[Nhcoll-l] [EXT]Re: How many specimens

[Peter A Rauch]

I've heard the questions --How many? How big? How much?-- repeatedly asked
for the past 6 decades, and mostly I've heard responses that convey little
information about one's collection.

Does it really matter "how many?" (and its complementary question, "how
many $$$ is it valued at?")?

Without providing a (sound, credible, measurable) context, the "size" of
one's collection (or museum) really has no serviceable meaning.

If we don't describe "contexts" that have one (at least, of many) societal
meaning (incl. scientific, but that's not enough), we're blowing smoke,
pixxing in the wind, talking to ourselves.

Tell me why your collection or museum or specimen or lot or ... is
"important" / "meaningful" / "valuable"  every time you report a count.
Did your collection / museum have value in the past; will it have value in
the future?  How did/do you estimate those values (not counts)
(assumptions, methodology, ...)?

Peter R

*From:* Nhcoll-l <nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu> *On Behalf Of *Lennart
>> Lennuk
>> *Sent:* Thursday, March 17, 2022 3:51 AM
>> *To:* nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu
>> *Subject:* [Nhcoll-l] How many specimens
>>
>>
>>
>> Hi!
>>
>> Does anybody have lately calculated how many specimens are there in the
>> natural history collections?
>>
>> Best regards!
>>
>> Lennart Lennuk
>>
>> Head of collections
>>
>> Estonian Museum of Natural History
>>
>> +372 6603404, 56569916
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> cmnEmailFooterDefault.
>>
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