[NHCOLL-L:3162] RE: Adhesion of Botany Specimens to Herbarium Sheets

[Anita F. Cholewa]

While I am well aware of the (at least some) literature on attaching 
plant specimens, I have also seen how the specimens are handled by 
researchers, students, and other users.  And no matter how many times 
you remind people to be extremely careful when handling specimens, the 
simple act of moving a specimen even a small distance can sometimes 
cause portions to come loose and be lost or for parts to be damaged.  I 
would rarely allow someone to take a specimen off the sheet so as to 
view the reverse side - talk about potential for damage - though I know 
this is widespread practice in Europe (where only researchers are 
allowed to work with the specimens in the first place).  If a specimen 
is properly pressed, it will be arranged so that portions both surfaces 
are showing or several leaves and fruits will be placed in packets for 
easier use.  Natural history specimens are used in much different ways 
than some other types of collections.  There is definitely a trade off 
involved.

Anita
__________
Anita F. Cholewa, Ph.D.
Curator of the herbarium
Bell Museum of Natural History
University of Minnesota
1445 Gortner Ave
St Paul MN 55108 USA

Joanna Morton wrote:

> Hi Christine,
>  
> There is some evidence that stitching or strapping is preferable to 
> overall adhesion because it allows the plant to changing RH without 
> damage. See:
>  
>  Egenberg & Moe (1991) `A "stop-press" announcement: damage caused by 
> a widely used herbarium mounting technique' /Taxon/ 40:4 p601-604
>  
> Stitching or strapping has several other advantages - it is easier to 
> remove the specimen so that the reverse can be viewed, or so it can be 
> remounted on a new sheet, and there is less contamination of the 
> specimen by the adhesive. The main disadvantage that I can see is that 
> it leaves the specimen more vulnerable to loss as not all the bits are 
> stuck down.
>  
> Two other useful references are:
>  
> Down, J. (1999) `Adhesive research at the Canadian Conservation 
> Institute as it relates to herbarium collections' in /Managing the 
> Modern Herbarium: An inter-disciplinary approach/ eds D. Metsger & S. 
> Byer pp205-224
>  
> Bedford, D, (1999) `Vascular plants' in /Care and conservation of 
> natural history collections/ eds D. Carter & A. Walker Butterworth 
> Heinnemann: Oxford
>  
> Joanna
>  
> Joanna Morton
> Conservator, Objects
> Te Papa
> PO Box 467, Wellington, NZ
> ph: + 64 4 381 7329
>  
>
>     -----Original Message-----
>     *From:* owner-nhcoll-l at lists.yale.edu
>     [mailto:owner-nhcoll-l at lists.yale.edu]*On Behalf Of *Del Re, Christine
>     *Sent:* Friday, 18 August 2006 9:39 a.m.
>     *To:* NHCOLL-L at lists.yale.edu
>     *Subject:* [NHCOLL-L:3160] Adhesion of Botany Specimens to
>     Herbarium Sheets
>
>     I am working on a in-house grant funded botany re-housing project
>     which includes the stabilization of plants to herbarium sheets.   
>     Our botanist requires that the entire plant specimen be firmly
>     mounted onto the herbarium sheet: including the entire stem.  Each
>     plant specimen is tugged at and pulled at to make sure that it is
>     completely and absolutely affixed to the herbarium sheet.  Not
>     being a botanist, but a conservator by training, it seems odd that
>     every molecule of a plant is glued, affixed and completely
>     immobilized to the herbarium sheet, especially since most of the
>     stems were originally fixed on the sheets with straps.
>
>     Since the references that I have read do not indicate the degree
>     to which a plant is affixed to a sheet, can my colleagues on
>     NHCOLL-L, please enlighten me as to the accepted standard practice
>     on plant immobilization if there is one?  Your input would be
>     greatly appreciated.
>
>     my sincere thanks for your consideration of my request, Chris
>
>     Christine Del Re                Voice:  (414) 278-2780
>     Senior Conservator              Fax:    (414) 278-6100
>     Milwaukee Public Museum e-mail:_ delre at mpm.edu_
>     800 W. Wells St.
>     Milwaukee, WI  53233-1478
>
>
>  
>
> _____________________________________________________
>  
> The email message together with the accompanying attachments may be 
> CONFIDENTIAL. If you have received this message in error, please 
> notify mail at tepapa.govt.nz <mailto:mail at tepapa.govt.nz> immediately 
> and delete the original message.  The views expressed in this message 
> are those of the individual sender, except where the sender 
> specifically states them to be views of Te Papa.  Te Papa employs 
> strict virus checking measures and accepts no liability for any loss 
> caused either directly or indirectly by a virus arising from the use 
> of this message or any attached file.
> _____________________________________________________
>  


-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/private/nhcoll-l/attachments/20060818/61fc20ee/attachment.html