[NHCOLL-L:5045] RE: how do you store your wet specimens?

Fri Oct 29 09:10:37 EDT 2010

Jess

Here at Nebraska we are / have been facing that same space issue.  Our
organization has been systematic (Order, Family, Genus, Species) and at the
species level the jars are arranged numerically by catalog number.  Some
species can have 10 or more shelves of specimens and knowing the species and
catalog number of the specimen(s) you can quickly find the jar.  At the last
reorganization of our fish room we allotted space for species we knew were
going to grow.  Once that space filled with jars in numerical order we were
out of space and were forced to add shelves here and there for overflow.  To
maximize those shelves we began shelving jars based on jar size.  So, if you
need to find specimen lot number 12345 and the highest number on the
systematic shelf for that species is 9123 then you know you've got to look
in the overflow shelving.  Overflow shelving is based on catalog number
regardless of species.  Our database includes the number of individuals in
the lot so you can guess which size jar might be used.  It doesn't take too
long to find specimens.

It was suggest to me years ago that for overflow we use the cardboard boxes
that the new jars came in.  A box for 8 ounce jars would be filled with 8
ounce jars of specimens, closed, labeled, and put on a shelf somewhere.
While efficient use of space this was not done because it would have taken
far to long to recover a specimen for use and, and this is the big one,
there was no way to see if a specimen jar was in trouble (i.e., losing
alcohol due to an improper seal.).  Another issue is failure of the box due
to overload.  The box was designed for empty jars, not full.  

John Simmons suggested combining specimens in jars.  We did this too.  For
lots with small numbers of individual fish (usually voucher collections of
ten or fewer) of smaller size species (minnows) I used customized
polyethylene bags made from moderately heavy sheeting and an impulse sealer.
The original jar label with the number facing out and the fish were sealed
into a small sleeve.  Using a 1/16th inch hole punch a hole or two were put
in the top end of the bag and a blunt-tipped syringe was used to inject
alcohol into the bag. The bags placed in an appropriate sized jar with a
label, the jar filled with alcohol, capped and shelved.  Shelf space for 10
or more 8 oz jars were replaced by one 32 oz jar.  Some of these envelopes
have been use now for nearly twenty years with no readily apparent signs of
deterioration.

Thomas E. Labedz, Collections Manager

Division of Zoology and Division of Botany

University of Nebraska State Museum

W-436 Nebraska Hall

Lincoln, NE  68588-0514

402/472-8366   fax 402/472-8949

tlabedz1 at unl.edu   www.museum.unl.edu

  _____  

From: owner-nhcoll-l at lists.yale.edu [mailto:owner-nhcoll-l at lists.yale.edu]
On Behalf Of Jessica Rosales
Sent: Wednesday, October 27, 2010 12:09 PM
To: NHCOLL-L Natural History Collections List
Subject: [NHCOLL-L:5042] how do you store your wet specimens?

Hi all,

We here at the TNHC are exploring options to deal with space issues for our
fish and herp collections.  One idea is a system that shelves jars according
to their size, then by catalog number within each size. A downside to this
method is of course that the collection is no longer browseable.  Another
idea, that may or not be used in conjunction with the first, is using bar
codes on each jar to make retrieval easier regardless of the storage method.

I'd like to know who out there stores their wet collections using either of
these two methods, type of collection(s), the size of your collection(s)
(lots), how well this system works for you, and how long it has been in
place.

Thank you,

Jess

Jessica Rosales
Ichthyology Collection Manager
Texas Natural History Collections
Texas Natural Science Center
The University of Texas at Austin
10100 Burnet Road, PRC 176/R4000
Austin, TX 78758-4445 USA

512.471.8845 voice
512.471.9775 fax

Find out more about the  <http://www.utexas.edu/tmm/tnhc/fish/index.html>
Texas Natural History Collections:

<http://www.facebook.com/pages/Austin-TX/Texas-Natural-History-Collections/3
0600125266> Facebook <http://www.youtube.com/user/TXNaturalScienCenter>
Youtube

On 10/20/2010 11:01 PM, NHCOLL-L Natural History Collections List wrote: 

                           NHCOLL-L Digest 2111

Topics covered in this issue include:

  1) [NHCOLL-L:5012] US Government Policy on Scientific Collections
        by WEITZMAN at si.edu
  2) [NHCOLL-L:5013] Fwd: US Government Policy on Scientific Collections
        by CAHawks at aol.com
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