collections are in the act of ....

[Michael Gochfeld]

Rob Kriegel wrote.....

.....By necessity, insect collections whether they be personal or 
institutional, are always in the act of becoming -- becoming prepared, 
becoming labeled, becoming identified, becoming curated and most 
recently, becoming databased.  One of the things I truly enjoy about 
aggregations of lepidopterists is that whenever they get together they 
help each other identify their material.  One of the differences between 
experts and...


I can think of at least two more things that happen to collections 
besides being ...data based. 

They get eaten by moths and dermestids if not intensely curated and 
protected. 

They get dispersed when their owner dies or loses interest.  And perhaps 
in the future they get dispersed when their institution loses interest 
in the real reality. I've previously mentioned that Stanford gave away 
the David Starr Jordan fish collection (they probably would have sold it 
if Cal Academy hadn't taken it). Princeton got rid of its famous 
paleontology collection (fortunately Yale Peabody took it). After all 
real biologists needed that space.  Oberlin gave up its herbarium, and 
even Rutgers hasn't figured out how or even whether to permanently house 
its herbarium so it's been inaccessible for months. 

Collections aren't forever if there isn't committment (and some 
investment) in curating. 

[I hear that the same paragraph could have been written about art and 
anthropologic collections]. 

Just scan in that artefact and sell the original. 

Cynical, who me?

Mike Gochfeld

 
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