[Nhcoll-l] Ranking of largest collections -- HELP

[Dirk Neumann]

I wouldn't want to rely on GBIF or similar web-portals, as they mirror 
only the smaller proportions of collections, why are already databased, 
and thus underestimates actual number of objects stored in collections 
(especially in insect collections as Doug pointed out). Second, because 
US-collections are leading in digitisation efforts, this might lead to 
misinterpretations if you compare collections on global scale (In 
Europe, only Paris, London & Leiden had major programmes for mass 
digitisation, if I am right).

Also the Wikipedia link might be misleading in some respect: e.g German 
Collections like Senckenberg institutes are mentioned separately, and 
also our "museum" - which is rather a compound of single museums and 
collections united under one administrative head, including the 
Botanical Garden & Botanical Collection in Munich - appear as separate 
institutions. This may lead to underestimation of actual size of 
collections and objects stored in collections.

In fact, the Bavarian Natural History Collections united under the SNSB 
holds 35-40 mio objects (mineralogy, palaeontology, geology, botany, 
anthropology & zooarchaeology, zoology + regional natural history 
museums such as Juramuseum Eichstätt which is famous for the 
archaeopteryx, or Meteorite Impact Rieskratermuseum in Nördlingen). 
Zoological Collections of ZSM alone hold ~ 25 mio objects, 13 mio alone 
in the butterfly collection (which is the largest in the world). In 
fact, we are one of the largest collections Germany, but hardly anyone 
knows ...

Dirk


Am 28.01.2015 um 00:13 schrieb Doug Yanega:
> On 1/27/15 12:50 PM, Christopher Kemp wrote:
>> I don't know if this is empirically known or somewhat debatable, but 
>> I'm trying to make a list of the top 5 natural history collections in 
>> the US, and in the world. So, two lists. And I mean in terms of size, 
>> or number of specimens. Please weigh in. I'm assuming NMNH, AMNH, the 
>> Field for the US, but who's next? And in the world, I just don't 
>> know: the NMNH, the BMNH, the AMNH? I don't know. Share your 
>> thoughts. I'm at cjkemp at gmail.com <mailto:cjkemp at gmail.com>, or 
>> respond on the listserv.
> The numbers are empirically known, though lists tend to be compiled by 
> discipline. Using absolute numbers will be very misleading, and 
> heavily bias your list towards arthropod-containing collections (e.g., 
> our collection of 3 million places us around #20 in terms of the size 
> of North American insect collections, for example; however, you won't 
> find very many collections that have no insects but still have over 3 
> million specimens). Number of types will also be highest in 
> insect-containing collections, as well.
>
> I'm trying to recall the last time I saw a printed ranking of 
> collections, and drawing a blank; however, the NMNH, AMNH, FMNH, LACM, 
> and CAS are what I recall as the largest US collections, but there are 
> others like the MCZ, Peabody, Carnegie, Bishop, and ANSP. You can look 
> up virtually all major collections in Wikipedia for very up-to-date 
> counts of holdings 
> (https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__en.wikipedia.org_wiki_List-5Fof-5Fnatural-5Fhistory-5Fmuseums-5Fin-5Fthe-5FUnited-5FStates&d=AwID-g&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=CLFZJ3fvGSmDp7xK1dNZfh6uGV_h-8NVlo3fXNoRNzI&m=rmjlHNYDy5eHy50xWg2mpL8W1ZhwyM7LwYeTzWpSatE&s=Kwkdie3fiFcHdTPlv8R3mHvAxquW-DIP-8QvxdrDrIE&e=  
> for the US, and 
> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__en.wikipedia.org_wiki_List-5Fof-5Fnatural-5Fhistory-5Fmuseums&d=AwID-g&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=CLFZJ3fvGSmDp7xK1dNZfh6uGV_h-8NVlo3fXNoRNzI&m=rmjlHNYDy5eHy50xWg2mpL8W1ZhwyM7LwYeTzWpSatE&s=jRUi-zKhrOK_Z-j1eCHALGqgCnPE6ubhCK6qlhx8xEU&e=  for 
> worldwide), and derive rankings yourself.
>
> I just checked the museums I recalled above, and they are indeed all 
> quite large: NMNH - 126 million; LACM - 35 million; AMNH - 32 million; 
> CAS - 26 million; FMNH - 24 million; Carnegie - 22 million; MCZ - 21 
> million; ANSP - 17 million; Peabody - 12 million. The Bishop Museum 
> entry doesn't give their entire holdings, but their insect collection 
> alone is 13.5 million. If all of the University of California's 
> collections were housed together (UC Riverside, UC Berkeley, UC Davis, 
> primarily) we'd also be on that list, with between 15-18 million as a 
> group. I am not sure if any stand-alone herbaria qualify for 
> inclusion, though many of the collections above include plant 
> specimens. I believe that Paris is the all-around largest, by a 
> significant margin, but the Wikipedia entry gives no estimate of their 
> collection size. The NHM in London claims only 80 million, which seems 
> lower to me than I would have supposed.
>
> Hope this helps,
> -- 
> Doug Yanega      Dept. of Entomology       Entomology Research Museum
> Univ. of California, Riverside, CA 92521-0314     skype: dyanega
> phone: (951) 827-4315 (disclaimer: opinions are mine, not UCR's)
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>          is the true method" - Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chap. 82
>
>
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-- 
Dirk Neumann

Tel: 089 / 8107-111
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Tel: +49-89-8107-111
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