[Nhcoll-l] Care & Use of Natural History Museum Collections Class--your input requested

Thu Mar 13 17:29:18 EDT 2014

As a snowboarder and rock climber, a little offended.  :-)

__________________________________
Meredith A. Rivin
Associate Curator of Paleontology

The Dr. John D. Cooper Archaeological and Paleontological Center
(714) 647-2103
http://www.jdcoopercenter.org <http://www.jdcoopercenter.org/>

On 3/13/14, 1:14 PM, "Bryant, James" <JBRYANT at riversideca.gov> wrote:

>I¹m pleased to see you ask about hobbies, Barbara. I¹ve also been doing
>that for years. In general, when coaching new technicians, I pay special
>attention to the desire to ³rush to completion². It¹s especially easy
>with old collections: I remind them that the objects have only been
>waiting decades/centuries/millennia, so it doesn¹t hurt to take a little
>extra time.
>
>James M. Bryant
>Curator of Natural History
>Museum Depart., City of Riverside
>3580 Mission Inn Avenue
>Riverside, CA 92501
>TEL: 951-826-5273
>FAX: 951-369-4970
>jbryant at riversideca.gov
>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>
>From: nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu
>[mailto:nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu] On Behalf Of Barbara Winter
>Sent: Friday, March 07, 2014 11:27 AM
>To: David Dyer
>Cc: nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu
>Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] Care & Use of Natural History Museum Collections
>Class--your input requested
>
>Hello Heather and Dave,
>
>Interesting comments, Dave.  I teach 'Archaeological Collections
>Management' and 'Archaeological Conservation' to undergraduates, and have
>had a host of volunteers, short term staff and interns over the past 25
>years.  When interviewing,  always ask students and applicants about
>their hobbies.  This gives me a good sense of their manual dexterity and
>familiarity with different types of materials.  If they say tying fishing
>flies, video gaming or hat making, like you say, music to my ears.  The
>snowboarders and rock climbers I start with durable collections and allow
>them the chance to learn and prove their abilities.
>
>As for readings, I would look in the literature on collection
>applications of pXRF, DNA and isotope analysis.  We are experimenting
>with 3D printing, but I have not written anything about it yet.
>
>Barbara
>Dr. Barbara J. Winter
>Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology
>Department of Archaeology
>Faculty of the Environment
>Simon Fraser University
>8888 University Drive
>Burnaby, BC V5A 1S6
>
>t. 778.782.3325
>f. 778.782.5666
>bwinter at sfu.ca
>www.sfu.museum
>
>________________________________________
>From: "David Dyer" <DDyer at ohiohistory.org>
>To: "Heather Lerner" <hlerner at gmail.com>, nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu
>Sent: Friday, March 7, 2014 11:04:30 AM
>Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] Care & Use of Natural History Museum
>Collections        Class--your input requested
>Hi Heather,
> 
>The number one skill that I would like to see in incoming curators,
>collections managers, students, and others is a skill that is basic and
>fundamental to the museum profession but is not often discussed, and that
>is the basic sensitivity and care in handling museum specimens. For lack
>of a better term, I¹ve called it ³museum sensibility². It¹s not
>quantifiable and not easy to discern in job interviews, but is critical
>to the preservation of museum specimens and to do one¹s job as a museum
>professional. It seems to be an innate skill, that you either naturally
>have it or you don¹t - but it can be learned. We¹ve all seen examples of
>gross mishandling of specimens  and probably can share many horror
>stories. In my career, I¹ve seen museum directors, curators, respected
>scientists, etc. who have authority over and direct access to natural
>history collections who demonstrate abominable and destructive care of
>collections. Usually this is not intentional but rather is from a lack of
>sensitivity or training. On the other hand, I¹ve seen high school interns
>and beginning undergraduate students who have a remarkable sense of how
>to handle and care for specimens. In my last position, I hired and
>trained probably about 75 university students over the years to work
>directly in collections care. I would always try to discern in interviews
>and from references if they have the requisite skills and personality
>traits that translate to being thoughtful and careful in handling
>specimens and maintaining a collection.  Such phrases as ³I¹m a little
>bit OCD² or ³I¹m very organized² were music to my ears! Anyway, I think
>it¹s imperative that the museum community teach these skills to the next
>generation of museum professionals, and find a way to make it
>demonstrable in selecting candidates for collections-related positions.
> 
>Dave Dyer   
> 
> 
>==========================================================
>David L. Dyer / Curator of Natural History
>Ohio Historical Society / 800 East 17th Ave. Columbus, Ohio 43211
>                  
>p. 614-298-2055 / f. 614-298-2089 / ddyer at ohiohistory.org
>
>Visit the Natural History Blog at:
>http://apps.ohiohistory.org/naturalhistory/
> 
>³What do Annie Oakley, Ulysses S. Grant, and the Wright Brothers have in
>common with Ohio Tax Return? Find out here²
> 
>From: nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu
>[mailto:nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu] On Behalf Of Heather Lerner
>Sent: Thursday, March 06, 2014 2:29 PM
>To: nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu
>Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Care & Use of Natural History Museum Collections
>Class--your input requested
> 
>I have the wonderful opportunity to be the director at the Joseph Moore
>Museum at Earlham College. With that position, I get to teach one course
>per year in "Museum Studies." My goals with the course are to first train
>students in the most useful skills they will need to go on as collections
>managers or curators or researchers who use collections, and second, for
>students who may never work in/for a museum in the future, to convince
>them
>of the importance of biological collections so that they will be educated
>lifelong museum advocates.
>Here is where I ask for *your input:*
>(1) what are the *skills *you want incoming collections manager, graduate
>students or curators to have?
>
>(2) we will read an article each week in which someone has published their
>research using specimens/collections as a primary source of
>information/data. For example, ancient DNA, isotope, morphological
>studies.
>What are some of the best *examples of collections-based research* you
>thinkI should include?
>
>Thanks for your input,
>
>Heather
> 
>-- 
>Heather
>
>*******************************************
>Heather R. L. Lerner, Ph.D., M.S.
>Joseph Moore Museum Director
>Assistant Professor of Biology
>Earlham College
>801 National Road West
>Richmond IN 47374
>
>*******************************************
>Google Voice: 949-GENOMES
>Email: hlerner at gmail.com
>http://heatherlerner.com/
>*******************************************
>
>_______________________________________________
>Nhcoll-l mailing list
>Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu
>http://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.
>
>_______________________________________________
>Nhcoll-l mailing list
>Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu
>http://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.