbaarium we have one quite old and one new temperature humidity sensor. The data is quite diferent though these sensors are placed in the same spot. Do you know any good and cheap ways to calibrate those senors? Best regards! Lennart Lennuk Head of collections Estonian Museum of Natural History +372 6603404, 56569916 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From christopher.tacker at naturalsciences.org Wed Oct 13 09:21:59 2021 From: christopher.tacker at naturalsciences.org (Tacker, Christopher) Date: Wed, 13 Oct 2021 13:21:59 +0000 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] [External] easy way to calibrate temperature humidity sensors In-Reply-To: <6b0e3c6ef44c475b9970b8651cde893f@loodusmuuseum.ee> References: <6b0e3c6ef44c475b9970b8651cde893f@loodusmuuseum.ee> Message-ID: The link online to the paper is https://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/jres/81A/jresv81An1p89_A1b.pdf Humidity fixed points of binary saturated aqueous solutions JOURNAL OF RESEARCH of the National Bureau of Standards- A. Physics and Chemistry Vol. 81 A, No.1 , January-February 1977 Humidity Fixed Points of Binary Saturated Aqueous Solutions nvlpubs.nist.gov The paper is also attached. I've included a picture of the setup I use for controlled humidity experiments. I use a HOBO sensor to monitor the humidity and temperature, inside the lid. Regards, Chris Tacker Chris Tacker (he, him, his) Research Curator, Geology | Ph.D., P.G., North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences | 11 West Jones Street | Raleigh, NC 27601-1029 http://www.naturalsciences.org/ #staystrongNC Learn more: @ nc.gov/covid19 And don't forget your Ws! Wear. Wait. Wash. WEAR a face covering | WAIT 6 feet apart from other people. | WASH your hands often. E-mail correspondence to and from this address may be subject to the North Carolina Public Records Law and may be disclosed to third parties ________________________________ From: Nhcoll-l on behalf of Lennart Lennuk Sent: Wednesday, October 13, 2021 3:47 AM To: nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu Subject: [External] [Nhcoll-l] easy way to calibrate temperature humidity sensors CAUTION: External email. Do not click links or open attachments unless you verify. Send all suspicious email as an attachment to Report Spam. Hi! In our herbaarium we have one quite old and one new temperature humidity sensor. The data is quite diferent though these sensors are placed in the same spot. Do you know any good and cheap ways to calibrate those senors? Best regards! Lennart Lennuk Head of collections Estonian Museum of Natural History +372 6603404, 56569916 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Greenspan 1977.pdf Type: application/pdf Size: 8965461 bytes Desc: Greenspan 1977.pdf URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: buffer exp.JPG Type: image/jpeg Size: 1895936 bytes Desc: buffer exp.JPG URL: From rw at protectheritage.com Wed Oct 13 11:21:24 2021 From: rw at protectheritage.com (Robert Waller) Date: Wed, 13 Oct 2021 15:21:24 +0000 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] [External] easy way to calibrate temperature humidity sensors In-Reply-To: References: <6b0e3c6ef44c475b9970b8651cde893f@loodusmuuseum.ee> Message-ID: Thanks for posting this helpful information Chris. It appears in the picture that there is a large volume of liquid solution. To achieve reliable RH control a slurry with some solid above the level of the solution is required. Otherwise there will be stratification of more dilute solution across the top of the solution leading to a substantially higher than nominal RH level. Rob From: Nhcoll-l On Behalf Of Tacker, Christopher Sent: Wednesday, October 13, 2021 9:22 AM To: Lennart Lennuk ; nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] [External] easy way to calibrate temperature humidity sensors The link online to the paper is https://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/jres/81A/jresv81An1p89_A1b.pdf Humidity fixed points of binary saturated aqueous solutions JOURNAL OF RESEARCH of the National Bureau of Standards- A. Physics and Chemistry Vol. 81 A, No.1 , January-February 1977 Humidity Fixed Points of Binary Saturated Aqueous Solutions nvlpubs.nist.gov The paper is also attached. I've included a picture of the setup I use for controlled humidity experiments. I use a HOBO sensor to monitor the humidity and temperature, inside the lid. Regards, Chris Tacker Chris Tacker (he, him, his) Research Curator, Geology | Ph.D., P.G., North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences | 11 West Jones Street | Raleigh, NC 27601-1029 http://www.naturalsciences.org/ #staystrongNC Learn more: @ nc.gov/covid19 And don't forget your Ws! Wear. Wait. Wash. WEAR a face covering | WAIT 6 feet apart from other people. | WASH your hands often. E-mail correspondence to and from this address may be subject to the North Carolina Public Records Law and may be disclosed to third parties ________________________________ From: Nhcoll-l > on behalf of Lennart Lennuk > Sent: Wednesday, October 13, 2021 3:47 AM To: nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu > Subject: [External] [Nhcoll-l] easy way to calibrate temperature humidity sensors CAUTION: External email. Do not click links or open attachments unless you verify. Send all suspicious email as an attachment to Report Spam. Hi! In our herbaarium we have one quite old and one new temperature humidity sensor. The data is quite diferent though these sensors are placed in the same spot. Do you know any good and cheap ways to calibrate those senors? Best regards! Lennart Lennuk Head of collections Estonian Museum of Natural History +372 6603404, 56569916 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From christopher.tacker at naturalsciences.org Wed Oct 13 11:46:54 2021 From: christopher.tacker at naturalsciences.org (Tacker, Christopher) Date: Wed, 13 Oct 2021 15:46:54 +0000 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] [External] easy way to calibrate temperature humidity sensors In-Reply-To: References: <6b0e3c6ef44c475b9970b8651cde893f@loodusmuuseum.ee> Message-ID: Waller's assrrtion is not true. My vessels are at constant RH for years at a time. The HOBO's monitor that. That's reliable. That's the reason you use a large volume of liquid for a small space. It's also the reason you keep dumping in NaCl until it fills the bottom of the vessel. It's actually a simple phase rule problem. If anyone is interested, I have a bunch of scientific papers that utilize this technique. Get Outlook for Android ________________________________ From: Robert Waller Sent: Wednesday, October 13, 2021 11:21:24 AM To: Tacker, Christopher ; Lennart Lennuk ; nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu Subject: RE: [Nhcoll-l] [External] easy way to calibrate temperature humidity sensors CAUTION: External email. Do not click links or open attachments unless you verify. Send all suspicious email as an attachment to Report Spam. Thanks for posting this helpful information Chris. It appears in the picture that there is a large volume of liquid solution. To achieve reliable RH control a slurry with some solid above the level of the solution is required. Otherwise there will be stratification of more dilute solution across the top of the solution leading to a substantially higher than nominal RH level. Rob From: Nhcoll-l On Behalf Of Tacker, Christopher Sent: Wednesday, October 13, 2021 9:22 AM To: Lennart Lennuk ; nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] [External] easy way to calibrate temperature humidity sensors The link online to the paper is https://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/jres/81A/jresv81An1p89_A1b.pdf Humidity fixed points of binary saturated aqueous solutions JOURNAL OF RESEARCH of the National Bureau of Standards- A. Physics and Chemistry Vol. 81 A, No.1 , January-February 1977 Humidity Fixed Points of Binary Saturated Aqueous Solutions nvlpubs.nist.gov The paper is also attached. I've included a picture of the setup I use for controlled humidity experiments. I use a HOBO sensor to monitor the humidity and temperature, inside the lid. Regards, Chris Tacker Chris Tacker (he, him, his) Research Curator, Geology | Ph.D., P.G., North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences | 11 West Jones Street | Raleigh, NC 27601-1029 http://www.naturalsciences.org/ #staystrongNC Learn more: @ nc.gov/covid19 And don't forget your Ws! Wear. Wait. Wash. WEAR a face covering | WAIT 6 feet apart from other people. | WASH your hands often. E-mail correspondence to and from this address may be subject to the North Carolina Public Records Law and may be disclosed to third parties ________________________________ From: Nhcoll-l > on behalf of Lennart Lennuk > Sent: Wednesday, October 13, 2021 3:47 AM To: nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu > Subject: [External] [Nhcoll-l] easy way to calibrate temperature humidity sensors CAUTION: External email. Do not click links or open attachments unless you verify. Send all suspicious email as an attachment to Report Spam. Hi! In our herbaarium we have one quite old and one new temperature humidity sensor. The data is quite diferent though these sensors are placed in the same spot. Do you know any good and cheap ways to calibrate those senors? Best regards! Lennart Lennuk Head of collections Estonian Museum of Natural History +372 6603404, 56569916 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From rw at protectheritage.com Wed Oct 13 13:48:40 2021 From: rw at protectheritage.com (Robert Waller) Date: Wed, 13 Oct 2021 17:48:40 +0000 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] [External] easy way to calibrate temperature humidity sensors In-Reply-To: References: <6b0e3c6ef44c475b9970b8651cde893f@loodusmuuseum.ee> Message-ID: Dear Chris, It is actually not "a simple phase rule problem" but rather a diffusion kinetics problem. If you have observed "My vessels are at constant RH for years at a time. The HOBO's monitor that." then you must have a well-sealed system without perturbation though I am not sure why you would want to set up such a steady state system. Respectfully, Rob From: Tacker, Christopher Sent: Wednesday, October 13, 2021 11:47 AM To: Robert Waller ; Lennart Lennuk ; nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] [External] easy way to calibrate temperature humidity sensors Waller's assrrtion is not true. My vessels are at constant RH for years at a time. The HOBO's monitor that. That's reliable. That's the reason you use a large volume of liquid for a small space. It's also the reason you keep dumping in NaCl until it fills the bottom of the vessel. It's actually a simple phase rule problem. If anyone is interested, I have a bunch of scientific papers that utilize this technique. Get Outlook for Android ________________________________ From: Robert Waller > Sent: Wednesday, October 13, 2021 11:21:24 AM To: Tacker, Christopher >; Lennart Lennuk >; nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu > Subject: RE: [Nhcoll-l] [External] easy way to calibrate temperature humidity sensors CAUTION: External email. Do not click links or open attachments unless you verify. Send all suspicious email as an attachment to Report Spam. Thanks for posting this helpful information Chris. It appears in the picture that there is a large volume of liquid solution. To achieve reliable RH control a slurry with some solid above the level of the solution is required. Otherwise there will be stratification of more dilute solution across the top of the solution leading to a substantially higher than nominal RH level. Rob From: Nhcoll-l > On Behalf Of Tacker, Christopher Sent: Wednesday, October 13, 2021 9:22 AM To: Lennart Lennuk >; nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] [External] easy way to calibrate temperature humidity sensors The link online to the paper is https://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/jres/81A/jresv81An1p89_A1b.pdf Humidity fixed points of binary saturated aqueous solutions JOURNAL OF RESEARCH of the National Bureau of Standards- A. Physics and Chemistry Vol. 81 A, No.1 , January-February 1977 Humidity Fixed Points of Binary Saturated Aqueous Solutions nvlpubs.nist.gov The paper is also attached. I've included a picture of the setup I use for controlled humidity experiments. I use a HOBO sensor to monitor the humidity and temperature, inside the lid. Regards, Chris Tacker Chris Tacker (he, him, his) Research Curator, Geology | Ph.D., P.G., North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences | 11 West Jones Street | Raleigh, NC 27601-1029 http://www.naturalsciences.org/ #staystrongNC Learn more: @ nc.gov/covid19 And don't forget your Ws! Wear. Wait. Wash. WEAR a face covering | WAIT 6 feet apart from other people. | WASH your hands often. E-mail correspondence to and from this address may be subject to the North Carolina Public Records Law and may be disclosed to third parties ________________________________ From: Nhcoll-l > on behalf of Lennart Lennuk > Sent: Wednesday, October 13, 2021 3:47 AM To: nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu > Subject: [External] [Nhcoll-l] easy way to calibrate temperature humidity sensors CAUTION: External email. Do not click links or open attachments unless you verify. Send all suspicious email as an attachment to Report Spam. Hi! In our herbaarium we have one quite old and one new temperature humidity sensor. The data is quite diferent though these sensors are placed in the same spot. Do you know any good and cheap ways to calibrate those senors? Best regards! Lennart Lennuk Head of collections Estonian Museum of Natural History +372 6603404, 56569916 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From michael.denslow at gmail.com Wed Oct 13 19:59:31 2021 From: michael.denslow at gmail.com (Michael Denslow) Date: Wed, 13 Oct 2021 17:59:31 -0600 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] WeDigBio starts tomorrow and a milestone Message-ID: The Notes from Nature team is excited for the start of WeDigBio tomorrow! WeDigBio (Worldwide Engagement for Digitizing Biocollections) is a global data campaign, virtual science festival, and local outreach opportunity all rolled into one. This 4-day, twice-a-year event mobilizes participants to create digital data about biodiversity specimens. Notes from Nature will be hosting lots of exciting expeditions featuring plants, beetles, flies, mammals, and even fleas. Remember to complete 10 transcriptions to earn your WeDigBio 2021 badge . We are also hosting 3 live science talks: - Thursday Michael Belitz will talk about bias in citizen science data. More information and registration . - Friday will feature Joe Miller who will talk about GBIF. More information and registration . - Saturday, Theo Witsell will talk about rare plants in Arkansas. More information and registration . Lastly, Notes from Nature is approaching a major milestone: 3 million transcriptions completed on our current platform. With your help, it might even happen during the event. Log on and help us celebrate this amazing milestone. We will also be using the hashtag #WeDigBio on Twitter and Facebook . We will also postsome blog updates during the event. With appreciation, The Notes from Nature Team -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From Lennart.Lennuk at loodusmuuseum.ee Thu Oct 14 05:07:20 2021 From: Lennart.Lennuk at loodusmuuseum.ee (Lennart Lennuk) Date: Thu, 14 Oct 2021 09:07:20 +0000 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] collecting and preserving animal tissue samples In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Thank you all for good material and advice! I have one more question: How much blood is considered enough for DNA sample? Best! Lennart From: Emily M. Braker [mailto:emily.braker at colorado.edu] Sent: Thursday, September 30, 2021 4:46 PM To: Lennart Lennuk ; nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu Subject: Re: collecting and preserving animal tissue samples Greetings Lennart, I recommend taking a look at the SPNHC wiki for guidance on collecting and storing tissue samples: https://spnhc.biowikifarm.net/wiki/Tissue_Sample_Collection https://spnhc.biowikifarm.net/wiki/Genetic_Resources But in short, we use 2ml externally threaded cryovials for tissue samples (many brands available from lab suppliers). Using 95% ETOH is an effective preservative and can be stored in a regular freezer if you don't have access to ultracold freezing or liquid nitrogen. Volume of tissue harvested is up to your institution based on anticipated usage, space, and species rarity. We tend to take three vials (heart, muscle, liver), but many institutions combine these samples into one vial, while others may sample additional organs. If we receive a rare or endangered species, we tend to increase our sampling. Best, Emily Emily Braker Vertebrate Collections Manager, Zoology Section University of Colorado Museum of Natural History 265 UCB, Bruce Curtis Building Boulder, CO 80309-0218 Phone: 303-492-8466 http://www.colorado.edu/cumuseum/research-collections/vertebrates ________________________________ From: Nhcoll-l > on behalf of Lennart Lennuk > Sent: Thursday, September 30, 2021 5:36 AM To: nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu > Subject: [Nhcoll-l] collecting and preserving animal tissue samples Dear all, Do you have good material about collecting and preserving animal tissues? I already search older nh-coll list letters and spnhc wiki. I have some specific questions: - what vials are best for preserving the tissue samples? - does 96 EtOH in -25 Celsius work? No money for -80 freezer - How many tissues per animal is optimal? Our purose will be to preserve the tissue samples of the animals we make for taxidermy collections in case a researcher wants to have a DNA sample of the animal. Best regards! Lennart Lennuk Head of collections Estonian Museum of Natural History +372 6603404, 56569916 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From prc44 at drexel.edu Thu Oct 14 08:21:41 2021 From: prc44 at drexel.edu (Callomon,Paul) Date: Thu, 14 Oct 2021 12:21:41 +0000 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] FW: "Wild Snail Eathing" film available for 2 weeks In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: From: molluscalist-request at listserv.dfn.de On Behalf Of Pearce, Timothy Sent: Thursday, October 14, 2021 7:58 AM To: Molluscalist Subject: "Wild Snail Eathing" film available for 2 weeks External. The short film The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating, based on the book by Elisabeth Tova Bailey, is available FREE through October 24th at the Princeton Environmental Film Festival at https://princetonlibrary.org/peff/schedule/ (located near the bottom). It will ask for an email address and your name. Run time about 15 minutes. Timothy A. Pearce, Ph.D., Curator of Collections & Head, Section of Mollusks Carnegie Museum of Natural History 4400 Forbes Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15213-4080, USA ph 412-622-1916; fax 412-622-8837; PearceT at CarnegieMNH.org https://carnegiemnh.org/research/mollusks-malacology/ I tell snail jokes: www.tiktok.com/@carnegiemnh The information contained in this message and/or attachments is intended only for the person or entity to which it is addressed and may contain confidential and/or privileged material. Any review, retransmission, dissemination or other use of, or taking of any action in reliance upon, this information by persons or entities other than the intended recipient is prohibited. If you received this in error, please contact the sender and delete the material from any system and destroy any copies. Any views expressed in this message are those of the individual sender. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From cearly at smm.org Thu Oct 14 09:18:03 2021 From: cearly at smm.org (Catherine Early (she/her)) Date: Thu, 14 Oct 2021 08:18:03 -0500 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] no data specimens Message-ID: Hello all, I have a two-part question today: 1) Is there any *scientific* value to tanned hides with no data? We have many large mammal hides that were purchased from fur suppliers in the 1970's that take up a lot of room but lack data. We might keep one of each species for identification, but otherwise, they do not belong in a scientific collection (where we are constantly running out of space), correct? 2) Have any of your institutions developed protocols for deaccessioning no data specimens into the hands of private citizens? We will prioritize giving no data (former) specimens to education centers, but there is a limited need for no data shell collections that previous curators accepted from donors, so we will likely need to look elsewhere. We know that we would be limited in what we could give to private citizens by permit restrictions for owning wildlife parts, but we're also very concerned with devaluing public opinions of specimens by creating the impression that specimens can just be given away. I would love to hear any language or agreements you've developed to make it clear why items are deaccessioned and how they differ from scientific specimens. Thanks, Catherine *Catherine M. Early, PhD* she/her *Barbara Brown Chair of Ornithology* e: cearly at smm.org https://catherineearly.wixsite.com/home We envision a world where everyone has the power to use science to make lives better, and we are committed to using STEM as a tool to advocate for justice and equity. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From prc44 at drexel.edu Thu Oct 14 09:41:51 2021 From: prc44 at drexel.edu (Callomon,Paul) Date: Thu, 14 Oct 2021 13:41:51 +0000 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] no data specimens In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: We regularly receive donations of entire private shell collections, often after their owner dies. Owners or their legal representatives must sign our Deed of Gift, which specifies that we (a) transfers to us unconditional legal ownership of all material and (b) clearly states that we reserve the right to dispose of part or all of the collection in an appropriate way. The sheer size of these collections often means that we will discard a considerable proportion, mainly because many specimens do not have a date of collection and/or sufficiently specific locality data to make them useful to science. Lacking an institutional registrar, we are able to separate this material before any collection cataloging takes place and the problem of "de-accessioning" thus does not arise (note the distinction between assuming legal ownership and accessioning). We maintain several large "free shells for kids" buckets, from which visitors and their kids can pick out shells to take home. These are currently only brought out during specific events such as Academy Members' Night or the Philadelphia Shell Show, but there is no reason why they could not be a permanent feature of the children's area of the museum. We certainly have enough surplus shells. Occasionally Academy benefactors or board members will bring their kids or grandkids for a "behind-the-scenes-tour" and letting them loose with a bag in the shell buckets is a major highlight that all enjoy. In consigning material to the Free Shells bucket, we first remove any labels and weed out anything that has dangerously sharp edges or spines. Kids love picking shells out and filling a bag, and I know from my own experience that being able to take shells home at an early age can spark a lifelong attachment to them. Removing the labels anonymizes the shells, allowing wonder and curiosity to operate properly, and avoids any complications that might arise if they could still be linked to their previous owners. If someone asks, we can always tell them what species a shell represents, and roughly where it is from, though to date very few people have. However, we get very positive feedback from members and visitors about their children's experience with the "shell buckets" and donors are pleased to hear that their surplus material is helping inspire natural curiosity in a new generation. Paul Callomon Collection Manager, Malacology and General Invertebrates ________________________________ Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University 1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia PA 19103-1195, USA prc44 at drexel.edu Tel 215-405-5096 - Fax 215-299-1170 From: Nhcoll-l On Behalf Of Catherine Early (she/her) Sent: Thursday, October 14, 2021 9:18 AM To: nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu Subject: [Nhcoll-l] no data specimens External. Hello all, I have a two-part question today: 1) Is there any scientific value to tanned hides with no data? We have many large mammal hides that were purchased from fur suppliers in the 1970's that take up a lot of room but lack data. We might keep one of each species for identification, but otherwise, they do not belong in a scientific collection (where we are constantly running out of space), correct? 2) Have any of your institutions developed protocols for deaccessioning no data specimens into the hands of private citizens? We will prioritize giving no data (former) specimens to education centers, but there is a limited need for no data shell collections that previous curators accepted from donors, so we will likely need to look elsewhere. We know that we would be limited in what we could give to private citizens by permit restrictions for owning wildlife parts, but we're also very concerned with devaluing public opinions of specimens by creating the impression that specimens can just be given away. I would love to hear any language or agreements you've developed to make it clear why items are deaccessioned and how they differ from scientific specimens. Thanks, Catherine [https://smm.org/enews/2020/footer-2020-new.png] Catherine M. Early, PhD she/her Barbara Brown Chair of Ornithology e: cearly at smm.org https://catherineearly.wixsite.com/home We envision a world where everyone has the power to use science to make lives better, and we are committed to using STEM as a tool to advocate for justice and equity. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From sugal at ptd.net Thu Oct 14 10:59:09 2021 From: sugal at ptd.net (Susan Gallagher) Date: Thu, 14 Oct 2021 10:59:09 -0400 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] no data specimens In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Long-time list-lurker here. Just wanted to add to this thread a huge thank-you to everyone in collections who considers donations to education centers. Many are in perpetual need as their collections are, as I like to say around here, doomed for the dust bin. Our limited resources for collections care and our habit of allowing kids to touch things (or take them home, as is the case with this brilliant shell bucket idea) translate into things not lasting anywhere near as long as they otherwise would. Having worked with elementary and middle school kids in environmental ed for a long time, I can tell you that incorporating a kid's sense of touch into our lessons is increasingly important--true for adults too. My guess is many of you, like me, were influenced by these kinds of touching/collecting experiences as a kid. Thank you all for remembering that and for helping to make it possible for the kiddos who come after you. Sue -- *********************************************** Susan Gallagher, Chief Naturalist Carbon County Environmental Education Center 151 East White Bear Drive Summit Hill, PA 18250 sugal at ptd.net www.carboneec.org On 10/14/2021 9:41 AM, Callomon,Paul wrote: > > We regularly receive donations of entire private shell collections, > often after their owner dies. Owners or their legal representatives > must sign our Deed of Gift, which specifies that we (a) transfers to > us unconditional legal ownership of all material and (b) clearly > states that we reserve the right to dispose of part or all of the > collection in an appropriate way. > > The sheer size of these collections often means that we will discard a > considerable proportion, mainly because many specimens do not have a > date of collection and/or sufficiently specific locality data to make > them useful to science. Lacking an institutional registrar, we are > able to separate this material before any collection cataloging takes > place and the problem of ?de-accessioning? thus does not arise (note > the distinction between assuming legal ownership and accessioning). > > We maintain several large ?free shells for kids? buckets, from which > visitors and their kids can pick out shells to take home. These are > currently only brought out during specific events such as Academy > Members? Night or the Philadelphia Shell Show, but there is no reason > why they could not be a permanent feature of the children?s area of > the museum. We certainly have enough surplus shells. Occasionally > Academy benefactors or board members will bring their kids or > grandkids for a ?behind-the-scenes-tour? and letting them loose with a > bag in the shell buckets is a major highlight that all enjoy. > > In consigning material to the Free Shells bucket, we first remove any > labels and weed out anything that has dangerously sharp edges or > spines. Kids love picking shells out and filling a bag, and I know > from my own experience that being able to take shells home at an early > age can spark a lifelong attachment to them. > > Removing the labels anonymizes the shells, allowing wonder and > curiosity to operate properly, and avoids any complications that might > arise if they could still be linked to their previous owners. If > someone asks, we can always tell them what species a shell represents, > and roughly where it is from, though to date very few people have. > However, we get very positive feedback from members and visitors about > their children?s experience with the ?shell buckets? and donors are > pleased to hear that their surplus material is helping inspire natural > curiosity in a new generation. > > Paul Callomon > > Collection Manager, Malacology and General Invertebrates// > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > *Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University*** > > 1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia PA 19103-1195, USA > /prc44 at drexel.edu Tel 215-405-5096 - Fax > 215-299-1170/ > > *From:* Nhcoll-l *On Behalf Of > *Catherine Early (she/her) > *Sent:* Thursday, October 14, 2021 9:18 AM > *To:* nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu > *Subject:* [Nhcoll-l] no data specimens > > *External.* > > Hello all, > > I have a two-part question today: > > 1) Is there any /scientific/?value to tanned hides with no data? We > have many large mammal?hides that were purchased from fur suppliers in > the 1970's that take up a lot of room but lack data. We might keep one > of each species for identification, but otherwise, they do not belong > in a scientific collection (where we are constantly running out of > space), correct? > > 2) Have any of your institutions developed protocols for > deaccessioning no data specimens into the hands of private citizens? > We will prioritize giving no data (former) specimens to education > centers, but there is a limited need for no data shell collections > that previous curators accepted from donors, so we will likely need to > look elsewhere. We know that we would be limited in what we could give > to private citizens by permit restrictions for owning wildlife parts, > but we're also very concerned with devaluing public opinions of > specimens by creating the impression that specimens can just be given > away. I would love to hear any language or agreements you've developed > to make it clear why items are deaccessioned and how they differ from > scientific specimens. > > Thanks, > > Catherine > > > > > > *Catherine M. Early, PhD*** > > she/her > > /Barbara Brown Chair of Ornithology/ > > e: cearly at smm.org > > https://catherineearly.wixsite.com/home > > > We envision a world where everyone has the power to use science to > make lives better, > and we are committed to using STEM as a tool to advocate for justice > and equity. > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Nhcoll-l mailing list > Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu > https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l > > _______________________________________________ > NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of > Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose > mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of > natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to > society. Seehttp://www.spnhc.org for membership information. > Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From Erik.Ahlander at nrm.se Thu Oct 14 11:27:48 2021 From: Erik.Ahlander at nrm.se (=?utf-8?B?RXJpayDDhWhsYW5kZXI=?=) Date: Thu, 14 Oct 2021 15:27:48 +0000 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] no data specimens In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Dear Catherine, 1. Probably they really have no data accessible, but this should be checked. They have probably not much information with present technic, but may have in the future. Many large mammals will be extinct soon. I was first employed at the NRM in 1975. In 1974 an unknown number of specimens without labels were discarded. One specimen, a stuffed sea turtle, was rescued from the garbage container by an older collegue. He kept it as decoration at his summer house. When he retired a few years ago I suggested that he should donate it back to the museum. It was quite damaged, and it was easy to see the taxidermy technic! It is definitely from the 18th century, and possibly it should be included in the type series of Testudo mydas Linnaeus, 1758! Another specimens that seems to have been discarded at the same time was a quite ugly sort of trophy mount. Luckily it was photographed in the 1960s. It was the holotype specimen of Bos caffer Sparrman, 1779. They ?had no data?. 2. No opinion. Situation in USA and Sweden is quite different. Best wishes, Erik ?hlander vertebrate zoology and museum history ZOO Swedish Museum of Natural History PO Box 50007 SE-10405 Stockholm Sweden +46 0 8 5195 4118 +46 0 70 225 2716 erik.ahlander at nrm.se Fr?n: Nhcoll-l F?r Catherine Early (she/her) Skickat: den 14 oktober 2021 15:18 Till: nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu ?mne: [Nhcoll-l] no data specimens Hello all, I have a two-part question today: 1) Is there any scientific value to tanned hides with no data? We have many large mammal hides that were purchased from fur suppliers in the 1970's that take up a lot of room but lack data. We might keep one of each species for identification, but otherwise, they do not belong in a scientific collection (where we are constantly running out of space), correct? 2) Have any of your institutions developed protocols for deaccessioning no data specimens into the hands of private citizens? We will prioritize giving no data (former) specimens to education centers, but there is a limited need for no data shell collections that previous curators accepted from donors, so we will likely need to look elsewhere. We know that we would be limited in what we could give to private citizens by permit restrictions for owning wildlife parts, but we're also very concerned with devaluing public opinions of specimens by creating the impression that specimens can just be given away. I would love to hear any language or agreements you've developed to make it clear why items are deaccessioned and how they differ from scientific specimens. Thanks, Catherine [Bild som tagits bort av avs?ndaren.] Catherine M. Early, PhD she/her Barbara Brown Chair of Ornithology e: cearly at smm.org https://catherineearly.wixsite.com/home We envision a world where everyone has the power to use science to make lives better, and we are committed to using STEM as a tool to advocate for justice and equity. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: image001.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 662 bytes Desc: image001.jpg URL: From jbandjb at live.com Thu Oct 14 12:36:55 2021 From: jbandjb at live.com (James Bryant) Date: Thu, 14 Oct 2021 10:36:55 -0600 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] no data specimens In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: 1) Collections conservation and documentation can be pursued much like archaeology: when the digging stops, you cover everything over so that when new techniques arrive, you can reopen the work. 2) I assume you're familiar with the Lacey Act in the US: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lacey_Act_of_1900 One doesn?t want to do anything that encourages the trade. Beyond that, a view of teaching collections that is often expressed is that the practice sheds a poor light on collections in general when some objects are regarded as ?consumable? or expendable when others are not. I?ve worked with teaching objects for many years, and I?ve seen some specimens that were once regarded as ?superfluous? become rare, and brought back into the permanent collections. From a personal perspective, I can?t help thinking of the animals that ?gave up? their remains, and how best to respect that. James Bryant SOJOURN Science - Nature - Education Santa Fe, NM https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-bryant-0598a940/ > On Oct 14, 2021, at 9:27 AM, Erik ?hlander > wrote: > > Dear Catherine, > > 1. Probably they really have no data accessible, but this should be checked. They have probably not much information with present technic, but may have in the future. Many large mammals will be extinct soon. > > I was first employed at the NRM in 1975. In 1974 an unknown number of specimens without labels were discarded. One specimen, a stuffed sea turtle, was rescued from the garbage container by an older collegue. He kept it as decoration at his summer house. When he retired a few years ago I suggested that he should donate it back to the museum. It was quite damaged, and it was easy to see the taxidermy technic! It is definitely from the 18th century, and possibly it should be included in the type series of Testudo mydas Linnaeus, 1758! Another specimens that seems to have been discarded at the same time was a quite ugly sort of trophy mount. Luckily it was photographed in the 1960s. It was the holotype specimen of Bos caffer Sparrman, 1779. They ?had no data?. > > 2. No opinion. Situation in USA and Sweden is quite different. > > > Best wishes, > > > Erik ?hlander > vertebrate zoology and museum history > > ZOO > Swedish Museum of Natural History > PO Box 50007 > SE-10405 Stockholm > Sweden > +46 0 8 5195 4118 > +46 0 70 225 2716 > erik.ahlander at nrm.se > > > > Fr?n: Nhcoll-l > F?r Catherine Early (she/her) > Skickat: den 14 oktober 2021 15:18 > Till: nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu > ?mne: [Nhcoll-l] no data specimens > > Hello all, > > I have a two-part question today: > > 1) Is there any scientific value to tanned hides with no data? We have many large mammal hides that were purchased from fur suppliers in the 1970's that take up a lot of room but lack data. We might keep one of each species for identification, but otherwise, they do not belong in a scientific collection (where we are constantly running out of space), correct? > > 2) Have any of your institutions developed protocols for deaccessioning no data specimens into the hands of private citizens? We will prioritize giving no data (former) specimens to education centers, but there is a limited need for no data shell collections that previous curators accepted from donors, so we will likely need to look elsewhere. We know that we would be limited in what we could give to private citizens by permit restrictions for owning wildlife parts, but we're also very concerned with devaluing public opinions of specimens by creating the impression that specimens can just be given away. I would love to hear any language or agreements you've developed to make it clear why items are deaccessioned and how they differ from scientific specimens. > > Thanks, > Catherine > > > Catherine M. Early, PhD > she/her > Barbara Brown Chair of Ornithology > e: cearly at smm.org > https://catherineearly.wixsite.com/home > We envision a world where everyone has the power to use science to make lives better, > and we are committed to using STEM as a tool to advocate for justice and equity. > > _______________________________________________ > Nhcoll-l mailing list > Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu > https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l > > _______________________________________________ > NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of > Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose > mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of > natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to > society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. > Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From abentley at ku.edu Thu Oct 14 12:43:26 2021 From: abentley at ku.edu (Bentley, Andrew Charles) Date: Thu, 14 Oct 2021 16:43:26 +0000 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] no data specimens In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Catherine 1. There are all sorts of techniques like genetic, ectoparasite and environmental work that can be done on these skins that may yield data that is useful even if provenance is unknown. I agree that you have to balance this against space and resource limitations but maybe imaging and keeping portions of the skins for genetic analysis would be doable if not keeping the whole animal 2. This is a slippery slope I agree and donating these to educational facilities is the way to go. There are a myriad of these in your own and area and beyond that would be grateful for the materials. Our mission is not only to serve the research community but the educational community too. There are all sorts of negative connotations regarding deaccessioning to members of the general public etc. that I would deem fraught with issues and would not attempt. Andy A : A : A : }<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<)))_?> V V V Andy Bentley Ichthyology Collection Manager University of Kansas Biodiversity Institute Dyche Hall 1345 Jayhawk Boulevard Lawrence, KS, 66045-7561 USA Tel: (785) 864-3863 Fax: (785) 864-5335 Email: abentley at ku.edu http://ichthyology.biodiversity.ku.edu A : A : A : }<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<)))_?> V V V From: Nhcoll-l On Behalf Of Catherine Early (she/her) Sent: Thursday, October 14, 2021 8:18 AM To: nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu Subject: [Nhcoll-l] no data specimens Hello all, I have a two-part question today: 1) Is there any scientific value to tanned hides with no data? We have many large mammal hides that were purchased from fur suppliers in the 1970's that take up a lot of room but lack data. We might keep one of each species for identification, but otherwise, they do not belong in a scientific collection (where we are constantly running out of space), correct? 2) Have any of your institutions developed protocols for deaccessioning no data specimens into the hands of private citizens? We will prioritize giving no data (former) specimens to education centers, but there is a limited need for no data shell collections that previous curators accepted from donors, so we will likely need to look elsewhere. We know that we would be limited in what we could give to private citizens by permit restrictions for owning wildlife parts, but we're also very concerned with devaluing public opinions of specimens by creating the impression that specimens can just be given away. I would love to hear any language or agreements you've developed to make it clear why items are deaccessioned and how they differ from scientific specimens. Thanks, Catherine [https://smm.org/enews/2020/footer-2020-new.png] Catherine M. Early, PhD she/her Barbara Brown Chair of Ornithology e: cearly at smm.org https://catherineearly.wixsite.com/home We envision a world where everyone has the power to use science to make lives better, and we are committed to using STEM as a tool to advocate for justice and equity. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From jbandjb at live.com Thu Oct 14 12:48:53 2021 From: jbandjb at live.com (James Bryant) Date: Thu, 14 Oct 2021 10:48:53 -0600 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] no data specimens In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Absolutely, Andy. Unfortunately, some museums in other disciplines (no names here) have made a lot of news by de-accessioning using a host of rationalizations. For my part, objects that can?t be accommodated at one institution should be transferred to another that can house them. All collections should be viewed as finite resources. James Bryant > On Oct 14, 2021, at 10:43 AM, Bentley, Andrew Charles wrote: > > Catherine > > There are all sorts of techniques like genetic, ectoparasite and environmental work that can be done on these skins that may yield data that is useful even if provenance is unknown. I agree that you have to balance this against space and resource limitations but maybe imaging and keeping portions of the skins for genetic analysis would be doable if not keeping the whole animal > This is a slippery slope I agree and donating these to educational facilities is the way to go. There are a myriad of these in your own and area and beyond that would be grateful for the materials. Our mission is not only to serve the research community but the educational community too. There are all sorts of negative connotations regarding deaccessioning to members of the general public etc. that I would deem fraught with issues and would not attempt. > > Andy > A : A : A : > }<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<)))_?> > V V V > Andy Bentley > Ichthyology Collection Manager > University of Kansas > Biodiversity Institute > Dyche Hall > 1345 Jayhawk Boulevard > Lawrence, KS, 66045-7561 > USA > > Tel: (785) 864-3863 > Fax: (785) 864-5335 > Email: abentley at ku.edu > http://ichthyology.biodiversity.ku.edu > A : A : A : > }<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<)))_?> > V V V > > From: Nhcoll-l On Behalf Of Catherine Early (she/her) > Sent: Thursday, October 14, 2021 8:18 AM > To: nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu > Subject: [Nhcoll-l] no data specimens > > Hello all, > > I have a two-part question today: > > 1) Is there any scientific value to tanned hides with no data? We have many large mammal hides that were purchased from fur suppliers in the 1970's that take up a lot of room but lack data. We might keep one of each species for identification, but otherwise, they do not belong in a scientific collection (where we are constantly running out of space), correct? > > 2) Have any of your institutions developed protocols for deaccessioning no data specimens into the hands of private citizens? We will prioritize giving no data (former) specimens to education centers, but there is a limited need for no data shell collections that previous curators accepted from donors, so we will likely need to look elsewhere. We know that we would be limited in what we could give to private citizens by permit restrictions for owning wildlife parts, but we're also very concerned with devaluing public opinions of specimens by creating the impression that specimens can just be given away. I would love to hear any language or agreements you've developed to make it clear why items are deaccessioned and how they differ from scientific specimens. > > Thanks, > Catherine > > > Catherine M. Early, PhD > she/her > Barbara Brown Chair of Ornithology > e: cearly at smm.org > https://catherineearly.wixsite.com/home > We envision a world where everyone has the power to use science to make lives better, > and we are committed to using STEM as a tool to advocate for justice and equity. > > _______________________________________________ > Nhcoll-l mailing list > Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu > https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l > > _______________________________________________ > NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of > Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose > mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of > natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to > society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. > Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From bmoc at umich.edu Thu Oct 14 12:52:52 2021 From: bmoc at umich.edu (Barry OConnor) Date: Thu, 14 Oct 2021 12:52:52 -0400 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] no data specimens In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Not skin related, but we have a lot of old, no-data insect specimens. Most of those we keep are unique, rare or the species occur in exotic locales no longer extant/accessible. Studying mites associated with insects, I've found quite a few on these specimens. While I wouldn't describe anything new from these, they do provide a source of comparative specimens of described species. We also use these for art/scientific illustration students. All the best! - Barry On Thu, Oct 14, 2021 at 12:43 PM Bentley, Andrew Charles wrote: > Catherine > > > > 1. There are all sorts of techniques like genetic, ectoparasite and > environmental work that can be done on these skins that may yield data that > is useful even if provenance is unknown. I agree that you have to balance > this against space and resource limitations but maybe imaging and keeping > portions of the skins for genetic analysis would be doable if not keeping > the whole animal > 2. This is a slippery slope I agree and donating these to educational > facilities is the way to go. There are a myriad of these in your own and > area and beyond that would be grateful for the materials. Our mission is > not only to serve the research community but the educational community > too. There are all sorts of negative connotations regarding deaccessioning > to members of the general public etc. that I would deem fraught with issues > and would not attempt. > > > > Andy > > A : A : A : > }<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<)))_?> > V V V > Andy Bentley > Ichthyology Collection Manager > University of Kansas > Biodiversity Institute > > Dyche Hall > 1345 Jayhawk Boulevard > Lawrence, KS, 66045-7561 > USA > > Tel: (785) 864-3863 > Fax: (785) 864-5335 > Email: abentley at ku.edu > > http://ichthyology.biodiversity.ku.edu > > A : A : A : > }<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<)))_?> > V V V > > > > *From:* Nhcoll-l * On Behalf Of *Catherine > Early (she/her) > *Sent:* Thursday, October 14, 2021 8:18 AM > *To:* nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu > *Subject:* [Nhcoll-l] no data specimens > > > > Hello all, > > > > I have a two-part question today: > > > > 1) Is there any *scientific* value to tanned hides with no data? We have > many large mammal hides that were purchased from fur suppliers in the > 1970's that take up a lot of room but lack data. We might keep one of each > species for identification, but otherwise, they do not belong in a > scientific collection (where we are constantly running out of space), > correct? > > > > 2) Have any of your institutions developed protocols for deaccessioning no > data specimens into the hands of private citizens? We will prioritize > giving no data (former) specimens to education centers, but there is a > limited need for no data shell collections that previous curators accepted > from donors, so we will likely need to look elsewhere. We know that we > would be limited in what we could give to private citizens by permit > restrictions for owning wildlife parts, but we're also very concerned with > devaluing public opinions of specimens by creating the impression that > specimens can just be given away. I would love to hear any language or > agreements you've developed to make it clear why items are deaccessioned > and how they differ from scientific specimens. > > > > Thanks, > > Catherine > > > > > > > *Catherine M. Early, PhD* > > she/her > > *Barbara Brown Chair of Ornithology* > > e: cearly at smm.org > > https://catherineearly.wixsite.com/home > > > > > We envision a world where everyone has the power to use science to make > lives better, > and we are committed to using STEM as a tool to advocate for justice and > equity. > > > _______________________________________________ > Nhcoll-l mailing list > Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu > https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l > > _______________________________________________ > NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of > Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose > mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of > natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to > society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. > Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. > -- -So many mites, so little time! Barry M. OConnor Emeritus Professor & Curator Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology Research Museums Center University of Michigan phone: 734-763-4354 3600 Varsity Drive fax: 734-763-4080 Ann Arbor, MI 48108-2228 e-mail: bmoc at umich.edu -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From McLarenS at CarnegieMNH.Org Thu Oct 14 13:05:14 2021 From: McLarenS at CarnegieMNH.Org (McLaren, Suzanne) Date: Thu, 14 Oct 2021 17:05:14 +0000 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] no data specimens In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: I'll just mention one mammal species that will make anyone think twice about not maintaining what we have initially accepted "in trust for the future": Myotis lucifugus - the little brown bat was the most common species of bat in eastern North America until white-nose syndrome struck in 2005. Roosts that once hosted tens of thousands of 'little browns' have been decimated in some places to numbers in the teens. It was unthinkable 20 years ago. In this changing world, the question is what species is next? It sounds so dramatic until you think about Myotis lucifugus. Sue Suzanne B. McLaren (she, her, hers) Collection Manager, Section of Mammals Edward O'Neil Research Center (Carnegie Museum of Natural History Annex) 5800 Baum Blvd Pittsburgh PA 15206 USA Telephone 412-665-2615 Fax 412-665-2751 From: Nhcoll-l On Behalf Of Bentley, Andrew Charles Sent: Thursday, October 14, 2021 12:43 PM To: Catherine Early (she/her) ; nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] no data specimens Catherine 1. There are all sorts of techniques like genetic, ectoparasite and environmental work that can be done on these skins that may yield data that is useful even if provenance is unknown. I agree that you have to balance this against space and resource limitations but maybe imaging and keeping portions of the skins for genetic analysis would be doable if not keeping the whole animal 2. This is a slippery slope I agree and donating these to educational facilities is the way to go. There are a myriad of these in your own and area and beyond that would be grateful for the materials. Our mission is not only to serve the research community but the educational community too. There are all sorts of negative connotations regarding deaccessioning to members of the general public etc. that I would deem fraught with issues and would not attempt. Andy A : A : A : }<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<)))_?> V V V Andy Bentley Ichthyology Collection Manager University of Kansas Biodiversity Institute Dyche Hall 1345 Jayhawk Boulevard Lawrence, KS, 66045-7561 USA Tel: (785) 864-3863 Fax: (785) 864-5335 Email: abentley at ku.edu http://ichthyology.biodiversity.ku.edu A : A : A : }<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<)))_?> V V V From: Nhcoll-l > On Behalf Of Catherine Early (she/her) Sent: Thursday, October 14, 2021 8:18 AM To: nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu Subject: [Nhcoll-l] no data specimens Hello all, I have a two-part question today: 1) Is there any scientific value to tanned hides with no data? We have many large mammal hides that were purchased from fur suppliers in the 1970's that take up a lot of room but lack data. We might keep one of each species for identification, but otherwise, they do not belong in a scientific collection (where we are constantly running out of space), correct? 2) Have any of your institutions developed protocols for deaccessioning no data specimens into the hands of private citizens? We will prioritize giving no data (former) specimens to education centers, but there is a limited need for no data shell collections that previous curators accepted from donors, so we will likely need to look elsewhere. We know that we would be limited in what we could give to private citizens by permit restrictions for owning wildlife parts, but we're also very concerned with devaluing public opinions of specimens by creating the impression that specimens can just be given away. I would love to hear any language or agreements you've developed to make it clear why items are deaccessioned and how they differ from scientific specimens. Thanks, Catherine [https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=https%3a%2f%2fsmm.org%2fenews%2f2020%2ffooter-2020-new.png&c=E,1,2cWaPXaHav1P3DyZCbw-LFhjibfoNEtO4xVDzkcp3wCYDcrM7KPKvih12USWtSnp3yAsRNdlUeFa3Xp4mSuWub9s5_-RKVcOdJuT-JnZxok2T930-Q,,&typo=1] Catherine M. Early, PhD she/her Barbara Brown Chair of Ornithology e: cearly at smm.org https://catherineearly.wixsite.com/home We envision a world where everyone has the power to use science to make lives better, and we are committed to using STEM as a tool to advocate for justice and equity. The information contained in this message and/or attachments is intended only for the person or entity to which it is addressed and may contain confidential and/or privileged material. Any review, retransmission, dissemination or other use of, or taking of any action in reliance upon, this information by persons or entities other than the intended recipient is prohibited. If you received this in error, please contact the sender and delete the material from any system and destroy any copies. Any views expressed in this message are those of the individual sender. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tlabedz1 at unl.edu Thu Oct 14 13:33:40 2021 From: tlabedz1 at unl.edu (Thomas Labedz) Date: Thu, 14 Oct 2021 17:33:40 +0000 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] no data specimens In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: A few months ago I posted a request for information about deaccessioning "no data" taxidermy of common game birds. As a result of the informative and positive comments from this group there has been a change in plans and we are now going to hold these mounts as best we can. In the past I have "unmounted" smaller birds and repositioned them into study skins. Doing the same I'll start to nibble away at these, likely beginning with the rarest. Thank you all for the advice. Thomas Thomas E. Labedz (Mr.), Collections Manager Division of Zoology and Division of Botany University of Nebraska State Museum Morrill Hall 645 North 14th Street Lincoln, NE 68588-0338 From: Nhcoll-l On Behalf Of McLaren, Suzanne Sent: Thursday, October 14, 2021 12:05 PM To: Catherine Early (she/her) ; nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] no data specimens Non-NU Email ________________________________ I'll just mention one mammal species that will make anyone think twice about not maintaining what we have initially accepted "in trust for the future": Myotis lucifugus - the little brown bat was the most common species of bat in eastern North America until white-nose syndrome struck in 2005. Roosts that once hosted tens of thousands of 'little browns' have been decimated in some places to numbers in the teens. It was unthinkable 20 years ago. In this changing world, the question is what species is next? It sounds so dramatic until you think about Myotis lucifugus. Sue Suzanne B. McLaren (she, her, hers) Collection Manager, Section of Mammals Edward O'Neil Research Center (Carnegie Museum of Natural History Annex) 5800 Baum Blvd Pittsburgh PA 15206 USA Telephone 412-665-2615 Fax 412-665-2751 From: Nhcoll-l > On Behalf Of Bentley, Andrew Charles Sent: Thursday, October 14, 2021 12:43 PM To: Catherine Early (she/her) >; nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] no data specimens Catherine 1. There are all sorts of techniques like genetic, ectoparasite and environmental work that can be done on these skins that may yield data that is useful even if provenance is unknown. I agree that you have to balance this against space and resource limitations but maybe imaging and keeping portions of the skins for genetic analysis would be doable if not keeping the whole animal 2. This is a slippery slope I agree and donating these to educational facilities is the way to go. There are a myriad of these in your own and area and beyond that would be grateful for the materials. Our mission is not only to serve the research community but the educational community too. There are all sorts of negative connotations regarding deaccessioning to members of the general public etc. that I would deem fraught with issues and would not attempt. Andy A : A : A : }<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<)))_?> V V V Andy Bentley Ichthyology Collection Manager University of Kansas Biodiversity Institute Dyche Hall 1345 Jayhawk Boulevard Lawrence, KS, 66045-7561 USA Tel: (785) 864-3863 Fax: (785) 864-5335 Email: abentley at ku.edu http://ichthyology.biodiversity.ku.edu A : A : A : }<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<)))_?> V V V From: Nhcoll-l > On Behalf Of Catherine Early (she/her) Sent: Thursday, October 14, 2021 8:18 AM To: nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu Subject: [Nhcoll-l] no data specimens Hello all, I have a two-part question today: 1) Is there any scientific value to tanned hides with no data? We have many large mammal hides that were purchased from fur suppliers in the 1970's that take up a lot of room but lack data. We might keep one of each species for identification, but otherwise, they do not belong in a scientific collection (where we are constantly running out of space), correct? 2) Have any of your institutions developed protocols for deaccessioning no data specimens into the hands of private citizens? We will prioritize giving no data (former) specimens to education centers, but there is a limited need for no data shell collections that previous curators accepted from donors, so we will likely need to look elsewhere. We know that we would be limited in what we could give to private citizens by permit restrictions for owning wildlife parts, but we're also very concerned with devaluing public opinions of specimens by creating the impression that specimens can just be given away. I would love to hear any language or agreements you've developed to make it clear why items are deaccessioned and how they differ from scientific specimens. Thanks, Catherine [https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=https%3a%2f%2fsmm.org%2fenews%2f2020%2ffooter-2020-new.png&c=E,1,2cWaPXaHav1P3DyZCbw-LFhjibfoNEtO4xVDzkcp3wCYDcrM7KPKvih12USWtSnp3yAsRNdlUeFa3Xp4mSuWub9s5_-RKVcOdJuT-JnZxok2T930-Q,,&typo=1] Catherine M. Early, PhD she/her Barbara Brown Chair of Ornithology e: cearly at smm.org https://catherineearly.wixsite.com/home We envision a world where everyone has the power to use science to make lives better, and we are committed to using STEM as a tool to advocate for justice and equity. The information contained in this message and/or attachments is intended only for the person or entity to which it is addressed and may contain confidential and/or privileged material. Any review, retransmission, dissemination or other use of, or taking of any action in reliance upon, this information by persons or entities other than the intended recipient is prohibited. If you received this in error, please contact the sender and delete the material from any system and destroy any copies. Any views expressed in this message are those of the individual sender. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From cwthomp at umich.edu Thu Oct 14 13:46:37 2021 From: cwthomp at umich.edu (Cody Thompson) Date: Thu, 14 Oct 2021 13:46:37 -0400 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] no data specimens In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Hi, Catherine! It looks like you have received a lot of good advice here. Like most, I would think twice about deaccessioning. Rather than donating, you could provide them as a permanent loan to another institution for education and outreach use. I do have one word of caution about mammal taxidermy and fur. Depending on their vintage, arsenic and other nasty chemicals were used pretty frequently on these sorts of specimens. So, be cautious on what you donate or loan to other institutions for hands-on educational purposes. Good luck, Cody Cody W. Thompson, PhD Mammal Collections Manager & Assistant Research Scientist University of Michigan Museum of Zoology 3600 Varsity Drive Ann Arbor, Michigan 48108 Office: (734) 615-2810 Fax: (734) 763-4080 Email: cwthomp at umich.edu Website: codythompson.org In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the UMMZ/Herbarium has limited personnel available working onsite. No loan returns should be shipped without prior notification, and collection visits, loan requests, gifts, exchanges, etc. should be coordinated with the appropriate curatorial staff. Please expect delayed responses. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. On Thu, Oct 14, 2021 at 1:33 PM Thomas Labedz wrote: > A few months ago I posted a request for information about deaccessioning > ?no data? taxidermy of common game birds. As a result of the informative > and positive comments from this group there has been a change in plans and > we are now going to hold these mounts as best we can. In the past I have > ?unmounted? smaller birds and repositioned them into study skins. Doing the > same I?ll start to nibble away at these, likely beginning with the rarest. > Thank you all for the advice. > > Thomas > > > > Thomas E. Labedz (Mr.), Collections Manager > > Division of Zoology and Division of Botany > > University of Nebraska State Museum > > Morrill Hall > > 645 North 14th Street > Lincoln, NE 68588-0338 > > > > > > *From:* Nhcoll-l * On Behalf Of *McLaren, > Suzanne > *Sent:* Thursday, October 14, 2021 12:05 PM > *To:* Catherine Early (she/her) ; > nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu > *Subject:* Re: [Nhcoll-l] no data specimens > > > > Non-NU Email > ------------------------------ > > I?ll just mention one mammal species that will make anyone think twice > about not maintaining what we have initially accepted ?in trust for the > future?: *Myotis lucifugus* ? the little brown bat was the most common > species of bat in eastern North America until white-nose syndrome struck in > 2005. Roosts that once hosted *tens of thousands* of ?little browns? > have been decimated in some places to numbers in the *teens*. It was > unthinkable 20 years ago. In this changing world, the question is what > species is next? It sounds so dramatic until you think about *Myotis > lucifugus*. > > > > Sue > > > > *Suzanne B. McLaren *(she, her, hers) > > Collection Manager, Section of Mammals > > Edward O'Neil Research Center > > (Carnegie Museum of Natural History Annex) > > 5800 Baum Blvd > > Pittsburgh PA 15206 USA > > Telephone 412-665-2615 > > Fax 412-665-2751 > > > > > > > > *From:* Nhcoll-l *On Behalf Of *Bentley, > Andrew Charles > *Sent:* Thursday, October 14, 2021 12:43 PM > *To:* Catherine Early (she/her) ; > nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu > *Subject:* Re: [Nhcoll-l] no data specimens > > > > Catherine > > > > 1. There are all sorts of techniques like genetic, ectoparasite and > environmental work that can be done on these skins that may yield data that > is useful even if provenance is unknown. I agree that you have to balance > this against space and resource limitations but maybe imaging and keeping > portions of the skins for genetic analysis would be doable if not keeping > the whole animal > 2. This is a slippery slope I agree and donating these to educational > facilities is the way to go. There are a myriad of these in your own and > area and beyond that would be grateful for the materials. Our mission is > not only to serve the research community but the educational community > too. There are all sorts of negative connotations regarding deaccessioning > to members of the general public etc. that I would deem fraught with issues > and would not attempt. > > > > Andy > > A : A : A : > }<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<)))_?> > V V V > Andy Bentley > Ichthyology Collection Manager > University of Kansas > Biodiversity Institute > > Dyche Hall > 1345 Jayhawk Boulevard > Lawrence, KS, 66045-7561 > USA > > Tel: (785) 864-3863 > Fax: (785) 864-5335 > Email: abentley at ku.edu > > http://ichthyology.biodiversity.ku.edu > > > A : A : A : > }<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<)))_?> > V V V > > > > *From:* Nhcoll-l *On Behalf Of *Catherine > Early (she/her) > *Sent:* Thursday, October 14, 2021 8:18 AM > *To:* nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu > *Subject:* [Nhcoll-l] no data specimens > > > > Hello all, > > > > I have a two-part question today: > > > > 1) Is there any *scientific* value to tanned hides with no data? We have > many large mammal hides that were purchased from fur suppliers in the > 1970's that take up a lot of room but lack data. We might keep one of each > species for identification, but otherwise, they do not belong in a > scientific collection (where we are constantly running out of space), > correct? > > > > 2) Have any of your institutions developed protocols for deaccessioning no > data specimens into the hands of private citizens? We will prioritize > giving no data (former) specimens to education centers, but there is a > limited need for no data shell collections that previous curators accepted > from donors, so we will likely need to look elsewhere. We know that we > would be limited in what we could give to private citizens by permit > restrictions for owning wildlife parts, but we're also very concerned with > devaluing public opinions of specimens by creating the impression that > specimens can just be given away. I would love to hear any language or > agreements you've developed to make it clear why items are deaccessioned > and how they differ from scientific specimens. > > > > Thanks, > > Catherine > > > > > > > *Catherine M. Early, PhD* > > she/her > > *Barbara Brown Chair of Ornithology* > > e: cearly at smm.org > > https://catherineearly.wixsite.com/home > > > > > We envision a world where everyone has the power to use science to make > lives better, > and we are committed to using STEM as a tool to advocate for justice and > equity. > > > > > > > The information contained in this message and/or attachments is intended > only for the person or entity to which it is addressed and may contain > confidential and/or privileged material. Any review, retransmission, > dissemination or other use of, or taking of any action in reliance upon, > this information by persons or entities other than the intended recipient > is prohibited. If you received this in error, please contact the sender and > delete the material from any system and destroy any copies. Any views > expressed in this message are those of the individual sender. > _______________________________________________ > Nhcoll-l mailing list > Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu > https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l > > _______________________________________________ > NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of > Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose > mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of > natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to > society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. > Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From editor at fourcatspress.com Thu Oct 14 14:00:05 2021 From: editor at fourcatspress.com (Editor FourCats Press) Date: Thu, 14 Oct 2021 11:00:05 -0700 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] no data specimens In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: For perhaps a different perspective: As someone who is at the stage of life of having to think about how to pass on an invertebrate paleontology collection I?ve carefully curated for 47 years, the idea that my specimens might end up in a bucket for kids to scoop through is enough to make me want to cart the whole thing to the landfill. An added irony is knowing how hard museums, institutions, and professional associations have argued over the years for limiting/prohibiting access to fossil resources by ?amateurs? and how many museums and universities have thousands of square feet of specimens they've ?protected? but that no one has ever looked at. Craig Childs? _Finders Keepers_ took a crack at this problem in the context of archaeology/anthropology, but I?ve yet to see the issue taken seriously (in print) by museum professionals. Wendell Ricketts -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From rhrobins at flmnh.ufl.edu Thu Oct 14 14:27:44 2021 From: rhrobins at flmnh.ufl.edu (Rob Robins) Date: Thu, 14 Oct 2021 18:27:44 +0000 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] no data specimens In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Well, it seems I find myself increasingly out-of-step with my peers. To Catherine?s question?: Is there any scientific value to tanned hides with no data? ?though not a mammologist, if you replaced ?tanned hides? with preserved fishes, my answer is unequivocally, ?No.? Catherine is correct to point out that space issues are very real. I?ll go further and say they need to be regarded more urgently, more rationally, more seriously by collection managers of natural history collections. If we aren?t exercising discipline regarding what research collections keep and what they don?t, how do we continue to make a case for ever larger facilities? Yet, of six responses to Catherine?s inquiry ? only one acknowledges space as a factor in making such a decision. Conversely, multiple persons are quick to cite outlier cases where specimens without data had that data recovered (are we sure?) or wherein some other unscientific use for the specimens was found. (Fully support education. Our Teaching Collection overfloweth though). Look. My emotional brain is disgusted and saddened by all the fishes I am throwing away for lack of data?.all these animals?killed?for what? But my rational brain? My critical thinking brain? To those working to rehabilitate or find value in specimens with no data ? at what price this opportunity cost? What more valuable materials are being neglected? Is this really what the institution ? over the long arc of time gets the most benefit from? We are temporary stewards?. This crowd knows better than anyone: collections face serious threats and almost all boil down to money. And money is space and money is time. With rare exception, specimens without data in a research collection are a drain on both? In the spirit of Halloween? Too much whistling past the graveyard?.! Best wishes, Rob Robert H. Robins Collection Manager Division of Ichthyology [FLMNH Fishes logo email small] Florida Museum 1659 Museum Rd. Gainesville, FL 32611-7800 Office: (352) 273-1957 rhrobins at flmnh.ufl.edu Search the Collection: http://specifyportal.flmnh.ufl.edu/fishes/ Search samples suitable for dna analysis: https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/grr/holdings/ [cid:image002.jpg at 01D7C103.B1B23D70] From: Nhcoll-l On Behalf Of Cody Thompson Sent: Thursday, October 14, 2021 1:47 PM To: Thomas Labedz Cc: nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] no data specimens [External Email] Hi, Catherine! It looks like you have received a lot of good advice here. Like most, I would think twice about deaccessioning. Rather than donating, you could provide them as a permanent loan to another institution for education and outreach use. I do have one word of caution about mammal taxidermy and fur. Depending on their vintage, arsenic and other nasty chemicals were used pretty frequently on these sorts of specimens. So, be cautious on what you donate or loan to other institutions for hands-on educational purposes. Good luck, Cody Cody W. Thompson, PhD Mammal Collections Manager & Assistant Research Scientist University of Michigan Museum of Zoology 3600 Varsity Drive Ann Arbor, Michigan 48108 Office: (734) 615-2810 Fax: (734) 763-4080 Email: cwthomp at umich.edu Website: codythompson.org In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the UMMZ/Herbarium has limited personnel available working onsite. No loan returns should be shipped without prior notification, and collection visits, loan requests, gifts, exchanges, etc. should be coordinated with the appropriate curatorial staff. Please expect delayed responses. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. On Thu, Oct 14, 2021 at 1:33 PM Thomas Labedz > wrote: A few months ago I posted a request for information about deaccessioning ?no data? taxidermy of common game birds. As a result of the informative and positive comments from this group there has been a change in plans and we are now going to hold these mounts as best we can. In the past I have ?unmounted? smaller birds and repositioned them into study skins. Doing the same I?ll start to nibble away at these, likely beginning with the rarest. Thank you all for the advice. Thomas Thomas E. Labedz (Mr.), Collections Manager Division of Zoology and Division of Botany University of Nebraska State Museum Morrill Hall 645 North 14th Street Lincoln, NE 68588-0338 From: Nhcoll-l > On Behalf Of McLaren, Suzanne Sent: Thursday, October 14, 2021 12:05 PM To: Catherine Early (she/her) >; nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] no data specimens Non-NU Email ________________________________ I?ll just mention one mammal species that will make anyone think twice about not maintaining what we have initially accepted ?in trust for the future?: Myotis lucifugus ? the little brown bat was the most common species of bat in eastern North America until white-nose syndrome struck in 2005. Roosts that once hosted tens of thousands of ?little browns? have been decimated in some places to numbers in the teens. It was unthinkable 20 years ago. In this changing world, the question is what species is next? It sounds so dramatic until you think about Myotis lucifugus. Sue Suzanne B. McLaren (she, her, hers) Collection Manager, Section of Mammals Edward O'Neil Research Center (Carnegie Museum of Natural History Annex) 5800 Baum Blvd Pittsburgh PA 15206 USA Telephone 412-665-2615 Fax 412-665-2751 From: Nhcoll-l > On Behalf Of Bentley, Andrew Charles Sent: Thursday, October 14, 2021 12:43 PM To: Catherine Early (she/her) >; nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] no data specimens Catherine 1. There are all sorts of techniques like genetic, ectoparasite and environmental work that can be done on these skins that may yield data that is useful even if provenance is unknown. I agree that you have to balance this against space and resource limitations but maybe imaging and keeping portions of the skins for genetic analysis would be doable if not keeping the whole animal 2. This is a slippery slope I agree and donating these to educational facilities is the way to go. There are a myriad of these in your own and area and beyond that would be grateful for the materials. Our mission is not only to serve the research community but the educational community too. There are all sorts of negative connotations regarding deaccessioning to members of the general public etc. that I would deem fraught with issues and would not attempt. Andy A : A : A : }<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<)))_?> V V V Andy Bentley Ichthyology Collection Manager University of Kansas Biodiversity Institute Dyche Hall 1345 Jayhawk Boulevard Lawrence, KS, 66045-7561 USA Tel: (785) 864-3863 Fax: (785) 864-5335 Email: abentley at ku.edu http://ichthyology.biodiversity.ku.edu A : A : A : }<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<)))_?> V V V From: Nhcoll-l > On Behalf Of Catherine Early (she/her) Sent: Thursday, October 14, 2021 8:18 AM To: nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu Subject: [Nhcoll-l] no data specimens Hello all, I have a two-part question today: 1) Is there any scientific value to tanned hides with no data? We have many large mammal hides that were purchased from fur suppliers in the 1970's that take up a lot of room but lack data. We might keep one of each species for identification, but otherwise, they do not belong in a scientific collection (where we are constantly running out of space), correct? 2) Have any of your institutions developed protocols for deaccessioning no data specimens into the hands of private citizens? We will prioritize giving no data (former) specimens to education centers, but there is a limited need for no data shell collections that previous curators accepted from donors, so we will likely need to look elsewhere. We know that we would be limited in what we could give to private citizens by permit restrictions for owning wildlife parts, but we're also very concerned with devaluing public opinions of specimens by creating the impression that specimens can just be given away. I would love to hear any language or agreements you've developed to make it clear why items are deaccessioned and how they differ from scientific specimens. Thanks, Catherine [https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=https%3a%2f%2fsmm.org%2fenews%2f2020%2ffooter-2020-new.png&c=E,1,2cWaPXaHav1P3DyZCbw-LFhjibfoNEtO4xVDzkcp3wCYDcrM7KPKvih12USWtSnp3yAsRNdlUeFa3Xp4mSuWub9s5_-RKVcOdJuT-JnZxok2T930-Q,,&typo=1] Catherine M. Early, PhD she/her Barbara Brown Chair of Ornithology e: cearly at smm.org https://catherineearly.wixsite.com/home We envision a world where everyone has the power to use science to make lives better, and we are committed to using STEM as a tool to advocate for justice and equity. The information contained in this message and/or attachments is intended only for the person or entity to which it is addressed and may contain confidential and/or privileged material. Any review, retransmission, dissemination or other use of, or taking of any action in reliance upon, this information by persons or entities other than the intended recipient is prohibited. If you received this in error, please contact the sender and delete the material from any system and destroy any copies. Any views expressed in this message are those of the individual sender. _______________________________________________ Nhcoll-l mailing list Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l _______________________________________________ NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: image001.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 4940 bytes Desc: image001.jpg URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: image002.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 273403 bytes Desc: image002.jpg URL: From abentley at ku.edu Thu Oct 14 15:04:16 2021 From: abentley at ku.edu (Bentley, Andrew Charles) Date: Thu, 14 Oct 2021 19:04:16 +0000 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] no data specimens In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Wendell To be clear we are talking about specimens that have little to no data and are not well curated research collections with data. Hopefully you can find someone to take on your collection when you decide to hand it off but it worries me that you would rather throw it in a dumpster than have it used for important K-12 or undergraduate education. Taking on these collections is a community problem that definitely needs addressing as taking on an ?orphan? collection puts a strain on the accepting institutions resources and space and hinders their ability to take care of existing or incoming material. Also, to be fair, the reasoning behind limiting amateur access to collections is due to data sensitivity and the ability to use that data to find paleo sites and plunder them ? not our ability to use these collections for formal and informal education. Andy A : A : A : }<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<)))_?> V V V Andy Bentley Ichthyology Collection Manager University of Kansas Biodiversity Institute Dyche Hall 1345 Jayhawk Boulevard Lawrence, KS, 66045-7561 USA Tel: (785) 864-3863 Fax: (785) 864-5335 Email: abentley at ku.edu http://ichthyology.biodiversity.ku.edu A : A : A : }<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<)))_?> V V V From: Nhcoll-l On Behalf Of Editor FourCats Press Sent: Thursday, October 14, 2021 1:00 PM To: nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] no data specimens For perhaps a different perspective: As someone who is at the stage of life of having to think about how to pass on an invertebrate paleontology collection I?ve carefully curated for 47 years, the idea that my specimens might end up in a bucket for kids to scoop through is enough to make me want to cart the whole thing to the landfill. An added irony is knowing how hard museums, institutions, and professional associations have argued over the years for limiting/prohibiting access to fossil resources by ?amateurs? and how many museums and universities have thousands of square feet of specimens they've ?protected? but that no one has ever looked at. Craig Childs? _Finders Keepers_ took a crack at this problem in the context of archaeology/anthropology, but I?ve yet to see the issue taken seriously (in print) by museum professionals. Wendell Ricketts -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From prc44 at drexel.edu Thu Oct 14 15:51:49 2021 From: prc44 at drexel.edu (Callomon,Paul) Date: Thu, 14 Oct 2021 19:51:49 +0000 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] No-data specimens and the Graveyard Conundrum Message-ID: Several of the responses to this interesting thread point obliquely at the "graveyard conundrum". This is the famous proposal that if we continue to bury dead people in cemeteries we'll eventually run out of arable land and starve. Clearly that hasn't happened, so at some point someone must be making judgments as to what's worth keeping and what isn't. In building a working and teachable philosophy of natural history museums we need not only to establish some general criteria for "scientific value" (both now and hypothetically) but also be clear about who gets to make those calls. Many research scientists insist that every last microscope slide or voucher specimen from their entire careers be cataloged and that that be prioritized over acquiring and sorting the collections of "amateurs", a term at which many still sneer. Museum management, on the other hand, can be blithely ignorant of any scheme of priorities other than things they immediately understand - famous names and "rarities". When we think about the professionalization of collections management, therefore, a point we'd do well to promote is the collections manager as arbiter of value. (That's assuming that we don't hire people as CMs who are qualified and temperamentally inclined to be career researchers but who can't find a position at present so opt to "slum it" until something comes along). The ability to size up a body of material and see how it might fit into the grand narrative of the museum's collections is something long-term CMs can develop best, given their extensive institutional knowledge, generally collegial nature and tendency to be objective about a specimen's "story". A last point: techniques will certainly be developed in the future that will let us do things with specimens that we can't do now. However, the questions we are asking - what is the true nature of Nature and how do we maintain a healthy relationship with it - date back to the Greeks. A beautiful specimen with no data is unlikely ever to be of more use in answering them than a vouchered and accurately recorded collecting event. Paul Callomon Collection Manager, Malacology and General Invertebrates ________________________________ Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University 1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia PA 19103-1195, USA prc44 at drexel.edu Tel 215-405-5096 - Fax 215-299-1170 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From McLarenS at CarnegieMNH.Org Thu Oct 14 16:13:01 2021 From: McLarenS at CarnegieMNH.Org (McLaren, Suzanne) Date: Thu, 14 Oct 2021 20:13:01 +0000 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] no data specimens In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Cody, You make a good point about the vertebrate specimens that contain hazardous chemicals. One cannot just throw them into the dumpster, any more than you would want to give them to an organization that would use them as ?touchables.? It is not legal to merely discard specimens, including taxidermy, that contain arsenic, asbestos, and other chemicals. This is a costly problem that many of us face with older taxidermy when it is no longer worthy of exhibition. Sue Suzanne B. McLaren (she, her, hers) Collection Manager, Section of Mammals Edward O'Neil Research Center (Carnegie Museum of Natural History Annex) 5800 Baum Blvd Pittsburgh PA 15206 USA Telephone 412-665-2615 Fax 412-665-2751 From: Nhcoll-l On Behalf Of Cody Thompson Sent: Thursday, October 14, 2021 1:47 PM To: Thomas Labedz Cc: nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] no data specimens Hi, Catherine! It looks like you have received a lot of good advice here. Like most, I would think twice about deaccessioning. Rather than donating, you could provide them as a permanent loan to another institution for education and outreach use. I do have one word of caution about mammal taxidermy and fur. Depending on their vintage, arsenic and other nasty chemicals were used pretty frequently on these sorts of specimens. So, be cautious on what you donate or loan to other institutions for hands-on educational purposes. Good luck, Cody Cody W. Thompson, PhD Mammal Collections Manager & Assistant Research Scientist University of Michigan Museum of Zoology 3600 Varsity Drive Ann Arbor, Michigan 48108 Office: (734) 615-2810 Fax: (734) 763-4080 Email: cwthomp at umich.edu Website: codythompson.org In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the UMMZ/Herbarium has limited personnel available working onsite. No loan returns should be shipped without prior notification, and collection visits, loan requests, gifts, exchanges, etc. should be coordinated with the appropriate curatorial staff. Please expect delayed responses. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. On Thu, Oct 14, 2021 at 1:33 PM Thomas Labedz > wrote: A few months ago I posted a request for information about deaccessioning ?no data? taxidermy of common game birds. As a result of the informative and positive comments from this group there has been a change in plans and we are now going to hold these mounts as best we can. In the past I have ?unmounted? smaller birds and repositioned them into study skins. Doing the same I?ll start to nibble away at these, likely beginning with the rarest. Thank you all for the advice. Thomas Thomas E. Labedz (Mr.), Collections Manager Division of Zoology and Division of Botany University of Nebraska State Museum Morrill Hall 645 North 14th Street Lincoln, NE 68588-0338 From: Nhcoll-l > On Behalf Of McLaren, Suzanne Sent: Thursday, October 14, 2021 12:05 PM To: Catherine Early (she/her) >; nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] no data specimens Non-NU Email ________________________________ I?ll just mention one mammal species that will make anyone think twice about not maintaining what we have initially accepted ?in trust for the future?: Myotis lucifugus ? the little brown bat was the most common species of bat in eastern North America until white-nose syndrome struck in 2005. Roosts that once hosted tens of thousands of ?little browns? have been decimated in some places to numbers in the teens. It was unthinkable 20 years ago. In this changing world, the question is what species is next? It sounds so dramatic until you think about Myotis lucifugus. Sue Suzanne B. McLaren (she, her, hers) Collection Manager, Section of Mammals Edward O'Neil Research Center (Carnegie Museum of Natural History Annex) 5800 Baum Blvd Pittsburgh PA 15206 USA Telephone 412-665-2615 Fax 412-665-2751 From: Nhcoll-l > On Behalf Of Bentley, Andrew Charles Sent: Thursday, October 14, 2021 12:43 PM To: Catherine Early (she/her) >; nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] no data specimens Catherine 1. There are all sorts of techniques like genetic, ectoparasite and environmental work that can be done on these skins that may yield data that is useful even if provenance is unknown. I agree that you have to balance this against space and resource limitations but maybe imaging and keeping portions of the skins for genetic analysis would be doable if not keeping the whole animal 2. This is a slippery slope I agree and donating these to educational facilities is the way to go. There are a myriad of these in your own and area and beyond that would be grateful for the materials. Our mission is not only to serve the research community but the educational community too. There are all sorts of negative connotations regarding deaccessioning to members of the general public etc. that I would deem fraught with issues and would not attempt. Andy A : A : A : }<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<)))_?> V V V Andy Bentley Ichthyology Collection Manager University of Kansas Biodiversity Institute Dyche Hall 1345 Jayhawk Boulevard Lawrence, KS, 66045-7561 USA Tel: (785) 864-3863 Fax: (785) 864-5335 Email: abentley at ku.edu http://ichthyology.biodiversity.ku.edu A : A : A : }<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<)))_?> V V V From: Nhcoll-l > On Behalf Of Catherine Early (she/her) Sent: Thursday, October 14, 2021 8:18 AM To: nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu Subject: [Nhcoll-l] no data specimens Hello all, I have a two-part question today: 1) Is there any scientific value to tanned hides with no data? We have many large mammal hides that were purchased from fur suppliers in the 1970's that take up a lot of room but lack data. We might keep one of each species for identification, but otherwise, they do not belong in a scientific collection (where we are constantly running out of space), correct? 2) Have any of your institutions developed protocols for deaccessioning no data specimens into the hands of private citizens? We will prioritize giving no data (former) specimens to education centers, but there is a limited need for no data shell collections that previous curators accepted from donors, so we will likely need to look elsewhere. We know that we would be limited in what we could give to private citizens by permit restrictions for owning wildlife parts, but we're also very concerned with devaluing public opinions of specimens by creating the impression that specimens can just be given away. I would love to hear any language or agreements you've developed to make it clear why items are deaccessioned and how they differ from scientific specimens. Thanks, Catherine [https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=https%3a%2f%2fsmm.org%2fenews%2f2020%2ffooter-2020-new.png&c=E,1,2cWaPXaHav1P3DyZCbw-LFhjibfoNEtO4xVDzkcp3wCYDcrM7KPKvih12USWtSnp3yAsRNdlUeFa3Xp4mSuWub9s5_-RKVcOdJuT-JnZxok2T930-Q,,&typo=1] Catherine M. Early, PhD she/her Barbara Brown Chair of Ornithology e: cearly at smm.org https://catherineearly.wixsite.com/home We envision a world where everyone has the power to use science to make lives better, and we are committed to using STEM as a tool to advocate for justice and equity. The information contained in this message and/or attachments is intended only for the person or entity to which it is addressed and may contain confidential and/or privileged material. Any review, retransmission, dissemination or other use of, or taking of any action in reliance upon, this information by persons or entities other than the intended recipient is prohibited. If you received this in error, please contact the sender and delete the material from any system and destroy any copies. Any views expressed in this message are those of the individual sender. _______________________________________________ Nhcoll-l mailing list Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l _______________________________________________ NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. The information contained in this message and/or attachments is intended only for the person or entity to which it is addressed and may contain confidential and/or privileged material. Any review, retransmission, dissemination or other use of, or taking of any action in reliance upon, this information by persons or entities other than the intended recipient is prohibited. If you received this in error, please contact the sender and delete the material from any system and destroy any copies. Any views expressed in this message are those of the individual sender. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From rhrobins at flmnh.ufl.edu Thu Oct 14 16:54:56 2021 From: rhrobins at flmnh.ufl.edu (Rob Robins) Date: Thu, 14 Oct 2021 20:54:56 +0000 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] No-data specimens and the Graveyard Conundrum In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Hi Paul, Sorry, that wasn't the meaning I was trying to convey. This definition of "whistling past the graveyard" I had in mind: To proceed with a task, ignoring an upcoming hazard, hoping for a good outcome Wasn't about graveyards running out of space. Was about collections running out of space whilst ignoring best practices that would help them conserve it or collections failing to introduce new procedures that would utilize existing spaces more efficiently, prolonging the longevity of their facilities, etc. Best wishes, Rob Robert H. Robins Collection Manager Division of Ichthyology [FLMNH Fishes logo email small] Florida Museum 1659 Museum Rd. Gainesville, FL 32611-7800 Office: (352) 273-1957 rhrobins at flmnh.ufl.edu Search the Collection: http://specifyportal.flmnh.ufl.edu/fishes/ Search samples suitable for dna analysis: https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/grr/holdings/ [cid:image002.jpg at 01D7C11C.36FEC3F0] From: Nhcoll-l On Behalf Of Callomon,Paul Sent: Thursday, October 14, 2021 3:52 PM To: Bentley, Andrew Charles ; Editor FourCats Press ; nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu Subject: [Nhcoll-l] No-data specimens and the Graveyard Conundrum [External Email] Several of the responses to this interesting thread point obliquely at the "graveyard conundrum". This is the famous proposal that if we continue to bury dead people in cemeteries we'll eventually run out of arable land and starve. Clearly that hasn't happened, so at some point someone must be making judgments as to what's worth keeping and what isn't. In building a working and teachable philosophy of natural history museums we need not only to establish some general criteria for "scientific value" (both now and hypothetically) but also be clear about who gets to make those calls. Many research scientists insist that every last microscope slide or voucher specimen from their entire careers be cataloged and that that be prioritized over acquiring and sorting the collections of "amateurs", a term at which many still sneer. Museum management, on the other hand, can be blithely ignorant of any scheme of priorities other than things they immediately understand - famous names and "rarities". When we think about the professionalization of collections management, therefore, a point we'd do well to promote is the collections manager as arbiter of value. (That's assuming that we don't hire people as CMs who are qualified and temperamentally inclined to be career researchers but who can't find a position at present so opt to "slum it" until something comes along). The ability to size up a body of material and see how it might fit into the grand narrative of the museum's collections is something long-term CMs can develop best, given their extensive institutional knowledge, generally collegial nature and tendency to be objective about a specimen's "story". A last point: techniques will certainly be developed in the future that will let us do things with specimens that we can't do now. However, the questions we are asking - what is the true nature of Nature and how do we maintain a healthy relationship with it - date back to the Greeks. A beautiful specimen with no data is unlikely ever to be of more use in answering them than a vouchered and accurately recorded collecting event. Paul Callomon Collection Manager, Malacology and General Invertebrates ________________________________ Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University 1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia PA 19103-1195, USA prc44 at drexel.edu Tel 215-405-5096 - Fax 215-299-1170 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: image001.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 4940 bytes Desc: image001.jpg URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: image002.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 273403 bytes Desc: image002.jpg URL: From prc44 at drexel.edu Thu Oct 14 16:59:35 2021 From: prc44 at drexel.edu (Callomon,Paul) Date: Thu, 14 Oct 2021 20:59:35 +0000 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] No-data specimens and the Graveyard Conundrum In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Hi Rob, It was purely coincidence that I also used the term "graveyard" - no reference to your posting was intended. However, the comparison is apposite; if there's one thing a collection manager should be able to overrule a researcher on, it's space management. A CM's prime duty is to ensure the collection's long-term stability and sustainability, and hoping for a good outcome is a dereliction of that. Still, many administrators tend to look first at the person's salary rather than listening to what's being said. Paul Callomon Collection Manager, Malacology and General Invertebrates ________________________________ Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University 1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia PA 19103-1195, USA prc44 at drexel.edu Tel 215-405-5096 - Fax 215-299-1170 From: Rob Robins Sent: Thursday, October 14, 2021 4:55 PM To: Callomon,Paul ; Bentley, Andrew Charles ; Editor FourCats Press ; nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu Subject: RE: No-data specimens and the Graveyard Conundrum External. Hi Paul, Sorry, that wasn't the meaning I was trying to convey. This definition of "whistling past the graveyard" I had in mind: To proceed with a task, ignoring an upcoming hazard, hoping for a good outcome Wasn't about graveyards running out of space. Was about collections running out of space whilst ignoring best practices that would help them conserve it or collections failing to introduce new procedures that would utilize existing spaces more efficiently, prolonging the longevity of their facilities, etc. Best wishes, Rob Robert H. Robins Collection Manager Division of Ichthyology [FLMNH Fishes logo email small] Florida Museum 1659 Museum Rd. Gainesville, FL 32611-7800 Office: (352) 273-1957 rhrobins at flmnh.ufl.edu Search the Collection: http://specifyportal.flmnh.ufl.edu/fishes/ Search samples suitable for dna analysis: https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/grr/holdings/ [cid:image002.jpg at 01D7C11C.DCC23880] From: Nhcoll-l > On Behalf Of Callomon,Paul Sent: Thursday, October 14, 2021 3:52 PM To: Bentley, Andrew Charles >; Editor FourCats Press >; nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu Subject: [Nhcoll-l] No-data specimens and the Graveyard Conundrum [External Email] Several of the responses to this interesting thread point obliquely at the "graveyard conundrum". This is the famous proposal that if we continue to bury dead people in cemeteries we'll eventually run out of arable land and starve. Clearly that hasn't happened, so at some point someone must be making judgments as to what's worth keeping and what isn't. In building a working and teachable philosophy of natural history museums we need not only to establish some general criteria for "scientific value" (both now and hypothetically) but also be clear about who gets to make those calls. Many research scientists insist that every last microscope slide or voucher specimen from their entire careers be cataloged and that that be prioritized over acquiring and sorting the collections of "amateurs", a term at which many still sneer. Museum management, on the other hand, can be blithely ignorant of any scheme of priorities other than things they immediately understand - famous names and "rarities". When we think about the professionalization of collections management, therefore, a point we'd do well to promote is the collections manager as arbiter of value. (That's assuming that we don't hire people as CMs who are qualified and temperamentally inclined to be career researchers but who can't find a position at present so opt to "slum it" until something comes along). The ability to size up a body of material and see how it might fit into the grand narrative of the museum's collections is something long-term CMs can develop best, given their extensive institutional knowledge, generally collegial nature and tendency to be objective about a specimen's "story". A last point: techniques will certainly be developed in the future that will let us do things with specimens that we can't do now. However, the questions we are asking - what is the true nature of Nature and how do we maintain a healthy relationship with it - date back to the Greeks. A beautiful specimen with no data is unlikely ever to be of more use in answering them than a vouchered and accurately recorded collecting event. Paul Callomon Collection Manager, Malacology and General Invertebrates ________________________________ Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University 1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia PA 19103-1195, USA prc44 at drexel.edu Tel 215-405-5096 - Fax 215-299-1170 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: image001.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 4940 bytes Desc: image001.jpg URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: image002.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 273403 bytes Desc: image002.jpg URL: From rhrobins at flmnh.ufl.edu Thu Oct 14 17:09:28 2021 From: rhrobins at flmnh.ufl.edu (Rob Robins) Date: Thu, 14 Oct 2021 21:09:28 +0000 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] No-data specimens and the Graveyard Conundrum In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Well said, Paul! And I'm a fan of what you and your team at ANSP did with the trays in the malacology collection to more efficiently use space while improving access to the collections. Bravo! Wasted space abounds in collections.... Rob Robert H. Robins Collection Manager Division of Ichthyology [FLMNH Fishes logo email small] Florida Museum 1659 Museum Rd. Gainesville, FL 32611-7800 Office: (352) 273-1957 rhrobins at flmnh.ufl.edu Search the Collection: http://specifyportal.flmnh.ufl.edu/fishes/ Search samples suitable for dna analysis: https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/grr/holdings/ [cid:image002.jpg at 01D7C11E.3E28F450] From: Callomon,Paul Sent: Thursday, October 14, 2021 5:00 PM To: Rob Robins ; Bentley, Andrew Charles ; Editor FourCats Press ; nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu Subject: RE: No-data specimens and the Graveyard Conundrum [External Email] Hi Rob, It was purely coincidence that I also used the term "graveyard" - no reference to your posting was intended. However, the comparison is apposite; if there's one thing a collection manager should be able to overrule a researcher on, it's space management. A CM's prime duty is to ensure the collection's long-term stability and sustainability, and hoping for a good outcome is a dereliction of that. Still, many administrators tend to look first at the person's salary rather than listening to what's being said. Paul Callomon Collection Manager, Malacology and General Invertebrates ________________________________ Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University 1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia PA 19103-1195, USA prc44 at drexel.edu Tel 215-405-5096 - Fax 215-299-1170 From: Rob Robins > Sent: Thursday, October 14, 2021 4:55 PM To: Callomon,Paul >; Bentley, Andrew Charles >; Editor FourCats Press >; nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu Subject: RE: No-data specimens and the Graveyard Conundrum External. Hi Paul, Sorry, that wasn't the meaning I was trying to convey. This definition of "whistling past the graveyard" I had in mind: To proceed with a task, ignoring an upcoming hazard, hoping for a good outcome Wasn't about graveyards running out of space. Was about collections running out of space whilst ignoring best practices that would help them conserve it or collections failing to introduce new procedures that would utilize existing spaces more efficiently, prolonging the longevity of their facilities, etc. Best wishes, Rob Robert H. Robins Collection Manager Division of Ichthyology [FLMNH Fishes logo email small] Florida Museum 1659 Museum Rd. Gainesville, FL 32611-7800 Office: (352) 273-1957 rhrobins at flmnh.ufl.edu Search the Collection: http://specifyportal.flmnh.ufl.edu/fishes/ Search samples suitable for dna analysis: https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/grr/holdings/ [cid:image002.jpg at 01D7C11E.3E28F450] From: Nhcoll-l > On Behalf Of Callomon,Paul Sent: Thursday, October 14, 2021 3:52 PM To: Bentley, Andrew Charles >; Editor FourCats Press >; nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu Subject: [Nhcoll-l] No-data specimens and the Graveyard Conundrum [External Email] Several of the responses to this interesting thread point obliquely at the "graveyard conundrum". This is the famous proposal that if we continue to bury dead people in cemeteries we'll eventually run out of arable land and starve. Clearly that hasn't happened, so at some point someone must be making judgments as to what's worth keeping and what isn't. In building a working and teachable philosophy of natural history museums we need not only to establish some general criteria for "scientific value" (both now and hypothetically) but also be clear about who gets to make those calls. Many research scientists insist that every last microscope slide or voucher specimen from their entire careers be cataloged and that that be prioritized over acquiring and sorting the collections of "amateurs", a term at which many still sneer. Museum management, on the other hand, can be blithely ignorant of any scheme of priorities other than things they immediately understand - famous names and "rarities". When we think about the professionalization of collections management, therefore, a point we'd do well to promote is the collections manager as arbiter of value. (That's assuming that we don't hire people as CMs who are qualified and temperamentally inclined to be career researchers but who can't find a position at present so opt to "slum it" until something comes along). The ability to size up a body of material and see how it might fit into the grand narrative of the museum's collections is something long-term CMs can develop best, given their extensive institutional knowledge, generally collegial nature and tendency to be objective about a specimen's "story". A last point: techniques will certainly be developed in the future that will let us do things with specimens that we can't do now. However, the questions we are asking - what is the true nature of Nature and how do we maintain a healthy relationship with it - date back to the Greeks. A beautiful specimen with no data is unlikely ever to be of more use in answering them than a vouchered and accurately recorded collecting event. Paul Callomon Collection Manager, Malacology and General Invertebrates ________________________________ Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University 1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia PA 19103-1195, USA prc44 at drexel.edu Tel 215-405-5096 - Fax 215-299-1170 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: image001.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 4940 bytes Desc: image001.jpg URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: image002.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 273403 bytes Desc: image002.jpg URL: From ewommack at uwyo.edu Thu Oct 14 17:13:31 2021 From: ewommack at uwyo.edu (Elizabeth Wommack) Date: Thu, 14 Oct 2021 15:13:31 -0600 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] collecting and preserving animal tissue samples In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Hello Lennart, That would probably depend on what type of genetic/genomic analysis you plan on conducting with it, as well as the taxon you are working with. You may also want to think about the IACUC protocols for the species, as blood draw amounts can be dictated by size of the animal and experimental protocol. Birds have nucleated blood cells, so I have gotten DNA extractions from very small draws of blood. cheers, Beth Wommack On Thu, Oct 14, 2021 at 3:07 AM Lennart Lennuk < Lennart.Lennuk at loodusmuuseum.ee> wrote: > ? This message was sent from a non-UWYO address. Please exercise caution > when clicking links or opening attachments from external sources. > > Thank you all for good material and advice! > > I have one more question: > > How much blood is considered enough for DNA sample? > > > > Best! > > Lennart > > > > *From:* Emily M. Braker [mailto:emily.braker at colorado.edu] > *Sent:* Thursday, September 30, 2021 4:46 PM > *To:* Lennart Lennuk ; > nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu > *Subject:* Re: collecting and preserving animal tissue samples > > > > Greetings Lennart, > > > > I recommend taking a look at the SPNHC wiki for guidance on collecting and > storing tissue samples: > > > > https://spnhc.biowikifarm.net/wiki/Tissue_Sample_Collection > > https://spnhc.biowikifarm.net/wiki/Genetic_Resources > > > > But in short, we use 2ml externally threaded cryovials for tissue samples > (many brands available from lab suppliers). Using 95% ETOH is an effective > preservative and can be stored in a regular freezer if you don't have > access to ultracold freezing or liquid nitrogen. Volume of tissue harvested > is up to your institution based on anticipated usage, space, and species > rarity. We tend to take three vials (heart, muscle, liver), but many > institutions combine these samples into one vial, while others may sample > additional organs. If we receive a rare or endangered species, we tend to > increase our sampling. > > > > Best, > Emily > > > > Emily Braker > > Vertebrate Collections Manager, Zoology Section > > University of Colorado Museum of Natural History > > 265 UCB, Bruce Curtis Building > > Boulder, CO 80309-0218 > > Phone: 303-492-8466 > > http://www.colorado.edu/cumuseum/research-collections/vertebrates > > > ------------------------------ > > *From:* Nhcoll-l on behalf of Lennart > Lennuk > *Sent:* Thursday, September 30, 2021 5:36 AM > *To:* nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu > *Subject:* [Nhcoll-l] collecting and preserving animal tissue samples > > > > Dear all, > > > > Do you have good material about collecting and preserving animal tissues? > > I already search older nh-coll list letters and spnhc wiki. > > > > I have some specific questions: > > - what vials are best for preserving the tissue samples? > > - does 96 EtOH in -25 Celsius work? No money for -80 freezer > > - How many tissues per animal is optimal? > > > > Our purose will be to preserve the tissue samples of the animals we make > for taxidermy collections in case a researcher > > wants to have a DNA sample of the animal. > > > > Best regards! > > Lennart Lennuk > > Head of collections > > Estonian Museum of Natural History > > +372 6603404, 56569916 > > > -- Elizabeth Wommack, PhD Curator and Collections Manager of Vertebrates University of Wyoming Museum of Vertebrates Berry Biodiversity Conservation Center University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY 82071 ewommack@ uwyo.edu www.uwymv. org UWYMV Collection Use Policy -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From Tonya.Haff at csiro.au Thu Oct 14 17:15:37 2021 From: Tonya.Haff at csiro.au (Haff, Tonya (NCMI, Crace)) Date: Thu, 14 Oct 2021 21:15:37 +0000 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Nests in museums Message-ID: Good morning from the Southern Hemisphere, For those of you interested in nests, or who have nest collections, I rather abashedly spruik a recent manuscript we published on our nest collection at the Australian National Wildlife Collection and on a humidification experiment we did to try to reshape some old squashed nests: https://avianres.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40657-021-00266-5. I also just came across another paper that used nests in collections as 'botanical time capsules'...go nest collections! https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0257624&s=09 Cheers, Tonya ------------------------------------------------- Dr. Tonya M. Haff Collection Manager Australian National Wildlife Collection CSIRO -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From cearly at smm.org Thu Oct 14 17:31:33 2021 From: cearly at smm.org (Catherine Early (she/her)) Date: Thu, 14 Oct 2021 16:31:33 -0500 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] no data specimens In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Hi all, Thank you, as always, for the thoughtful discussion. I had assumed the tanning process would have yielded these skins unsuitable for ectoparasite and other work. Andy, do you think even something like a hyena skin rug would still house this information? I do think your imaging and keeping a small portion of the hide idea strikes a good balance between preservation and not taking up space unnecessarily. While I do understand the reasoning behind keeping things in trust for the future - and think your bat example does an excellent job of making that point, Sue - it gets harder to apply it to specimens that were collected for other reasons, like some of our hides that were hunted for sport by museum trustees in the 1930's then donated to the collection...with no data and *no taxonomic determination*. If any mammalogists on here want to help with identification, I'm happy to send you photos! (And I may actually request help with this in a separate NHCOLL post in the future). We are very lucky to have a full-time conservator and full-time registrar on staff to test for dangerous chemicals and make sure that there are absolutely no records associated with the specimens that would make them scientifically valuable. But even with that, we will still need to make tough decisions, like what to do with the unlabeled jumble of fish bones that would be a choking hazard in an education setting. Your responses will help us make those decisions. Best, Catherine *Catherine M. Early, PhD* she/her *Barbara Brown Chair of Ornithology* e: cearly at smm.org https://catherineearly.wixsite.com/home We envision a world where everyone has the power to use science to make lives better, and we are committed to using STEM as a tool to advocate for justice and equity. On Thu, Oct 14, 2021 at 3:13 PM McLaren, Suzanne wrote: > Cody, > > > > You make a good point about the vertebrate specimens that contain > hazardous chemicals. One cannot just throw them into the dumpster, any > more than you would want to give them to an organization that would use > them as ?touchables.? It is not legal to merely discard specimens, > including taxidermy, that contain arsenic, asbestos, and other chemicals. > This is a costly problem that many of us face with older taxidermy when it > is no longer worthy of exhibition. > > > > Sue > > > > *Suzanne B. McLaren *(she, her, hers) > > Collection Manager, Section of Mammals > > Edward O'Neil Research Center > > (Carnegie Museum of Natural History Annex) > > 5800 Baum Blvd > > Pittsburgh PA 15206 USA > > Telephone 412-665-2615 > > Fax 412-665-2751 > > > > > > > > *From:* Nhcoll-l * On Behalf Of *Cody > Thompson > *Sent:* Thursday, October 14, 2021 1:47 PM > *To:* Thomas Labedz > *Cc:* nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu > *Subject:* Re: [Nhcoll-l] no data specimens > > > > Hi, Catherine! It looks like you have received a lot of good advice > here. Like most, I would think twice about deaccessioning. Rather than > donating, you could provide them as a permanent loan to another institution > for education and outreach use. > > > > I do have one word of caution about mammal taxidermy and fur. Depending > on their vintage, arsenic and other nasty chemicals were used pretty > frequently on these sorts of specimens. So, be cautious on what you donate > or loan to other institutions for hands-on educational purposes. > > > > Good luck, > > Cody > > > Cody W. Thompson, PhD > > Mammal Collections Manager > > & Assistant Research Scientist > > University of Michigan > > Museum of Zoology > > 3600 Varsity Drive > > Ann Arbor, Michigan 48108 > > Office: (734) 615-2810 > > Fax: (734) 763-4080 > > Email: cwthomp at umich.edu > > Website: codythompson.org > > > > > *In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the UMMZ/Herbarium has limited > personnel available working onsite. No loan returns should be shipped > without prior notification, and collection visits, loan requests, gifts, > exchanges, etc. should be coordinated with the appropriate curatorial > staff. Please expect delayed responses. We apologize for any inconvenience > this may cause.* > > > > > > On Thu, Oct 14, 2021 at 1:33 PM Thomas Labedz wrote: > > A few months ago I posted a request for information about deaccessioning > ?no data? taxidermy of common game birds. As a result of the informative > and positive comments from this group there has been a change in plans and > we are now going to hold these mounts as best we can. In the past I have > ?unmounted? smaller birds and repositioned them into study skins. Doing the > same I?ll start to nibble away at these, likely beginning with the rarest. > Thank you all for the advice. > > Thomas > > > > Thomas E. Labedz (Mr.), Collections Manager > > Division of Zoology and Division of Botany > > University of Nebraska State Museum > > Morrill Hall > > 645 North 14th Street > Lincoln, NE 68588-0338 > > > > > > *From:* Nhcoll-l *On Behalf Of *McLaren, > Suzanne > *Sent:* Thursday, October 14, 2021 12:05 PM > *To:* Catherine Early (she/her) ; > nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu > *Subject:* Re: [Nhcoll-l] no data specimens > > > > Non-NU Email > ------------------------------ > > I?ll just mention one mammal species that will make anyone think twice > about not maintaining what we have initially accepted ?in trust for the > future?: *Myotis lucifugus* ? the little brown bat was the most common > species of bat in eastern North America until white-nose syndrome struck in > 2005. Roosts that once hosted *tens of thousands* of ?little browns? > have been decimated in some places to numbers in the *teens*. It was > unthinkable 20 years ago. In this changing world, the question is what > species is next? It sounds so dramatic until you think about *Myotis > lucifugus*. > > > > Sue > > > > *Suzanne B. McLaren *(she, her, hers) > > Collection Manager, Section of Mammals > > Edward O'Neil Research Center > > (Carnegie Museum of Natural History Annex) > > 5800 Baum Blvd > > Pittsburgh PA 15206 USA > > Telephone 412-665-2615 > > Fax 412-665-2751 > > > > > > > > *From:* Nhcoll-l *On Behalf Of *Bentley, > Andrew Charles > *Sent:* Thursday, October 14, 2021 12:43 PM > *To:* Catherine Early (she/her) ; > nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu > *Subject:* Re: [Nhcoll-l] no data specimens > > > > Catherine > > > > 1. There are all sorts of techniques like genetic, ectoparasite and > environmental work that can be done on these skins that may yield data that > is useful even if provenance is unknown. I agree that you have to balance > this against space and resource limitations but maybe imaging and keeping > portions of the skins for genetic analysis would be doable if not keeping > the whole animal > 2. This is a slippery slope I agree and donating these to educational > facilities is the way to go. There are a myriad of these in your own and > area and beyond that would be grateful for the materials. Our mission is > not only to serve the research community but the educational community > too. There are all sorts of negative connotations regarding deaccessioning > to members of the general public etc. that I would deem fraught with issues > and would not attempt. > > > > Andy > > A : A : A : > }<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<)))_?> > V V V > Andy Bentley > Ichthyology Collection Manager > University of Kansas > Biodiversity Institute > > Dyche Hall > 1345 Jayhawk Boulevard > Lawrence, KS, 66045-7561 > USA > > Tel: (785) 864-3863 > Fax: (785) 864-5335 > Email: abentley at ku.edu > > http://ichthyology.biodiversity.ku.edu > > > A : A : A : > }<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<)))_?> > V V V > > > > *From:* Nhcoll-l *On Behalf Of *Catherine > Early (she/her) > *Sent:* Thursday, October 14, 2021 8:18 AM > *To:* nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu > *Subject:* [Nhcoll-l] no data specimens > > > > Hello all, > > > > I have a two-part question today: > > > > 1) Is there any *scientific* value to tanned hides with no data? We have > many large mammal hides that were purchased from fur suppliers in the > 1970's that take up a lot of room but lack data. We might keep one of each > species for identification, but otherwise, they do not belong in a > scientific collection (where we are constantly running out of space), > correct? > > > > 2) Have any of your institutions developed protocols for deaccessioning no > data specimens into the hands of private citizens? We will prioritize > giving no data (former) specimens to education centers, but there is a > limited need for no data shell collections that previous curators accepted > from donors, so we will likely need to look elsewhere. We know that we > would be limited in what we could give to private citizens by permit > restrictions for owning wildlife parts, but we're also very concerned with > devaluing public opinions of specimens by creating the impression that > specimens can just be given away. I would love to hear any language or > agreements you've developed to make it clear why items are deaccessioned > and how they differ from scientific specimens. > > > > Thanks, > > Catherine > > > > > > > *Catherine M. Early, PhD* > > she/her > > *Barbara Brown Chair of Ornithology* > > e: cearly at smm.org > > https://catherineearly.wixsite.com/home > > > > > We envision a world where everyone has the power to use science to make > lives better, > and we are committed to using STEM as a tool to advocate for justice and > equity. > > > > > > > The information contained in this message and/or attachments is intended > only for the person or entity to which it is addressed and may contain > confidential and/or privileged material. Any review, retransmission, > dissemination or other use of, or taking of any action in reliance upon, > this information by persons or entities other than the intended recipient > is prohibited. If you received this in error, please contact the sender and > delete the material from any system and destroy any copies. Any views > expressed in this message are those of the individual sender. > > _______________________________________________ > Nhcoll-l mailing list > Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu > https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l > > _______________________________________________ > NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of > Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose > mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of > natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to > society. See http://www.spnhc.org > > for membership information. > Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. > > > > > The information contained in this message and/or attachments is intended > only for the person or entity to which it is addressed and may contain > confidential and/or privileged material. Any review, retransmission, > dissemination or other use of, or taking of any action in reliance upon, > this information by persons or entities other than the intended recipient > is prohibited. If you received this in error, please contact the sender and > delete the material from any system and destroy any copies. Any views > expressed in this message are those of the individual sender. > _______________________________________________ > Nhcoll-l mailing list > Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu > https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l > > _______________________________________________ > NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of > Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose > mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of > natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to > society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. > Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shoobs.1 at osu.edu Thu Oct 14 19:03:04 2021 From: shoobs.1 at osu.edu (Shoobs, Nate) Date: Thu, 14 Oct 2021 23:03:04 +0000 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] no data specimens (Bentley, Andrew Charles) In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Hi all, Coming a bit late to this discussion and many of the important philosophical points have already been explored, but I?d be remiss if I didn?t share a relevant anecdote from recent curation in our collection here at OSU. We have a sizeable backlog of specimens that were labeled ?no data? but kept for educational purposes back in the 70s-80s. Many of these specimens, loose and without any labels, found their way into boxes that we use at the museum to teach freshwater mussel identification. In preparation for a recent mussel workshop, I was going through these boxes and noticed that a number of these ?no data? specimens had old cursive handwriting on them, and some bore numbers that were not from our collection. Given the modern digitization of collection catalogues, specimen images, and primary literature, it is often possible with a little professional/taxonomic expertise to match these ?no data? specimens with high quality data. Turns out one ?no data? teaching box contained 3 missing primary type specimens of Unio sulcatus (Lea 1829), part of an exchange lot from the Smithsonian to a private collector whose collection we acquired. Another bore 2 lots of 150+ year old material of incredibly rare Epioblasma species, identified by recognition of the handwriting of a particular malacologist on the shell, even without a number. Another set of ?no data? specimens had burn marks on them, of a type that allowed me to match them with lots from a particular collection that was salvaged from a fire, and for which we have the original catalogue. In examining the broader collection of ?no data? specimens I have concluded that to the curatorial staff at that time, ?no data? specimens were specimens which, AT THE TIME, it was nearly impossible to match with locality data of a certain baseline quality, even if they had decipherable handwriting or old collection numbers on them. This anecdote shows a few things of importance, in my opinion: * Whether a specimen has ?no data? is, and has historically been, contextually dependent. What one observer considers to be a lot without any clear provenence may to another observer be instantly recognizable (or recognizable with some effort). In addition, some specimens without ANY information (no writing or numbers) can be identified in the right context by comparison with other material. * Matching data-less specimens to their data once they have been dissociated is an activity that exists on a continuum of effort, that also depends on the knowledge / expertise of the individual attempting to do so. For the curatorial staff of the past, the idea of trying to track even specimens with prior catalogue numbers was absurd, as they would have had to contact dozens of museums by mail or fax, or visit in person, with specimens that may turn out to not be matchable in the end. Now, it?s totally worth my time to plug an old number into iDigBio or BHL to see if there are any hits. * We cannot know now what capabilities the museum workers of the future may have for identifying the history or use-value of a specimen, nor can we know how resource-intensive it will be for them to deploy them. Paul made this point before, but it bears repeating. Of course, I?m not in favor of keeping data-less specimens and refusing to accept high quality new material on the off chance that one might be able to match up data-poor/data-less specimens with better data, when space is a concern. But the fact that identifying the provenance of a data-less specimen is often not an impossibility, but simply an inefficient use of limited curatorial time seems important to note, and should be considered when making decisions about the value of certain material. Best, Nate ? Nathaniel F. Shoobs, B.A., M.Sc. Curator of Mollusks Dept. of Evolution, Ecology and Organismal Biology The Ohio State University Museum of Biological Diversity, Columbus, OH From: Nhcoll-l on behalf of nhcoll-l-request at mailman.yale.edu Date: Thursday, October 14, 2021 at 5:13 PM To: nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu Subject: Nhcoll-l Digest, Vol 113, Issue 5 Send Nhcoll-l mailing list submissions to nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l__;!!KGKeukY!hEUkKQ5ZkN_Qe6xfDHINpSAJWeDuKZbF4tBQ2jnodptG2Lmysmsz-CiYPuSJEZdS$ or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to nhcoll-l-request at mailman.yale.edu You can reach the person managing the list at nhcoll-l-owner at mailman.yale.edu When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific than "Re: Contents of Nhcoll-l digest..." Today's Topics: 1. Re: no data specimens (Bentley, Andrew Charles) 2. No-data specimens and the Graveyard Conundrum (Callomon,Paul) 3. Re: no data specimens (McLaren, Suzanne) 4. Re: No-data specimens and the Graveyard Conundrum (Rob Robins) 5. Re: No-data specimens and the Graveyard Conundrum (Callomon,Paul) 6. Re: No-data specimens and the Graveyard Conundrum (Rob Robins) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message: 1 Date: Thu, 14 Oct 2021 19:04:16 +0000 From: "Bentley, Andrew Charles" To: Editor FourCats Press , "nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu" Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] no data specimens Message-ID: Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" Wendell To be clear we are talking about specimens that have little to no data and are not well curated research collections with data. Hopefully you can find someone to take on your collection when you decide to hand it off but it worries me that you would rather throw it in a dumpster than have it used for important K-12 or undergraduate education. Taking on these collections is a community problem that definitely needs addressing as taking on an ?orphan? collection puts a strain on the accepting institutions resources and space and hinders their ability to take care of existing or incoming material. Also, to be fair, the reasoning behind limiting amateur access to collections is due to data sensitivity and the ability to use that data to find paleo sites and plunder them ? not our ability to use these collections for formal and informal education. Andy A : A : A : }<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<)))_?> V V V Andy Bentley Ichthyology Collection Manager University of Kansas Biodiversity Institute Dyche Hall 1345 Jayhawk Boulevard Lawrence, KS, 66045-7561 USA Tel: (785) 864-3863 Fax: (785) 864-5335 Email: abentley at ku.edu https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://ichthyology.biodiversity.ku.edu__;!!KGKeukY!hEUkKQ5ZkN_Qe6xfDHINpSAJWeDuKZbF4tBQ2jnodptG2Lmysmsz-CiYPjuGYwol$ A : A : A : }<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<)))_?> V V V From: Nhcoll-l On Behalf Of Editor FourCats Press Sent: Thursday, October 14, 2021 1:00 PM To: nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] no data specimens For perhaps a different perspective: As someone who is at the stage of life of having to think about how to pass on an invertebrate paleontology collection I?ve carefully curated for 47 years, the idea that my specimens might end up in a bucket for kids to scoop through is enough to make me want to cart the whole thing to the landfill. An added irony is knowing how hard museums, institutions, and professional associations have argued over the years for limiting/prohibiting access to fossil resources by ?amateurs? and how many museums and universities have thousands of square feet of specimens they've ?protected? but that no one has ever looked at. Craig Childs? _Finders Keepers_ took a crack at this problem in the context of archaeology/anthropology, but I?ve yet to see the issue taken seriously (in print) by museum professionals. Wendell Ricketts -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: ------------------------------ Message: 2 Date: Thu, 14 Oct 2021 19:51:49 +0000 From: "Callomon,Paul" To: "Bentley, Andrew Charles" , Editor FourCats Press , "nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu" Subject: [Nhcoll-l] No-data specimens and the Graveyard Conundrum Message-ID: Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Several of the responses to this interesting thread point obliquely at the "graveyard conundrum". This is the famous proposal that if we continue to bury dead people in cemeteries we'll eventually run out of arable land and starve. Clearly that hasn't happened, so at some point someone must be making judgments as to what's worth keeping and what isn't. In building a working and teachable philosophy of natural history museums we need not only to establish some general criteria for "scientific value" (both now and hypothetically) but also be clear about who gets to make those calls. Many research scientists insist that every last microscope slide or voucher specimen from their entire careers be cataloged and that that be prioritized over acquiring and sorting the collections of "amateurs", a term at which many still sneer. Museum management, on the other hand, can be blithely ignorant of any scheme of priorities other than things they immediately understand - famous names and "rarities". When we think about the professionalization of collections management, therefore, a point we'd do well to promote is the collections manager as arbiter of value. (That's assuming that we don't hire people as CMs who are qualified and temperamentally inclined to be career researchers but who can't find a position at present so opt to "slum it" until something comes along). The ability to size up a body of material and see how it might fit into the grand narrative of the museum's collections is something long-term CMs can develop best, given their extensive institutional knowledge, generally collegial nature and tendency to be objective about a specimen's "story". A last point: techniques will certainly be developed in the future that will let us do things with specimens that we can't do now. However, the questions we are asking - what is the true nature of Nature and how do we maintain a healthy relationship with it - date back to the Greeks. A beautiful specimen with no data is unlikely ever to be of more use in answering them than a vouchered and accurately recorded collecting event. Paul Callomon Collection Manager, Malacology and General Invertebrates ________________________________ Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University 1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia PA 19103-1195, USA prc44 at drexel.edu Tel 215-405-5096 - Fax 215-299-1170 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: ------------------------------ Message: 3 Date: Thu, 14 Oct 2021 20:13:01 +0000 From: "McLaren, Suzanne" To: Cody Thompson , Thomas Labedz Cc: "nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu" Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] no data specimens Message-ID: Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" Cody, You make a good point about the vertebrate specimens that contain hazardous chemicals. One cannot just throw them into the dumpster, any more than you would want to give them to an organization that would use them as ?touchables.? It is not legal to merely discard specimens, including taxidermy, that contain arsenic, asbestos, and other chemicals. This is a costly problem that many of us face with older taxidermy when it is no longer worthy of exhibition. Sue Suzanne B. McLaren (she, her, hers) Collection Manager, Section of Mammals Edward O'Neil Research Center (Carnegie Museum of Natural History Annex) 5800 Baum Blvd Pittsburgh PA 15206 USA Telephone 412-665-2615 Fax 412-665-2751 From: Nhcoll-l On Behalf Of Cody Thompson Sent: Thursday, October 14, 2021 1:47 PM To: Thomas Labedz Cc: nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] no data specimens Hi, Catherine! It looks like you have received a lot of good advice here. Like most, I would think twice about deaccessioning. Rather than donating, you could provide them as a permanent loan to another institution for education and outreach use. I do have one word of caution about mammal taxidermy and fur. Depending on their vintage, arsenic and other nasty chemicals were used pretty frequently on these sorts of specimens. So, be cautious on what you donate or loan to other institutions for hands-on educational purposes. Good luck, Cody Cody W. Thompson, PhD Mammal Collections Manager & Assistant Research Scientist University of Michigan Museum of Zoology 3600 Varsity Drive Ann Arbor, Michigan 48108 Office: (734) 615-2810 Fax: (734) 763-4080 Email: cwthomp at umich.edu Website: codythompson.org In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the UMMZ/Herbarium has limited personnel available working onsite. No loan returns should be shipped without prior notification, and collection visits, loan requests, gifts, exchanges, etc. should be coordinated with the appropriate curatorial staff. Please expect delayed responses. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. On Thu, Oct 14, 2021 at 1:33 PM Thomas Labedz > wrote: A few months ago I posted a request for information about deaccessioning ?no data? taxidermy of common game birds. As a result of the informative and positive comments from this group there has been a change in plans and we are now going to hold these mounts as best we can. In the past I have ?unmounted? smaller birds and repositioned them into study skins. Doing the same I?ll start to nibble away at these, likely beginning with the rarest. Thank you all for the advice. Thomas Thomas E. Labedz (Mr.), Collections Manager Division of Zoology and Division of Botany University of Nebraska State Museum Morrill Hall 645 North 14th Street Lincoln, NE 68588-0338 From: Nhcoll-l > On Behalf Of McLaren, Suzanne Sent: Thursday, October 14, 2021 12:05 PM To: Catherine Early (she/her) >; nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] no data specimens Non-NU Email ________________________________ I?ll just mention one mammal species that will make anyone think twice about not maintaining what we have initially accepted ?in trust for the future?: Myotis lucifugus ? the little brown bat was the most common species of bat in eastern North America until white-nose syndrome struck in 2005. Roosts that once hosted tens of thousands of ?little browns? have been decimated in some places to numbers in the teens. It was unthinkable 20 years ago. In this changing world, the question is what species is next? It sounds so dramatic until you think about Myotis lucifugus. Sue Suzanne B. McLaren (she, her, hers) Collection Manager, Section of Mammals Edward O'Neil Research Center (Carnegie Museum of Natural History Annex) 5800 Baum Blvd Pittsburgh PA 15206 USA Telephone 412-665-2615 Fax 412-665-2751 From: Nhcoll-l > On Behalf Of Bentley, Andrew Charles Sent: Thursday, October 14, 2021 12:43 PM To: Catherine Early (she/her) >; nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] no data specimens Catherine 1. There are all sorts of techniques like genetic, ectoparasite and environmental work that can be done on these skins that may yield data that is useful even if provenance is unknown. I agree that you have to balance this against space and resource limitations but maybe imaging and keeping portions of the skins for genetic analysis would be doable if not keeping the whole animal 2. This is a slippery slope I agree and donating these to educational facilities is the way to go. There are a myriad of these in your own and area and beyond that would be grateful for the materials. Our mission is not only to serve the research community but the educational community too. There are all sorts of negative connotations regarding deaccessioning to members of the general public etc. that I would deem fraught with issues and would not attempt. Andy A : A : A : }<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<)))_?> V V V Andy Bentley Ichthyology Collection Manager University of Kansas Biodiversity Institute Dyche Hall 1345 Jayhawk Boulevard Lawrence, KS, 66045-7561 USA Tel: (785) 864-3863 Fax: (785) 864-5335 Email: abentley at ku.edu https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://ichthyology.biodiversity.ku.edu__;!!KGKeukY!hEUkKQ5ZkN_Qe6xfDHINpSAJWeDuKZbF4tBQ2jnodptG2Lmysmsz-CiYPjuGYwol$ A : A : A : }<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<)))_?> V V V From: Nhcoll-l > On Behalf Of Catherine Early (she/her) Sent: Thursday, October 14, 2021 8:18 AM To: nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu Subject: [Nhcoll-l] no data specimens Hello all, I have a two-part question today: 1) Is there any scientific value to tanned hides with no data? We have many large mammal hides that were purchased from fur suppliers in the 1970's that take up a lot of room but lack data. We might keep one of each species for identification, but otherwise, they do not belong in a scientific collection (where we are constantly running out of space), correct? 2) Have any of your institutions developed protocols for deaccessioning no data specimens into the hands of private citizens? We will prioritize giving no data (former) specimens to education centers, but there is a limited need for no data shell collections that previous curators accepted from donors, so we will likely need to look elsewhere. We know that we would be limited in what we could give to private citizens by permit restrictions for owning wildlife parts, but we're also very concerned with devaluing public opinions of specimens by creating the impression that specimens can just be given away. I would love to hear any language or agreements you've developed to make it clear why items are deaccessioned and how they differ from scientific specimens. Thanks, Catherine [https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=https*3a*2f*2fsmm.org*2fenews*2f2020*2ffooter-2020-new.png&c=E,1,2cWaPXaHav1P3DyZCbw-LFhjibfoNEtO4xVDzkcp3wCYDcrM7KPKvih12USWtSnp3yAsRNdlUeFa3Xp4mSuWub9s5_-RKVcOdJuT-JnZxok2T930-Q,,&typo=1__;JSUlJSUl!!KGKeukY!hEUkKQ5ZkN_Qe6xfDHINpSAJWeDuKZbF4tBQ2jnodptG2Lmysmsz-CiYPizcgbG8$ ] Catherine M. Early, PhD she/her Barbara Brown Chair of Ornithology e: cearly at smm.org https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://catherineearly.wixsite.com/home__;!!KGKeukY!hEUkKQ5ZkN_Qe6xfDHINpSAJWeDuKZbF4tBQ2jnodptG2Lmysmsz-CiYPk_aaF5y$ We envision a world where everyone has the power to use science to make lives better, and we are committed to using STEM as a tool to advocate for justice and equity. The information contained in this message and/or attachments is intended only for the person or entity to which it is addressed and may contain confidential and/or privileged material. Any review, retransmission, dissemination or other use of, or taking of any action in reliance upon, this information by persons or entities other than the intended recipient is prohibited. If you received this in error, please contact the sender and delete the material from any system and destroy any copies. Any views expressed in this message are those of the individual sender. _______________________________________________ Nhcoll-l mailing list Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l__;!!KGKeukY!hEUkKQ5ZkN_Qe6xfDHINpSAJWeDuKZbF4tBQ2jnodptG2Lmysmsz-CiYPuSJEZdS$ _______________________________________________ NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to society. See https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.spnhc.org__;!!KGKeukY!hEUkKQ5ZkN_Qe6xfDHINpSAJWeDuKZbF4tBQ2jnodptG2Lmysmsz-CiYPswU8y9I$ for membership information. Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. The information contained in this message and/or attachments is intended only for the person or entity to which it is addressed and may contain confidential and/or privileged material. Any review, retransmission, dissemination or other use of, or taking of any action in reliance upon, this information by persons or entities other than the intended recipient is prohibited. If you received this in error, please contact the sender and delete the material from any system and destroy any copies. Any views expressed in this message are those of the individual sender. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: ------------------------------ Message: 4 Date: Thu, 14 Oct 2021 20:54:56 +0000 From: Rob Robins To: "Callomon,Paul" , "Bentley, Andrew Charles" , Editor FourCats Press , "nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu" Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] No-data specimens and the Graveyard Conundrum Message-ID: Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Hi Paul, Sorry, that wasn't the meaning I was trying to convey. This definition of "whistling past the graveyard" I had in mind: To proceed with a task, ignoring an upcoming hazard, hoping for a good outcome Wasn't about graveyards running out of space. Was about collections running out of space whilst ignoring best practices that would help them conserve it or collections failing to introduce new procedures that would utilize existing spaces more efficiently, prolonging the longevity of their facilities, etc. Best wishes, Rob Robert H. Robins Collection Manager Division of Ichthyology [FLMNH Fishes logo email small] Florida Museum 1659 Museum Rd. Gainesville, FL 32611-7800 Office: (352) 273-1957 rhrobins at flmnh.ufl.edu Search the Collection: https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://specifyportal.flmnh.ufl.edu/fishes/__;!!KGKeukY!hEUkKQ5ZkN_Qe6xfDHINpSAJWeDuKZbF4tBQ2jnodptG2Lmysmsz-CiYPvrnS326$ Search samples suitable for dna analysis: https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/grr/holdings/__;!!KGKeukY!hEUkKQ5ZkN_Qe6xfDHINpSAJWeDuKZbF4tBQ2jnodptG2Lmysmsz-CiYPi4ZKK6q$ [cid:image002.jpg at 01D7C11C.36FEC3F0] From: Nhcoll-l On Behalf Of Callomon,Paul Sent: Thursday, October 14, 2021 3:52 PM To: Bentley, Andrew Charles ; Editor FourCats Press ; nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu Subject: [Nhcoll-l] No-data specimens and the Graveyard Conundrum [External Email] Several of the responses to this interesting thread point obliquely at the "graveyard conundrum". This is the famous proposal that if we continue to bury dead people in cemeteries we'll eventually run out of arable land and starve. Clearly that hasn't happened, so at some point someone must be making judgments as to what's worth keeping and what isn't. In building a working and teachable philosophy of natural history museums we need not only to establish some general criteria for "scientific value" (both now and hypothetically) but also be clear about who gets to make those calls. Many research scientists insist that every last microscope slide or voucher specimen from their entire careers be cataloged and that that be prioritized over acquiring and sorting the collections of "amateurs", a term at which many still sneer. Museum management, on the other hand, can be blithely ignorant of any scheme of priorities other than things they immediately understand - famous names and "rarities". When we think about the professionalization of collections management, therefore, a point we'd do well to promote is the collections manager as arbiter of value. (That's assuming that we don't hire people as CMs who are qualified and temperamentally inclined to be career researchers but who can't find a position at present so opt to "slum it" until something comes along). The ability to size up a body of material and see how it might fit into the grand narrative of the museum's collections is something long-term CMs can develop best, given their extensive institutional knowledge, generally collegial nature and tendency to be objective about a specimen's "story". A last point: techniques will certainly be developed in the future that will let us do things with specimens that we can't do now. However, the questions we are asking - what is the true nature of Nature and how do we maintain a healthy relationship with it - date back to the Greeks. A beautiful specimen with no data is unlikely ever to be of more use in answering them than a vouchered and accurately recorded collecting event. Paul Callomon Collection Manager, Malacology and General Invertebrates ________________________________ Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University 1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia PA 19103-1195, USA prc44 at drexel.edu Tel 215-405-5096 - Fax 215-299-1170 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: image001.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 4940 bytes Desc: image001.jpg URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: image002.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 273403 bytes Desc: image002.jpg URL: ------------------------------ Message: 5 Date: Thu, 14 Oct 2021 20:59:35 +0000 From: "Callomon,Paul" To: Rob Robins , "Bentley, Andrew Charles" , Editor FourCats Press , "nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu" Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] No-data specimens and the Graveyard Conundrum Message-ID: Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Hi Rob, It was purely coincidence that I also used the term "graveyard" - no reference to your posting was intended. However, the comparison is apposite; if there's one thing a collection manager should be able to overrule a researcher on, it's space management. A CM's prime duty is to ensure the collection's long-term stability and sustainability, and hoping for a good outcome is a dereliction of that. Still, many administrators tend to look first at the person's salary rather than listening to what's being said. Paul Callomon Collection Manager, Malacology and General Invertebrates ________________________________ Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University 1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia PA 19103-1195, USA prc44 at drexel.edu Tel 215-405-5096 - Fax 215-299-1170 From: Rob Robins Sent: Thursday, October 14, 2021 4:55 PM To: Callomon,Paul ; Bentley, Andrew Charles ; Editor FourCats Press ; nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu Subject: RE: No-data specimens and the Graveyard Conundrum External. Hi Paul, Sorry, that wasn't the meaning I was trying to convey. This definition of "whistling past the graveyard" I had in mind: To proceed with a task, ignoring an upcoming hazard, hoping for a good outcome Wasn't about graveyards running out of space. Was about collections running out of space whilst ignoring best practices that would help them conserve it or collections failing to introduce new procedures that would utilize existing spaces more efficiently, prolonging the longevity of their facilities, etc. Best wishes, Rob Robert H. Robins Collection Manager Division of Ichthyology [FLMNH Fishes logo email small] Florida Museum 1659 Museum Rd. Gainesville, FL 32611-7800 Office: (352) 273-1957 rhrobins at flmnh.ufl.edu Search the Collection: https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://specifyportal.flmnh.ufl.edu/fishes/__;!!KGKeukY!hEUkKQ5ZkN_Qe6xfDHINpSAJWeDuKZbF4tBQ2jnodptG2Lmysmsz-CiYPvrnS326$ Search samples suitable for dna analysis: https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/grr/holdings/__;!!KGKeukY!hEUkKQ5ZkN_Qe6xfDHINpSAJWeDuKZbF4tBQ2jnodptG2Lmysmsz-CiYPi4ZKK6q$ [cid:image002.jpg at 01D7C11C.DCC23880] From: Nhcoll-l > On Behalf Of Callomon,Paul Sent: Thursday, October 14, 2021 3:52 PM To: Bentley, Andrew Charles >; Editor FourCats Press >; nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu Subject: [Nhcoll-l] No-data specimens and the Graveyard Conundrum [External Email] Several of the responses to this interesting thread point obliquely at the "graveyard conundrum". This is the famous proposal that if we continue to bury dead people in cemeteries we'll eventually run out of arable land and starve. Clearly that hasn't happened, so at some point someone must be making judgments as to what's worth keeping and what isn't. In building a working and teachable philosophy of natural history museums we need not only to establish some general criteria for "scientific value" (both now and hypothetically) but also be clear about who gets to make those calls. Many research scientists insist that every last microscope slide or voucher specimen from their entire careers be cataloged and that that be prioritized over acquiring and sorting the collections of "amateurs", a term at which many still sneer. Museum management, on the other hand, can be blithely ignorant of any scheme of priorities other than things they immediately understand - famous names and "rarities". When we think about the professionalization of collections management, therefore, a point we'd do well to promote is the collections manager as arbiter of value. (That's assuming that we don't hire people as CMs who are qualified and temperamentally inclined to be career researchers but who can't find a position at present so opt to "slum it" until something comes along). The ability to size up a body of material and see how it might fit into the grand narrative of the museum's collections is something long-term CMs can develop best, given their extensive institutional knowledge, generally collegial nature and tendency to be objective about a specimen's "story". A last point: techniques will certainly be developed in the future that will let us do things with specimens that we can't do now. However, the questions we are asking - what is the true nature of Nature and how do we maintain a healthy relationship with it - date back to the Greeks. A beautiful specimen with no data is unlikely ever to be of more use in answering them than a vouchered and accurately recorded collecting event. Paul Callomon Collection Manager, Malacology and General Invertebrates ________________________________ Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University 1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia PA 19103-1195, USA prc44 at drexel.edu Tel 215-405-5096 - Fax 215-299-1170 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: image001.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 4940 bytes Desc: image001.jpg URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: image002.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 273403 bytes Desc: image002.jpg URL: ------------------------------ Message: 6 Date: Thu, 14 Oct 2021 21:09:28 +0000 From: Rob Robins To: "Callomon,Paul" , "Bentley, Andrew Charles" , Editor FourCats Press , "nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu" Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] No-data specimens and the Graveyard Conundrum Message-ID: Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Well said, Paul! And I'm a fan of what you and your team at ANSP did with the trays in the malacology collection to more efficiently use space while improving access to the collections. Bravo! Wasted space abounds in collections.... Rob Robert H. Robins Collection Manager Division of Ichthyology [FLMNH Fishes logo email small] Florida Museum 1659 Museum Rd. Gainesville, FL 32611-7800 Office: (352) 273-1957 rhrobins at flmnh.ufl.edu Search the Collection: https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://specifyportal.flmnh.ufl.edu/fishes/__;!!KGKeukY!hEUkKQ5ZkN_Qe6xfDHINpSAJWeDuKZbF4tBQ2jnodptG2Lmysmsz-CiYPvrnS326$ Search samples suitable for dna analysis: https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/grr/holdings/__;!!KGKeukY!hEUkKQ5ZkN_Qe6xfDHINpSAJWeDuKZbF4tBQ2jnodptG2Lmysmsz-CiYPi4ZKK6q$ [cid:image002.jpg at 01D7C11E.3E28F450] From: Callomon,Paul Sent: Thursday, October 14, 2021 5:00 PM To: Rob Robins ; Bentley, Andrew Charles ; Editor FourCats Press ; nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu Subject: RE: No-data specimens and the Graveyard Conundrum [External Email] Hi Rob, It was purely coincidence that I also used the term "graveyard" - no reference to your posting was intended. However, the comparison is apposite; if there's one thing a collection manager should be able to overrule a researcher on, it's space management. A CM's prime duty is to ensure the collection's long-term stability and sustainability, and hoping for a good outcome is a dereliction of that. Still, many administrators tend to look first at the person's salary rather than listening to what's being said. Paul Callomon Collection Manager, Malacology and General Invertebrates ________________________________ Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University 1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia PA 19103-1195, USA prc44 at drexel.edu Tel 215-405-5096 - Fax 215-299-1170 From: Rob Robins > Sent: Thursday, October 14, 2021 4:55 PM To: Callomon,Paul >; Bentley, Andrew Charles >; Editor FourCats Press >; nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu Subject: RE: No-data specimens and the Graveyard Conundrum External. Hi Paul, Sorry, that wasn't the meaning I was trying to convey. This definition of "whistling past the graveyard" I had in mind: To proceed with a task, ignoring an upcoming hazard, hoping for a good outcome Wasn't about graveyards running out of space. Was about collections running out of space whilst ignoring best practices that would help them conserve it or collections failing to introduce new procedures that would utilize existing spaces more efficiently, prolonging the longevity of their facilities, etc. Best wishes, Rob Robert H. Robins Collection Manager Division of Ichthyology [FLMNH Fishes logo email small] Florida Museum 1659 Museum Rd. Gainesville, FL 32611-7800 Office: (352) 273-1957 rhrobins at flmnh.ufl.edu Search the Collection: https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://specifyportal.flmnh.ufl.edu/fishes/__;!!KGKeukY!hEUkKQ5ZkN_Qe6xfDHINpSAJWeDuKZbF4tBQ2jnodptG2Lmysmsz-CiYPvrnS326$ Search samples suitable for dna analysis: https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/grr/holdings/__;!!KGKeukY!hEUkKQ5ZkN_Qe6xfDHINpSAJWeDuKZbF4tBQ2jnodptG2Lmysmsz-CiYPi4ZKK6q$ [cid:image002.jpg at 01D7C11E.3E28F450] From: Nhcoll-l > On Behalf Of Callomon,Paul Sent: Thursday, October 14, 2021 3:52 PM To: Bentley, Andrew Charles >; Editor FourCats Press >; nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu Subject: [Nhcoll-l] No-data specimens and the Graveyard Conundrum [External Email] Several of the responses to this interesting thread point obliquely at the "graveyard conundrum". This is the famous proposal that if we continue to bury dead people in cemeteries we'll eventually run out of arable land and starve. Clearly that hasn't happened, so at some point someone must be making judgments as to what's worth keeping and what isn't. In building a working and teachable philosophy of natural history museums we need not only to establish some general criteria for "scientific value" (both now and hypothetically) but also be clear about who gets to make those calls. Many research scientists insist that every last microscope slide or voucher specimen from their entire careers be cataloged and that that be prioritized over acquiring and sorting the collections of "amateurs", a term at which many still sneer. Museum management, on the other hand, can be blithely ignorant of any scheme of priorities other than things they immediately understand - famous names and "rarities". When we think about the professionalization of collections management, therefore, a point we'd do well to promote is the collections manager as arbiter of value. (That's assuming that we don't hire people as CMs who are qualified and temperamentally inclined to be career researchers but who can't find a position at present so opt to "slum it" until something comes along). The ability to size up a body of material and see how it might fit into the grand narrative of the museum's collections is something long-term CMs can develop best, given their extensive institutional knowledge, generally collegial nature and tendency to be objective about a specimen's "story". A last point: techniques will certainly be developed in the future that will let us do things with specimens that we can't do now. However, the questions we are asking - what is the true nature of Nature and how do we maintain a healthy relationship with it - date back to the Greeks. A beautiful specimen with no data is unlikely ever to be of more use in answering them than a vouchered and accurately recorded collecting event. Paul Callomon Collection Manager, Malacology and General Invertebrates ________________________________ Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University 1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia PA 19103-1195, USA prc44 at drexel.edu Tel 215-405-5096 - Fax 215-299-1170 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: image001.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 4940 bytes Desc: image001.jpg URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: image002.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 273403 bytes Desc: image002.jpg URL: ------------------------------ Subject: Digest Footer _______________________________________________ Nhcoll-l mailing list Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l__;!!KGKeukY!hEUkKQ5ZkN_Qe6xfDHINpSAJWeDuKZbF4tBQ2jnodptG2Lmysmsz-CiYPuSJEZdS$ _______________________________________________ NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to society. See https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.spnhc.org__;!!KGKeukY!hEUkKQ5ZkN_Qe6xfDHINpSAJWeDuKZbF4tBQ2jnodptG2Lmysmsz-CiYPswU8y9I$ for membership information. Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. ------------------------------ End of Nhcoll-l Digest, Vol 113, Issue 5 **************************************** -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From Federica.Turco at csiro.au Fri Oct 15 06:53:42 2021 From: Federica.Turco at csiro.au (Turco, Federica (NCMI, Black Mountain)) Date: Fri, 15 Oct 2021 10:53:42 +0000 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Canberra-based National Research Collections Australia closing for relocation Message-ID: Hi all, This is Federica Turco, Collection Manager of the Australian National Insect Collection (ANIC). I am reaching out to you all on this mailing list to inform you of an imminent temporary closure of the National Research Collections Australia based in Canberra, to allow us to prepare for and to relocate to a new facility in 2024. Please find attached a letter from Prof Andrew Young, Director of the National Research Collections Australia (NRCA), which includes more details. Kind regards to all, Federica Dr Federica Turco Collection Manager, Australian National Insect Collection (ANIC) National Research Collections Australia (NRCA) National Collections and Marine Infrastructure (NCMI) Phone: +61 2 6246 4284 | Fax: +61 2 6246 4264 federica.turco at csiro.au Address: Clunies Ross Street, Acton, ACT 2601 | GPO Box 1700, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia Delivery Address: ANIC CSIRO: Black Mountain Stores, Bld 801: Clunies Ross St, Acton, ACT 2601 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: NRCA_Relocation_2022_AndrewYoung.pdf Type: application/pdf Size: 128939 bytes Desc: NRCA_Relocation_2022_AndrewYoung.pdf URL: From yuri.1 at osu.edu Fri Oct 15 09:50:07 2021 From: yuri.1 at osu.edu (Yuri, Tamaki) Date: Fri, 15 Oct 2021 13:50:07 +0000 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] The best way to preserve birds in spirit - revisited Message-ID: Hi all, I found the following message by Simon Moore posted back in 2019 responding to Tonya Haff?s question about the best way to preserve birds in spirit. I would like to preserve some bird specimens in alcohol (after fixing them in 10% formalin) and am interested in using this method to preserve color of feathers. Has anyone tried this method before or since this message was posted? Are there any issues with this method of preservation? I also saw that adding glycerine in alcohol alone can help preserve the color. I am curious if anyone has done that as well. I would really appreciate any help. Tamaki Tamaki Yuri, Ph.D. Curator of Tetrapods Collection Museum of Biological Diversity The Ohio State University 1315 Kinnear Rd, Columbus, OH 43212 yuri.1 at osu.edu / mbd.osu.edu ________________________________ Hi Tonya, Bear in mind that EtOH is not a proper fixative and this would account for ?squishiness?! There was an ornithologist called Serventy from Australia who formulated a special fluid for preserving colour in bird feathers: Serventy's Colour Preserving fluid for Parrots 70% alcohol - 90 pts 36.5% formaldehyde - 5 pts Glycerine - 5 pts Given the formalin present, this would likely serve as a fixative and preservative, although, for a fresh specimen, an immersion in 10% formalin (and injecting it into the body cavities) for a few days (not as much as 10, that may compromise DNA) will benefit its long term preservation. Bear in mind that Serventy?s fluid appeared when molecular biology was in its infancy and not a preservation issue. With all good wishes, Simon. Simon Moore MIScT, RSci, FLS, ACR Conservator of Natural Sciences and Cutlery Historian, www.natural-history-conservation.com [The Ohio State University] Tamaki Yuri, Ph.D. Curator of Tetrapod Collection Museum of Biological Diversity College of Arts & Sciences Department of Evolution, Ecology and Organismal Biology 1315 Kinnear Rd, Columbus, OH 43212 yuri.1 at osu.edu / mbd.osu.edu Buckeyes consider the environment before printing. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: image001.png Type: image/png Size: 3607 bytes Desc: image001.png URL: From sweet at amnh.org Fri Oct 15 12:54:02 2021 From: sweet at amnh.org (Paul R Sweet) Date: Fri, 15 Oct 2021 16:54:02 +0000 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Ornithology Museum Specialist position at American Museum of Natural History Message-ID: On behalf of Dr. Joel Cracraft I am posting a job announcement for a Museum Specialist in the Department of Ornithology at the American Museum of Natural History. The Department of Ornithology, American Museum of Natural History, is now searching for a full-time Museum Specialist. Job duties include participation in care of collections, assistance in collection moves, specimen preparation, processing information requests and loans, integrated pest management, specimen cataloging and databasing, and assisting visitors. Other duties as assigned. Requirements include at least a bachelor's degree in biology. Work or academic experience with birds, previous museum experience, and a background in systematics and/or vertebrate morphology are desirable. Applicants should have the ability to work well with others and work independently when necessary, have good manual dexterity sufficient for duties above, and have attention to detail and strong computer skills. Prospective candidates should apply to the AMNH website at: https://careers.amnh.org/postings/search We ask applicants to include a cover letter detailing their qualifications and provide the names of up to three potential referees. The Department will begin screening applicants 15 November 2021. Applicants must already be able to work in the United States. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From Lennart.Lennuk at loodusmuuseum.ee Mon Oct 18 05:20:11 2021 From: Lennart.Lennuk at loodusmuuseum.ee (Lennart Lennuk) Date: Mon, 18 Oct 2021 09:20:11 +0000 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] regulations on sending biological or geological material to another country in europe Message-ID: Dear all, This letter is foremost for those who deal with international loans in europe. Is there any guidelines on regulations for biological and geological collections when sending specimens to another country. Offcourse those regulations depend on the origin of specimens and also countries. I have only done one international loan this far. It was from Estonia to England. I had to check the endangered species list ? this time the species I was sending was not in the list but what if I want to send endangered species? I also asked board of agriculture and board if there is need for theri permission ? this far there was no permission needed because we send skulls that were already cleaned. Is there any regulations on sending herbarium or geological specimens? Best regards! Lennart Lennuk Head of collections Estonian Museum of Natural History +372 6603404, 56569916 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From neumann at snsb.de Mon Oct 18 06:34:55 2021 From: neumann at snsb.de (Dirk Neumann) Date: Mon, 18 Oct 2021 12:34:55 +0200 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] regulations on sending biological or geological material to another country in europe In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <6e26fc18-9c0b-44ca-b5f5-3358907c05f6@snsb.de> Dear Lennart, basic requirements are summarised in this article ; we currently plan to update the SPNHC Wiki pages but I am behind my schedule. There may be two workshops shortly dealing with this, one at the MfN in Berlin end of November (to be announced), the other at the SPNHC conference in Edinburgh next year. with regard to sending material to the UK after the Brexit, it might be useful to contact collegaues there directly, or to consult with colleagues at the NHM in London; the latter are very firm with regards to zoological objects and necessary adjustments (if any) after the UK left the EU. In principle (at least from what I know), the most EU laws were 1:1 translated into UK laws for the moment, but there may be exceptions (UK colleagues may chip in). For herbarium material I would ask colleagues at Edinburgh or Kew. Geology you surely will have to consider customs laws, depending on the objects/minerals and their marketable/insurance value Edangered species: as long as this is preserved museum materials shipped within Europe, you only need to have CITES in mind now after the UK left. For all shipments within the EU and the Single Market, you don't need to register and report these shipments, but it is worth to add specific paperwork and information (shipping docs). With best wishes Dirk Am 18.10.2021 um 11:20 schrieb Lennart Lennuk: > > Dear all, > > This letter is foremost for those who deal with international loans in > europe. > > Is there any guidelines on regulations for biological and geological > collections when sending > > specimens to another country. Offcourse those regulations depend on > the origin of specimens and also > > countries. > > I have only done one international loan this far. It was from Estonia > to England. > > I had to check the endangered species list ? this time the species I > was sending was not in the list but what if I want to send endangered > species? > > I also asked board of agriculture and board if there is need for theri > permission ? this far there was no permission needed because we send > skulls that were already cleaned. > > Is there any regulations on sending herbarium or geological specimens? > > Best regards! > > Lennart Lennuk > > Head of collections > > Estonian Museum of Natural History > > +372 6603404, 56569916 > > > _______________________________________________ > Nhcoll-l mailing list > Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu > https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l > > _______________________________________________ > NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of > Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose > mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of > natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to > society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. > Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. -- Dirk Neumann Tel: 089 / 8107-111 Fax: 089 / 8107-300 neumann(a)snsb.de Postanschrift: Staatliche Naturwissenschaftliche Sammlungen Bayerns Zoologische Staatssammlung M?nchen Dirk Neumann, Sektion Ichthyologie / DNA-Storage M?nchhausenstr. 21 81247 M?nchen Besuchen Sie unsere Sammlung: http://www.zsm.mwn.de/sektion/ichthyologie-home/ --------- Dirk Neumann Tel: +49-89-8107-111 Fax: +49-89-8107-300 neumann(a)snsb.de postal address: Bavarian Natural History Collections The Bavarian State Collection of Zoology Dirk Neumann, Section Ichthyology / DNA-Storage Muenchhausenstr. 21 81247 Munich (Germany) Visit our section at: http://www.zsm.mwn.de/sektion/ichthyologie-home/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: ejkbcjdpljhmigok.png Type: image/png Size: 23308 bytes Desc: not available URL: From Andrew.Haycock at museumwales.ac.uk Mon Oct 18 07:46:44 2021 From: Andrew.Haycock at museumwales.ac.uk (Andrew Haycock) Date: Mon, 18 Oct 2021 11:46:44 +0000 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] FW: The Geological Curator journal In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Apologies for cross-posting, please see below. Many thanks, Kind regards Andrew Haycock From: Subject: The Geological Curator journal Importance: High Dear all, The Geological Curators' Group (https://www.geocurator.org/) publishes a peer-reviewed journal 'The Geological Curator' for which we are always willing to receive papers on all relevant geological subjects, such as: * Curation / collections management * Collecting * Collection reviews * Digitisation / Imaging / Replication * Conservation / Preparation * Learning/Education * Public engagement / Citizen Science/ Volunteers * Exhibitions / Display techniques * The geological trade * Museum management * History of geological collections/collectors/museums * Geoheritage / Geoconservation * Policies / Ethics We normally publish issues twice a year (winter and summer), and are actively looking for submissions just now. Deadline is end of October for submission in our next issue. Papers must meet the journal requirements and are subject to peer-review. Instructions for authors, journal policies, and previous issues (including open access issues) can be found on the following page: https://www.geocurator.org/resources/18-geological-curator Journal access is normally restricted to GCG members only for two years, after which they are open to all on our website. If you would like to submit a manuscript for consideration or propose a contribution please email journal at geocurator.org - we would love to hear from you! Best Wishes, The GCG committee ________________________________ ________________________________ To unsubscribe from the GEO-CURATORS list, click the following link: https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/WA-JISC.exe?SUBED1=GEO-CURATORS&A=1 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From liathappleton at gmail.com Mon Oct 18 10:38:09 2021 From: liathappleton at gmail.com (Liath Appleton) Date: Mon, 18 Oct 2021 09:38:09 -0500 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] SPNHC Connection fall edition is online! Message-ID: The fall edition of the SPNHC Connection newsletter is available online. Log in at spnhc.org and go to https://spnhc.org/resources/spnhc-connection-october-2021/ You must be logged in to view this page. The SPNHC Connection newsletter is published twice a year. It contains reports from the Society?s officers and committees, news items, and other articles of general interest to the membership. Liath Appleton Collections Manager Non-Vertebrate Paleontology Lab University of Texas at Austin Bldg PRC122 - campus mail code R8500 10100 Burnet Road Austin, TX 78758 SPNHC Connection Editor (newsletter at spnhc.org) SPNHC Web Manager (webmaster at spnhc.org) www.spnhc.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From membership at spnhc.org Mon Oct 18 14:04:47 2021 From: membership at spnhc.org (membership at spnhc.org) Date: Mon, 18 Oct 2021 14:04:47 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [Nhcoll-l] SPNHC 2022 Symposia/Workshop Submission Deadline - 22nd October 2021! Message-ID: <1634580287.29896681@apps.rackspace.com> Just over a week to go to submit your symposia or workshop for SPNHC 2022 [ View this email in your browser ]( https://mailchi.mp/8cba31944d45/spnhc-2022-submissions-for-symposia-and-workshops-1099676?e=f2593eef9f ) SPNHC 2022 Symposia & Workshop Submission Deadline ** Friday 22nd October 2021 ** Just over a week to go to submit a workshop or symposium suggestion for SPNHC 2022. To submit, click the button below. [ Submit now ]( https://in-conference.us3.list-manage.com/track/click?u=4c9e59423213a0fe996c9862d&id=538972cfe8&e=f2593eef9f ) The meeting of the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC) and International Partner ? BHL (Biodiversity Heritage Library) and National Partner ? NatSCA (Natural Sciences Collections Association) will take place at Edinburgh First Campus in Edinburgh, Scotland from the 4th - 10th of June 2022. The conference theme is: Through the door and through the web: releasing the power of natural history collections onsite and online Key Dates Workshop/Symposia Submission Deadline -22.10.21 Workshop/Symposia Notification -05.11.21 Abstract Submission Open -12.11.21 Registration Open -12.11.21 SPNHC 2022 is presented by the National Museums of Scotland and the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. [ ]( https://in-conference.us3.list-manage.com/track/click?u=4c9e59423213a0fe996c9862d&id=3545d84052&e=f2593eef9f ) You are receiving this email as you have registered your interest for SPNHC 2022 Copyright ? 2021 In Conference, All rights reserved. You are receiving this newsletter because you are a previous attendee of a SPNHC meeting or have expressed an interest in the meeting. Our mailing address is: In Conference Unit 1 Q CourtEdinburgh, Midlothian EH54BP United Kingdom [ Add us to your address book ]( https://in-conference.us3.list-manage.com/vcard?u=4c9e59423213a0fe996c9862d&id=b2b7e8c0d5 ) Want to change how you receive these emails? You can [ update your preferences ]( https://in-conference.us3.list-manage.com/profile?u=4c9e59423213a0fe996c9862d&id=b2b7e8c0d5&e=f2593eef9f&c=7cd75a20e9 ) or [ unsubscribe from this list ]( https://in-conference.us3.list-manage.com/unsubscribe?u=4c9e59423213a0fe996c9862d&id=b2b7e8c0d5&e=f2593eef9f&c=7cd75a20e9 ). -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From Jesyka.Melendez at humboldt.edu Wed Oct 20 11:29:55 2021 From: Jesyka.Melendez at humboldt.edu (Jesyka Melendez) Date: Wed, 20 Oct 2021 08:29:55 -0700 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Galvanized steel museum cabinets and long-term specimen storage (?) Message-ID: Dear all, I was hoping some of you might be able to shed light on any potential problems associated with long-term specimen storage (e.g. skins + bones) in galvanized steel cabinets. I've been told that there are long-term specimen storage issues related to off-gassing from the cabinets, but I haven't been able to find any documentation on this or any other issues. Any insight you are able to provide would be greatly appreciated! -- *Jesyka Mel?ndez Rosa, **Ph.D.* Lecturer and Vertebrate Museum Collections Manager Department of Biological Sciences Humboldt State University Arcata, CA 95521 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From erin.kuprewicz at uconn.edu Thu Oct 21 10:07:49 2021 From: erin.kuprewicz at uconn.edu (Kuprewicz, Erin) Date: Thu, 21 Oct 2021 14:07:49 +0000 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] CSMNH - job search - Museum Program, Database, and Administrative Coordinator Message-ID: <32C5E2FE-16F0-411A-830B-5E546BA2AF3D@uconn.edu> Hi NHCOLL community, The Connecticut State Museum of Natural History (CSMNH) is currently looking to hire a Museum Program, Database, and Administrative Coordinator. Please see the job ad linked below: https://jobs.hr.uconn.edu/cw/en-us/job/495707/museum-program-database-and-administrative-coordinator-educational-program-coordinator Feel free to email me if you have any questions! Onwards to glory, Erin Kuprewicz --------- Erin K. Kuprewicz, Ph.D. Natural History Engagement Specialist / Collections Manager Connecticut State Museum of Natural History (CSMNH) Institute of the Environment Tel: +1 860-486-4460 Vertebrate Collections Manager Biodiversity Research Collections (BRC) Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Tel: +1 860-486-8945 University of Connecticut 75 North Eagleville Road, Unit 3043 Storrs, CT 06268-3043 USA http://www.erinkuprewicz.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From schubert at etsu.edu Thu Oct 21 12:17:38 2021 From: schubert at etsu.edu (Blaine Schubert) Date: Thu, 21 Oct 2021 12:17:38 -0400 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Dealing with cracked carnivoran teeth In-Reply-To: <32C5E2FE-16F0-411A-830B-5E546BA2AF3D@uconn.edu> References: <32C5E2FE-16F0-411A-830B-5E546BA2AF3D@uconn.edu> Message-ID: I am wondering if anyone has been successful at mending modern carnivoran teeth that are cracked and slightly warped. This is a major issue with our bear collection. Best, Blaine -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From gshugart at pugetsound.edu Thu Oct 21 13:39:34 2021 From: gshugart at pugetsound.edu (Gary W Shugart) Date: Thu, 21 Oct 2021 17:39:34 +0000 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Dealing with cracked carnivoran teeth In-Reply-To: References: <32C5E2FE-16F0-411A-830B-5E546BA2AF3D@uconn.edu>, Message-ID: <1634837973998.63236@pugetsound.edu> ?Hi All: This has always been a puzzle for our collection. Almost all the large carnivore teeth especially canines are cracked and/or flaking. The longitudinal cracks appear as the teeth dry, often within a few months. Taxidermist (Van Dykes) sell replacement teeth of plastic and there are many suggestion on taxidermy site on repairing cracks. Or maybe pull the teeth, 3D print substitutes, and keep the originals moist? My dentist suggested that this is why you should keep your mouth closed when running or biking - to prevent drying you teeth. Gary Shugart ________________________________ From: Nhcoll-l on behalf of Blaine Schubert Sent: Thursday, October 21, 2021 9:17 AM To: nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Dealing with cracked carnivoran teeth I am wondering if anyone has been successful at mending modern carnivoran teeth that are cracked and slightly warped. This is a major issue with our bear collection. Best, Blaine -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From jteisher at mobot.org Thu Oct 21 14:12:55 2021 From: jteisher at mobot.org (Jordan Teisher) Date: Thu, 21 Oct 2021 18:12:55 +0000 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] MO Contact Updates Message-ID: Dear Colleagues, There have been some staffing changes at the Missouri Botanical Garden Herbarium. Jim Solomon has retired as the curator of the herbarium, though he is still very much an active and valued curator emeritus. I am taking over for Jim, and I am looking forward to the challenge of trying to fill his unfillable shoes. In addition, Lauren Boyle is our new collection manager, and we will be working together to oversee daily operations at MO. Lastly, to make managing herbarium communications a bit easier, we are setting up a new email account to which all general herbarium inquiries can be addressed: herbarium at mobot.org. This account is for the vascular plants only; please continue to use existing contact information for access to and questions concerning the Crosby Bryophyte Herbarium. Please feel free to contact Lauren or me if you have any questions. I hope you will also join me in thanking Jim Solomon for his many years of service to the herbarium and the botanical community in general and in wishing him a happy retirement! Sincerely, Jordan K. Teisher, Ph.D. Curator and Director of the Herbarium Missouri Botanical Garden 4344 Shaw Blvd St. Louis, MO 63110 Tel: (314) 577-6209 jteisher at mobot.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From Mary.Sollows at nbm-mnb.ca Thu Oct 21 15:45:07 2021 From: Mary.Sollows at nbm-mnb.ca (Mary Sollows) Date: Thu, 21 Oct 2021 19:45:07 +0000 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Thermal Printers for Wet Collection Labels Message-ID: Hello everyone, Does anyone have experience using the Honeywell PX940 thermal printer for producing labels to be stored in ethanol for wet collections? I am interested in the printer's ability to consistently produce high quality, legible print without having to deal with frequent ribbon wrinkling. We need to replace our old model Datamax 300 dpi printer as soon as possible. Based on reviews from other museums, we investigated the availability of Honeywell PM43 (nearing its End of Life status), Honeywell PM45 (not yet released) and the CAB Squix 4 (estimate delivery time is sometime in 2022). I would really appreciate your advice. Regards, Mary Mary Sollows, M.Sc. Curatorial and Research Technician|Technicienne de conservation et recherche Department of Natural History / D?partement d'histoire naturelle New Brunswick Museum / Mus?e du Nouveau-Brunswick 277 Douglas Ave. Saint John, New Brunswick Canada E2K 1E5 Mary.Sollows at nbm-mnb.ca tel: (506) 643-2365 fax: (506) 643-2360 http://www.nbm-mnb.ca/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From membership at spnhc.org Thu Oct 21 17:34:39 2021 From: membership at spnhc.org (membership at spnhc.org) Date: Thu, 21 Oct 2021 17:34:39 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [Nhcoll-l] SPNHC 2022 Symposia/Workshop Submission Deadline - Friday 22nd October 2021 @ Midnight BST Message-ID: <1634852079.760330856@apps.rackspace.com> -----Original Message----- From: "Adrain, Tiffany S" Sent: Thursday, October 21, 2021 11:18am To: "membership at spnhc.org" Subject: Fw: [External] SPNHC 2022 Symposia/Workshop Submission Deadline - 24 hours to go! From: SPNHC 2022 Sent: Thursday, October 21, 2021 9:59 AM To: Adrain, Tiffany S Subject: [External] SPNHC 2022 Symposia/Workshop Submission Deadline - 24 hours to go! Just over 24 hours until the submission deadline [ View this email in your browser ]( https://mailchi.mp/7f9e7b8eb92f/spnhc-2022-submissions-for-symposia-and-workshops-1099708?e=f2593eef9f ) SPNHC 2022 Symposia & Workshop Submission Deadline ** Friday 22nd October 2021 @ Midnight BST ** Just over 24 hours to go to submit a workshop or symposium suggestion for SPNHC 2022. To submit, click the button below. [ Submit now ]( https://in-conference.us3.list-manage.com/track/click?u=4c9e59423213a0fe996c9862d&id=d16bcb372e&e=f2593eef9f ) The meeting of the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC) and International Partner ? BHL (Biodiversity Heritage Library) and National Partner ? NatSCA (Natural Sciences Collections Association) will take place at Edinburgh First Campus in Edinburgh, Scotland from the 4th - 10th of June 2022. The conference theme is: Through the door and through the web: releasing the power of natural history collections onsite and online Key Dates Workshop/Symposia Submission Deadline -22.10.21 Workshop/Symposia Notification -05.11.21 Abstract Submission Open -12.11.21 Registration Open -12.11.21 SPNHC 2022 is presented by the National Museums of Scotland and the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. [ ]( https://in-conference.us3.list-manage.com/track/click?u=4c9e59423213a0fe996c9862d&id=70736dbd5c&e=f2593eef9f ) You are receiving this email as you have registered your interest for SPNHC 2022 Copyright ? 2021 In Conference, All rights reserved. You are receiving this newsletter because you are a previous attendee of a SPNHC meeting or have expressed an interest in the meeting. Our mailing address is: In Conference Unit 1 Q CourtEdinburgh, Midlothian EH54BP United Kingdom [ Add us to your address book ]( https://in-conference.us3.list-manage.com/vcard?u=4c9e59423213a0fe996c9862d&id=b2b7e8c0d5 ) Want to change how you receive these emails? You can [ update your preferences ]( https://in-conference.us3.list-manage.com/profile?u=4c9e59423213a0fe996c9862d&id=b2b7e8c0d5&e=f2593eef9f&c=c3b7d9a68e ) or [ unsubscribe from this list ]( https://in-conference.us3.list-manage.com/unsubscribe?u=4c9e59423213a0fe996c9862d&id=b2b7e8c0d5&e=f2593eef9f&c=c3b7d9a68e ). -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From couteaufin at btinternet.com Sun Oct 24 12:21:56 2021 From: couteaufin at btinternet.com (Simon Moore) Date: Sun, 24 Oct 2021 17:21:56 +0100 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Dealing with cracked carnivoran teeth In-Reply-To: <1634837973998.63236@pugetsound.edu> References: <32C5E2FE-16F0-411A-830B-5E546BA2AF3D@uconn.edu>, <1634837973998.63236@pugetsound.edu> Message-ID: <6139429006AA70FD@sa-prd-rgout-003.btmx-prd.synchronoss.net> (added by postmaster@btinternet.com) I have also found this to be a problem as I used to prepare many carnivore skulls (and others) from fresh, when I worked at the NH Museum in London (pre-1991). Only the canines tended to crack / delaminate whereas the other teeth were fine. As suspected, this has to be with the drying process (too rapid and leading to this problem). I have known ivory dealers (pre-1947) have the same problem if RH dropped below c. 55% and they would put bowls of water into their display cases to counteract the drying effect of the lighting. I have also excavated many 17th century ivory handled knives from the river Thames many years ago ? same problem, as they gradually dried out, many (but not all) split longitudinally or at least slightly delaminated. I realise that ivory and teeth are not quite the same composition but there seems to be a parallel. However the question as to why canine teeth seem to be much more vulnerable to this problem (and ivory) is still unanswered! Simon Moore, MIScT, FLS, RScI, ACR, Conservator of Natural Sciences and Cutlery Historian www.natural-history-conservation.com Sent from Mail for Windows 10 From: Gary W Shugart Sent: 21 October 2021 18:39 To: Blaine Schubert; nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] Dealing with cracked carnivoran teeth ?Hi All:? This has always been a puzzle for our collection.? Almost all the large carnivore teeth especially canines are cracked and/or flaking. The longitudinal cracks appear as the teeth dry, often within a few months. Taxidermist (Van Dykes) sell replacement teeth of plastic and there are many suggestion on taxidermy site on repairing cracks.? Or maybe pull the teeth, 3D print substitutes, and keep the originals moist? My dentist suggested that this is why you should keep your mouth closed when running or biking - to prevent drying you teeth.? Gary Shugart From: Nhcoll-l on behalf of Blaine Schubert Sent: Thursday, October 21, 2021 9:17 AM To: nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Dealing with cracked carnivoran teeth ? I am wondering if anyone has been successful at mending modern carnivoran teeth that are cracked and slightly warped.? This is a major issue with our bear collection. Best, Blaine -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: 4734F70A42E84CD2B9049BA66EC9A79E.png Type: image/png Size: 159 bytes Desc: not available URL: From jpandey at aibs.org Mon Oct 25 11:00:00 2021 From: jpandey at aibs.org (Jyotsna Pandey) Date: Mon, 25 Oct 2021 11:00:00 -0400 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] International Workshop Series: How does sharing genetic sequence data impact biodiversity science and conservation? In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: International Workshop Series: How does sharing genetic sequence data impact biodiversity science and conservation? With support from the National Science Foundation, the American Institute of Biological Sciences and the USA Nagoya Protocol Action Group are organizing an online workshop series to explore how the international scientific community can study biodiversity in the changing landscape of international policy. Registration is currently open for the sessions on October 29 and November 15, 2021. Stay tuned for information about additional sessions in this series. Visit the series page: io.aibs.org/nagoya *The Role of International Collaborations in Resolving Viral Diseases of Cassava in Africa* Despite decades of work around the world to address cassava viral diseases, which are among the most devastating crop diseases in Africa, we are only just beginning to understand the complexity of the system. Continued international collaboration ? and particularly robust inclusion of researchers on the continent, as well as sharing of data among labs around the world ? will be critical to advance the research toward disease mitigation or prevention. *Date*: October 29, 2021 *Time*: 9:00 - 11:00 AM EST or 1:00 - 3:00 PM UTC (this program will be recorded) *Location*: Online via Zoom *Hosted by:* American Society of Plant Biologists *Learn more and register at:* https://www.aibs.org/news/2021/211005-nagoya-workshop-two.html *More than Potatoes: Collaboration for Collecting and Building the Tree of Life* Leandro and Sandy have collaborated for over a decade to understand the evolution and diversity of the nightshade family (Solanaceae). Join them in a conversation about what it takes to make collections and phylogenetic studies have the greatest societal impacts. *Date*: November 15, 2021 *Time*: 9:00 - 11:00 AM EST or 2:00 - 4:00 PM UTC (This program will be recorded) *Location*: Online via Zoom *Hosted by:* American Society of Plant Taxonomists & Botanical Society of America *Learn more and register at:* https://www.aibs.org/news/2021/211020-nagoya-workshop-three.html ___________________ Jyotsna Pandey, Ph.D. Director of Public Policy American Institute of Biological Sciences (AIBS) -- This message is confidential and should only be read by its intended recipients.? If you have received it in error, please notify the sender and delete all copies. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From Amanda.Bremner at nbm-mnb.ca Mon Oct 25 13:01:24 2021 From: Amanda.Bremner at nbm-mnb.ca (Amanda Bremner) Date: Mon, 25 Oct 2021 17:01:24 +0000 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] international shipments being held up and extra fees Message-ID: Dear list serve members, I am curious to know whether anyone is having difficulty this year with international research loan shipments of specimens being held at Customs brokers, and if your institutions are being charged additional, unexpected fees for incoming shipments (mainly returning loans). Our borrowers have been using FedEx to return material to us, and unlike past years, we are frequently having packages held at Customs, followed by bills for additional unexpected brokerage fees to allow clearance of these packages. When I send out a package and fill out the FedEx waybill I always opt to choose FedEx as the customs broker. I always include a clear description of our shipment contents (including taxon names, preservation method, weight, country of Origin, total declared value of $20 CAD) and HS code 9705.00 (for botanical, zoological, palaeontological collections). I always include a boilerplate on the outside of the package and a label for dangerous goods in excepted quantities if the shipment contains 70% or 95% ethanol. I always note that it is a commercial shipment and use the commercial invoice generated by FedEx. Also, recently, even after I opted to choose FedEx to be the broker for an outgoing shipment to Spain, FedEx requested the recipient to fill out a "Power of Attorney" form to state that they would like FedEx to be the broker. I called FedEx and they gave me no explanation, other than stating that Customs in Spain had requested this. I would like to know if any other institutions are having any issues with packages being held up and if they are being charged extra brokerage fees. Also, does anyone have any advice on how we can avoid packages being held at Customs and how we can avoid the extra unexpected brokerage fees? Thank you for your time, Amanda Amanda Bremner, M.Sc. Coordinator, Natural History loans and databases / Coordinateur, pr?ts et bases de donn?es d'histoire naturelle Department of Natural History/ D?partement d'histoire naturelle New Brunswick Museum/Mus?e du Nouveau-Brunswick 277 Douglas Avenue/ 277, avenue Douglas Saint John, New Brunswick/ Saint John (Nouveau-Brunswick) Canada E2K 1E5 Amanda.Bremner at nbm-mnb.ca -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From neumann at snsb.de Mon Oct 25 13:13:42 2021 From: neumann at snsb.de (Neumann, Dirk) Date: Mon, 25 Oct 2021 19:13:42 +0200 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] international shipments being held up and extra fees In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <77f18a7fd2a2103b8488825805e1eb04@zsm.mwn.de> Dear Amanda, regarding inspection costs charged for return shipments arriving via the FedEx Airhub in Cologne/Bonn, this is rather a German issue on a federal level; please check if these are "just" internal handling costs (pure brokerage costs), or involving additional costs (e.g. veterinarian clearance for preserved zoological specimens). You can claim part of the costs, but we may sort this out via phone or direct emails. If you are not a regular FedEx shipper, FedEx (and all other postal carriers) need a mandate to do the customs clearance. If they don't have this, you/your institution would need to clear consignments via direct ATLAS entries using you institutional EORI-number. You can do this, but you need an own account for this. In this case, you would act as responsible broker (and not FedEx). Hope this answers your questions, if not, let's continue offline. with best wishes Dirk Am 2021-10-25 19:01, schrieb Amanda Bremner: > Dear list serve members, > > I am curious to know whether anyone is having difficulty this year > with international research loan shipments of specimens being held at > Customs brokers, and if your institutions are being charged > additional, unexpected fees for incoming shipments (mainly returning > loans). Our borrowers have been using FedEx to return material to us, > and unlike past years, we are frequently having packages held at > Customs, followed by bills for additional unexpected brokerage fees to > allow clearance of these packages. > > When I send out a package and fill out the FedEx waybill I always opt > to choose FedEx as the customs broker. I always include a clear > description of our shipment contents (including taxon names, > preservation method, weight, country of Origin, total declared value > of $20 CAD) and HS code 9705.00 (for botanical, zoological, > palaeontological collections). I always include a boilerplate on the > outside of the package and a label for dangerous goods in excepted > quantities if the shipment contains 70% or 95% ethanol. I always note > that it is a commercial shipment and use the commercial invoice > generated by FedEx. > > Also, recently, even after I opted to choose FedEx to be the broker > for an outgoing shipment to Spain, FedEx requested the recipient to > fill out a "Power of Attorney" form to state that they would like > FedEx to be the broker. I called FedEx and they gave me no > explanation, other than stating that Customs in Spain had requested > this. > > I would like to know if any other institutions are having any issues > with packages being held up and if they are being charged extra > brokerage fees. Also, does anyone have any advice on how we can avoid > packages being held at Customs and how we can avoid the extra > unexpected brokerage fees? > > Thank you for your time, > > Amanda > > Amanda Bremner, M.Sc. > > Coordinator, Natural History loans and databases / Coordinateur, > pr?ts et bases de donn?es d'histoire naturelle > > Department of Natural History/ D?partement d'histoire naturelle > > New Brunswick Museum/Mus?e du Nouveau-Brunswick > > 277 Douglas Avenue/ 277, avenue Douglas > > Saint John, New Brunswick/ Saint John (Nouveau-Brunswick) > > Canada E2K 1E5 > > Amanda.Bremner at nbm-mnb.ca > _______________________________________________ > Nhcoll-l mailing list > Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu > https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l > > _______________________________________________ > NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of > Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose > mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of > natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to > society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. > Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. From dyanega at gmail.com Mon Oct 25 14:14:23 2021 From: dyanega at gmail.com (Douglas Yanega) Date: Mon, 25 Oct 2021 11:14:23 -0700 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] international shipments being held up and extra fees In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <24cf4af4-3ada-eb4f-bfcd-1d47fe96bf69@gmail.com> On 10/25/21 10:01 AM, Amanda Bremner wrote: > When I send out a package and fill out the FedEx waybill I always opt > to choose FedEx as the customs broker. I always include a clear > description of our shipment contents (including taxon names, > preservation method, weight, country of Origin, total declared value > of $20 CAD) and HS code 9705.00 (for botanical, zoological, > palaeontological collections).? I always include a boilerplate on the > outside of the package and a label for dangerous goods in excepted > quantities if the shipment contains 70% or 95% ethanol.? I always note > that it is a commercial shipment and use the commercial invoice > generated by FedEx. > There are two substantial differences between your protocol and what entomology museums like ours use for insect specimens: (1) We always use regular postal delivery, and their standard postal Customs declaration. (2) We always explicitly state the shipment has zero commercial value (and no declared value). Otherwise we adhere to the protocol you give. Our shipments are almost never held up, and if they are, it's almost always for a veterinary clearance. It could be a mix of those two factors that make things go more smoothly, hard to say whether just one of them alone makes all the difference. Peace, -- Doug Yanega Dept. of Entomology Entomology Research Museum Univ. of California, Riverside, CA 92521-0314 skype: dyanega phone: (951) 827-4315 (disclaimer: opinions are mine, not UCR's) https://faculty.ucr.edu/~heraty/yanega.html "There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness is the true method" - Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chap. 82 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From membership at spnhc.org Mon Oct 25 15:35:07 2021 From: membership at spnhc.org (membership at spnhc.org) Date: Mon, 25 Oct 2021 15:35:07 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [Nhcoll-l] =?utf-8?q?SPNHC_2022_Symposia/Workshop_Submission_Dea?= =?utf-8?q?dline_-_Midnight_TONIGHT_=28BST=29?= Message-ID: <1635190507.214927807@apps.rackspace.com> [ View this email in your browser ]( https://mailchi.mp/2fb657d5ad59/spnhc-2022-submissions-for-symposia-and-workshops-1099716?e=f2593eef9f ) SPNHC 2022 Symposia & Workshop Submission Deadline EXTENDED ** TODAY - 25th October 2021 @ Midnight BST ** The deadline to submit a workshop or symposium suggestion for SPNHC 2022 has been extended until tonight at Midnight BST. To submit, click the button below. [ Submit now ]( https://in-conference.us3.list-manage.com/track/click?u=4c9e59423213a0fe996c9862d&id=a8b1e2e4ee&e=f2593eef9f ) The meeting of the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC) and International Partner ? BHL (Biodiversity Heritage Library) and National Partner ? NatSCA (Natural Sciences Collections Association) will take place at Edinburgh First Campus in Edinburgh, Scotland from the 4th - 10th of June 2022. The conference theme is: Through the door and through the web: releasing the power of natural history collections onsite and online Key Dates Workshop/Symposia Notification -05.11.21 Abstract Submission Open -12.11.21 Registration Open -12.11.21 SPNHC 2022 is presented by the National Museums of Scotland and the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. [ ]( https://in-conference.us3.list-manage.com/track/click?u=4c9e59423213a0fe996c9862d&id=d091ae749b&e=f2593eef9f ) You are receiving this email as you have registered your interest for SPNHC 2022 Copyright ? 2021 In Conference, All rights reserved. You are receiving this newsletter because you are a previous attendee of a SPNHC meeting or have expressed an interest in the meeting. Our mailing address is: In Conference Unit 1 Q CourtEdinburgh, Midlothian EH54BP United Kingdom [ Add us to your address book ]( https://in-conference.us3.list-manage.com/vcard?u=4c9e59423213a0fe996c9862d&id=b2b7e8c0d5 ) Want to change how you receive these emails? You can [ update your preferences ]( https://in-conference.us3.list-manage.com/profile?u=4c9e59423213a0fe996c9862d&id=b2b7e8c0d5&e=f2593eef9f&c=747138285d ) or [ unsubscribe from this list ]( https://in-conference.us3.list-manage.com/unsubscribe?u=4c9e59423213a0fe996c9862d&id=b2b7e8c0d5&e=f2593eef9f&c=747138285d ). -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From neumann at snsb.de Mon Oct 25 15:57:06 2021 From: neumann at snsb.de (Neumann, Dirk) Date: Mon, 25 Oct 2021 21:57:06 +0200 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] international shipments being held up and extra fees In-Reply-To: <24cf4af4-3ada-eb4f-bfcd-1d47fe96bf69@gmail.com> References: <24cf4af4-3ada-eb4f-bfcd-1d47fe96bf69@gmail.com> Message-ID: Hi Doug, that might be simply because in many countries national postal services are not slightly underperforming combined with the fact that liability for consignments carried within their systems is transferred to national postal services (or respective contractors) in the country of origin. Both are relevant factors in "smooth" import clearance (with exceptions, of course). There are rumors that zoological or botanical specimens should be banned from transport, and the way how customs handles import shipments if they are handed over by national postal services is no always convincing (cf. incidents in Australia few years back). There are pros and cons for national postal services (in Munich we use our national postal service for most countries, but for some we choose express companies like DHL, FedEx, UPS, to maintain control and the opportunity to interact quickly if required) ... Cheers, Dirk Am 2021-10-25 20:14, schrieb Douglas Yanega: > On 10/25/21 10:01 AM, Amanda Bremner wrote: > >> When I send out a package and fill out the FedEx waybill I always >> opt to choose FedEx as the customs broker. I always include a clear >> description of our shipment contents (including taxon names, >> preservation method, weight, country of Origin, total declared value >> of $20 CAD) and HS code 9705.00 (for botanical, zoological, >> palaeontological collections). I always include a boilerplate on >> the outside of the package and a label for dangerous goods in >> excepted quantities if the shipment contains 70% or 95% ethanol. I >> always note that it is a commercial shipment and use the commercial >> invoice generated by FedEx. > > There are two substantial differences between your protocol and what > entomology museums like ours use for insect specimens: > > (1) We always use regular postal delivery, and their standard postal > Customs declaration. > > (2) We always explicitly state the shipment has zero commercial value > (and no declared value). > > Otherwise we adhere to the protocol you give. > > Our shipments are almost never held up, and if they are, it's almost > always for a veterinary clearance. It could be a mix of those two > factors that make things go more smoothly, hard to say whether just > one of them alone makes all the difference. > > Peace, > > -- > Doug Yanega Dept. of Entomology Entomology Research Museum > Univ. of California, Riverside, CA 92521-0314 skype: dyanega > phone: (951) 827-4315 (disclaimer: opinions are mine, not UCR's) > https://faculty.ucr.edu/~heraty/yanega.html > "There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness > is the true method" - Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chap. 82 > _______________________________________________ > Nhcoll-l mailing list > Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu > https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l > > _______________________________________________ > NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of > Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose > mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of > natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to > society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. > Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. From randalas at umich.edu Tue Oct 26 07:32:42 2021 From: randalas at umich.edu (Randy Singer) Date: Tue, 26 Oct 2021 07:32:42 -0400 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] *Position Announcement* Collection Manager - University of Michigan Museum of Zoology (UMMZ) Insect Division Message-ID: The Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (EEB) at The University of Michigan is seeking a * Collection Manager for the Museum of Zoology (UMMZ) Insect Division *(https://lsa.umich.edu/ummz/insects.html), located at the new state of the art Research Museums Center (RMC) in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The UMMZ Insect Collection is worldwide in its geographic scope and one of the largest of its type, including more than 4.5 million prepared specimens. The collection is particularly strong in North, Central and South American diversity, with a taxonomic focus on Orthoptera that comprises the second largest holdings in the western hemisphere (second only to the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia), as well as the Acari, which is one of the largest collections of mites and ticks in the country. Historical collections date back to the early 20th Century and include irreplaceable samples from North and Central America. Other large collections, including synoptic holdings of taxa and/or geographic regions (e.g., the Odonata), are also represented. When applying, a cover letter is required and should be attached as the first page of your CV. Specifically, a 1-2 page Collection Management Vision Statement should describe the candidate?s motivation to become a collection manager, their skills and experience, and their vision on the roles and priorities of a world-class insect collection in the context of the Responsibilities and Qualifications listed above. Applications must be submitted through the University of Michigan Careers website (http://careers.umich.edu). Search for Job #205580 in the keyword search panel. *The application can be found here:* https://tinyurl.com/r3mkzdap Review of applications will *begin November 1, 2021*. The projected start date in Ann Arbor, Michigan is January 1, 2022, or as soon as possible. Please contact Curator L. Lacey Knowles if you have any questions ( knowlesl at umich.edu). -- Randy Singer, Ph.D. (Twitter - @Randchovy) Assistant Research Scientist/Collection Manager of Fishes University of Michigan Museum of Zoology 3600 Varsity Dr., Ann Arbor, MI 48108 Office: (734) 936-3754 https://lsa.umich.edu/ummz/fishes.html http://randchovy.wixsite.com/randalsinger [image: Related image] -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From Amanda.Bremner at nbm-mnb.ca Tue Oct 26 10:16:22 2021 From: Amanda.Bremner at nbm-mnb.ca (Amanda Bremner) Date: Tue, 26 Oct 2021 14:16:22 +0000 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] international shipments being held up and extra fees In-Reply-To: <77f18a7fd2a2103b8488825805e1eb04@zsm.mwn.de> References: <77f18a7fd2a2103b8488825805e1eb04@zsm.mwn.de> Message-ID: Thank you Dirk and others for your input. We have had an account with FedEx for years and have always shipped internationally using FedEx. I regularly ship on average one package internationally every couple of weeks with FedEX. What we are trying to figure out is, if we are using FedEx Express to deliver our packages, be our broker, and they have all the necessary documents to clear the package: why are packages still being held up in customs and why are we being charged additional fees after the fact? Most loans being returned to us from the USA (by FedEx) this year are being held up in Mirabel, Quebec, Canada at customs and we are now being charged ~$60 per package in unexpected customs clearance fees (SWI - single window initiative fees and brokerage fees) from our broker, Livingston. I cannot get a straight answer from Livingston OR FedEx to determine why this has changed. How can we avoid having shipments being held up at customs and avoid these extra fees? Thanks so much, Amanda -----Original Message----- From: Neumann, Dirk [mailto:neumann at snsb.de] Sent: Monday, October 25, 2021 2:14 PM To: Amanda Bremner Cc: nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu; neumann at snsb.de Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] international shipments being held up and extra fees Dear Amanda, regarding inspection costs charged for return shipments arriving via the FedEx Airhub in Cologne/Bonn, this is rather a German issue on a federal level; please check if these are "just" internal handling costs (pure brokerage costs), or involving additional costs (e.g. veterinarian clearance for preserved zoological specimens). You can claim part of the costs, but we may sort this out via phone or direct emails. If you are not a regular FedEx shipper, FedEx (and all other postal carriers) need a mandate to do the customs clearance. If they don't have this, you/your institution would need to clear consignments via direct ATLAS entries using you institutional EORI-number. You can do this, but you need an own account for this. In this case, you would act as responsible broker (and not FedEx). Hope this answers your questions, if not, let's continue offline. with best wishes Dirk Am 2021-10-25 19:01, schrieb Amanda Bremner: > Dear list serve members, > > I am curious to know whether anyone is having difficulty this year > with international research loan shipments of specimens being held at > Customs brokers, and if your institutions are being charged > additional, unexpected fees for incoming shipments (mainly returning > loans). Our borrowers have been using FedEx to return material to us, > and unlike past years, we are frequently having packages held at > Customs, followed by bills for additional unexpected brokerage fees to > allow clearance of these packages. > > When I send out a package and fill out the FedEx waybill I always opt > to choose FedEx as the customs broker. I always include a clear > description of our shipment contents (including taxon names, > preservation method, weight, country of Origin, total declared value > of $20 CAD) and HS code 9705.00 (for botanical, zoological, > palaeontological collections). I always include a boilerplate on the > outside of the package and a label for dangerous goods in excepted > quantities if the shipment contains 70% or 95% ethanol. I always note > that it is a commercial shipment and use the commercial invoice > generated by FedEx. > > Also, recently, even after I opted to choose FedEx to be the broker > for an outgoing shipment to Spain, FedEx requested the recipient to > fill out a "Power of Attorney" form to state that they would like > FedEx to be the broker. I called FedEx and they gave me no > explanation, other than stating that Customs in Spain had requested > this. > > I would like to know if any other institutions are having any issues > with packages being held up and if they are being charged extra > brokerage fees. Also, does anyone have any advice on how we can avoid > packages being held at Customs and how we can avoid the extra > unexpected brokerage fees? > > Thank you for your time, > > Amanda > > Amanda Bremner, M.Sc. > > Coordinator, Natural History loans and databases / Coordinateur, pr?ts > et bases de donn?es d'histoire naturelle > > Department of Natural History/ D?partement d'histoire naturelle > > New Brunswick Museum/Mus?e du Nouveau-Brunswick > > 277 Douglas Avenue/ 277, avenue Douglas > > Saint John, New Brunswick/ Saint John (Nouveau-Brunswick) > > Canada E2K 1E5 > > Amanda.Bremner at nbm-mnb.ca > _______________________________________________ > Nhcoll-l mailing list > Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu > https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l > > _______________________________________________ > NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of > Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose > mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of > natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to > society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. > Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. From neumann at snsb.de Tue Oct 26 10:44:25 2021 From: neumann at snsb.de (Dirk Neumann) Date: Tue, 26 Oct 2021 16:44:25 +0200 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] international shipments being held up and extra fees In-Reply-To: References: <77f18a7fd2a2103b8488825805e1eb04@zsm.mwn.de> Message-ID: ... oops, mixed New Brunswick and the German Brunswick (Braunschweig), which also has a Natural History Museum and switched to German, assuming you were in Braunschweig. Could you follow the German email? if not, please send a short ping. With best wishes Dirk Am 26.10.2021 um 16:16 schrieb Amanda Bremner: > Thank you Dirk and others for your input. > We have had an account with FedEx for years and have always shipped internationally using FedEx. I regularly ship on average one package internationally every couple of weeks with FedEX. > > What we are trying to figure out is, if we are using FedEx Express to deliver our packages, be our broker, and they have all the necessary documents to clear the package: why are packages still being held up in customs and why are we being charged additional fees after the fact? > > Most loans being returned to us from the USA (by FedEx) this year are being held up in Mirabel, Quebec, Canada at customs and we are now being charged ~$60 per package in unexpected customs clearance fees (SWI - single window initiative fees and brokerage fees) from our broker, Livingston. > > I cannot get a straight answer from Livingston OR FedEx to determine why this has changed. > > How can we avoid having shipments being held up at customs and avoid these extra fees? > > Thanks so much, > Amanda > > -----Original Message----- > From: Neumann, Dirk [mailto:neumann at snsb.de] > Sent: Monday, October 25, 2021 2:14 PM > To: Amanda Bremner > Cc: nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu; neumann at snsb.de > Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] international shipments being held up and extra fees > > Dear Amanda, > regarding inspection costs charged for return shipments arriving via the FedEx Airhub in Cologne/Bonn, this is rather a German issue on a federal level; please check if these are "just" internal handling costs (pure brokerage costs), or involving additional costs (e.g. veterinarian clearance for preserved zoological specimens). You can claim part of the costs, but we may sort this out via phone or direct emails. > > If you are not a regular FedEx shipper, FedEx (and all other postal > carriers) need a mandate to do the customs clearance. If they don't have this, you/your institution would need to clear consignments via direct ATLAS entries using you institutional EORI-number. You can do this, but you need an own account for this. In this case, you would act as responsible broker (and not FedEx). > > Hope this answers your questions, if not, let's continue offline. > > with best wishes > Dirk > > > Am 2021-10-25 19:01, schrieb Amanda Bremner: >> Dear list serve members, >> >> I am curious to know whether anyone is having difficulty this year >> with international research loan shipments of specimens being held at >> Customs brokers, and if your institutions are being charged >> additional, unexpected fees for incoming shipments (mainly returning >> loans). Our borrowers have been using FedEx to return material to us, >> and unlike past years, we are frequently having packages held at >> Customs, followed by bills for additional unexpected brokerage fees to >> allow clearance of these packages. >> >> When I send out a package and fill out the FedEx waybill I always opt >> to choose FedEx as the customs broker. I always include a clear >> description of our shipment contents (including taxon names, >> preservation method, weight, country of Origin, total declared value >> of $20 CAD) and HS code 9705.00 (for botanical, zoological, >> palaeontological collections). I always include a boilerplate on the >> outside of the package and a label for dangerous goods in excepted >> quantities if the shipment contains 70% or 95% ethanol. I always note >> that it is a commercial shipment and use the commercial invoice >> generated by FedEx. >> >> Also, recently, even after I opted to choose FedEx to be the broker >> for an outgoing shipment to Spain, FedEx requested the recipient to >> fill out a "Power of Attorney" form to state that they would like >> FedEx to be the broker. I called FedEx and they gave me no >> explanation, other than stating that Customs in Spain had requested >> this. >> >> I would like to know if any other institutions are having any issues >> with packages being held up and if they are being charged extra >> brokerage fees. Also, does anyone have any advice on how we can avoid >> packages being held at Customs and how we can avoid the extra >> unexpected brokerage fees? >> >> Thank you for your time, >> >> Amanda >> >> Amanda Bremner, M.Sc. >> >> Coordinator, Natural History loans and databases / Coordinateur, pr?ts >> et bases de donn?es d'histoire naturelle >> >> Department of Natural History/ D?partement d'histoire naturelle >> >> New Brunswick Museum/Mus?e du Nouveau-Brunswick >> >> 277 Douglas Avenue/ 277, avenue Douglas >> >> Saint John, New Brunswick/ Saint John (Nouveau-Brunswick) >> >> Canada E2K 1E5 >> >> Amanda.Bremner at nbm-mnb.ca >> _______________________________________________ >> Nhcoll-l mailing list >> Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu >> https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l >> >> _______________________________________________ >> NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of >> Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose >> mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of >> natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to >> society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. >> Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. -- Dirk Neumann Tel: 089 / 8107-111 Fax: 089 / 8107-300 neumann(a)snsb.de Postanschrift: Staatliche Naturwissenschaftliche Sammlungen Bayerns Zoologische Staatssammlung M?nchen Dirk Neumann, Sektion Ichthyologie / DNA-Storage M?nchhausenstr. 21 81247 M?nchen Besuchen Sie unsere Sammlung: http://www.zsm.mwn.de/sektion/ichthyologie-home/ --------- Dirk Neumann Tel: +49-89-8107-111 Fax: +49-89-8107-300 neumann(a)snsb.de postal address: Bavarian Natural History Collections The Bavarian State Collection of Zoology Dirk Neumann, Section Ichthyology / DNA-Storage Muenchhausenstr. 21 81247 Munich (Germany) Visit our section at: http://www.zsm.mwn.de/sektion/ichthyologie-home/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: knoamfbdflhcllbn.png Type: image/png Size: 23308 bytes Desc: not available URL: From Peter.Giere at mfn.berlin Wed Oct 27 11:25:28 2021 From: Peter.Giere at mfn.berlin (Giere, Peter) Date: Wed, 27 Oct 2021 15:25:28 +0000 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Training Basic Collections Techniques / Shipping Workshop Nov. 22-25/26, 2021 Message-ID: <7b7089faa54b4aa8a641ac9eb19f74b2@mfn.berlin> -- please excuse cross-posting -- Dear all, the Centre of Collections at the MfN would like to announce two hybrid workshops in November that are held within the workshop series under the Aktionsplan II Leibniz Research Museums (https://www.leibniz-forschungsmuseen.de/en/aktionsplan-leibniz-research-museums/aktionsplan-ii-a-world-in-motion). On November 22 through 25/26, a training on Basic Collections Techniques and a Shipping Workshop (https://www.museumfuernaturkunde.berlin/de/BasicCollectionTechniques) will be held at the MfN in a hybrid format. Basic Collections Techniques (Nov. 22-25, 2021) is an introductory module on care and management of natural history collections aimed at persons that have limited experience with collection work or those who wish to update their knowledge in this field. This training will be held by a team of experts in English and is followed by a Shipping Workshop on the safe and compliant shipping of collection specimens on November 26, 2021. Both workshops can be booked separately - please contact info.cec at mfn.berlin for free registration. I'm looking forward to seeing you there, Peter ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Dr. Peter Giere Head, Centre of Collections Curator of the Embryological Collection Museum f?r Naturkunde Leibniz Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity Science NEW CONTACT DATA: phone: +49-(0)30-889140-8703 fax: +49-(0)30-889140-8868 e-mail: peter.giere(at)mfn.berlin Postal Address: Museum f?r Naturkunde Berlin Leibniz Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity Science Dr. Peter Giere Invalidenstr. 43 10115 Berlin Germany Schatzmeister, Deutsche Gesellschaft f?r S?ugetierkunde Treasurer, German Society for Mammalian Biology ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Flyer Basic Collection Techniques 2021.pdf Type: application/pdf Size: 2346913 bytes Desc: Flyer Basic Collection Techniques 2021.pdf URL: From prc44 at drexel.edu Thu Oct 28 11:49:16 2021 From: prc44 at drexel.edu (Callomon,Paul) Date: Thu, 28 Oct 2021 15:49:16 +0000 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Interesting job opening Message-ID: An interesting job opening: https://careers.drexel.edu/en-us/job/496627/betz-endowed-chair-in-ecology-department-of-biodiversity-earth-and-environmental-science-bees Paul Callomon Collection Manager, Malacology and General Invertebrates ________________________________ Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University 1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia PA 19103-1195, USA prc44 at drexel.edu Tel 215-405-5096 - Fax 215-299-1170 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From MendenhallC at CarnegieMnh.Org Wed Oct 27 16:42:34 2021 From: MendenhallC at CarnegieMnh.Org (Mendenhall, Chase) Date: Wed, 27 Oct 2021 20:42:34 +0000 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Job Announcement: Collection Manager of Birds at Carnegie Museum of Natural History In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Dear Colleagues, We are seeking a new Collection Manager in the Section of Birds at Carnegie Museum of Natural History. https://us61.dayforcehcm.com/CandidatePortal/en-US/car/Posting/View/3542?utm_campaign=google_jobs_apply&utm_source=google_jobs_apply&utm_medium=organic Please apply with a cover letter and resume/CV by November 30 for full consideration. Thank you, Chase D. Mendenhall, Ph.D. William & Ingrid Rea Assistant Curator of Birds Section of Birds Carnegie Museum of Natural History Office: 412-622-5591 mendenhallc at carnegiemnh.org The information contained in this message and/or attachments is intended only for the person or entity to which it is addressed and may contain confidential and/or privileged material. Any review, retransmission, dissemination or other use of, or taking of any action in reliance upon, this information by persons or entities other than the intended recipient is prohibited. If you received this in error, please contact the sender and delete the material from any system and destroy any copies. Any views expressed in this message are those of the individual sender. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From ntarnowsky at nybg.org Thu Oct 28 15:15:19 2021 From: ntarnowsky at nybg.org (Tarnowsky, Nicole) Date: Thu, 28 Oct 2021 19:15:19 +0000 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Job posting at NYBG Message-ID: Hi all, Please see the posting below for a job opportunity at The New York Botanical Garden Best, Nicole Nicole Tarnowsky (she/her) Interim Director of the William and Lynda Steere Herbarium The New York Botanical Garden 2900 Southern Boulevard Bronx, NY 10458 ntarnowsky at nybg.org 718-817-8812 Herbarium Collections and Outreach Administrator https://www.nybg.org/about/work-with-us/employment/?p=job%2FodjahfwH Apply The Herbarium Collections and Outreach Administrator coordinates the Herbarium's visiting scientist program and the Herbarium's volunteer program, participates in Herbarium outreach activities and performs various daily functions of the Herbarium. Additionally, this position supports, through actions and conduct, NYBG's Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Accessibility initiatives and helps to build and maintain an inclusive organization culture throughout the institution. The New York Botanical Garden is committed to an inclusive, diverse, equitable, and accessible work environment, and further recognizes that diversity in our workforce fosters excellence in our mission of advocating for the plants of the world. Leveraging the strong foundation of existing policies and practices, NYBG will advance inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility through a number of institutional initiatives presented through this plan. Our aspiration is to continue to cultivate a workforce and institution that is as diverse as the communities we serve and the audiences we engage. Specific Duties and Responsibilities: * Coordinate the Herbarium visitor program - this includes scheduling visits, orienting visitors for Herbarium use and managing specimens handled by visitors after they leave. * Administer the Herbarium's volunteer program, both onsite in the Herbarium as well as online with citizen scientists. * Assist with additional outreach activities such as tours, open houses. * Assist in preparing and importing data from citizen science online platforms. * Manage and process incoming new staff collections. * Distribute duplicate specimens to sister herbaria. * Number, digitize, and file newly mounted specimens with the help of onsite volunteers. Requirements: * Experience with herbarium management and curation * Experience with specimen digitization techniques and data management * Knowledge of plant taxonomy and nomenclature * Excellent communication skills * Familiarity with science/museum volunteers * Familiarity with Spanish and/or Portuguese preferred Please be advised, as a term and condition of accepting a job offer the candidate for employment must submit proof of full vaccination. Candidates for employment unable to submit proof of full vaccination at the time of the offer will not be considered for employment. This policy is subject to the reasonable accommodation provisions of Title VII and the American for Disabilities Act (ADA) and other EEO consideration. If you believe that because of a disability or a sincerely held religious belief that you may be entitled to a reasonable accommodation or exemption to this policy please contact HR at nybg.org. If you require an accommodation for any part of the application process, please notify the Human Resources department at HR at nybg.org. EOE/BIPOC/F/Persons with disabilities/Veterans -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: