[Nhcoll-l] storage of manatee skeletons

[Verity Mathis]

Hello all,
The Florida Museum of Natural History's mammal collections is looking for
the best way to house our manatee collection.  We currently have over 250
skeletons or partial skeletons housed in non-archival boxes (mostly old
copy paper boxes). We would love to update these into better, archival
boxes but given the quantity we need is generally going to be less than
what most custom box makers would want to work with (likely would want to
order only 400-500 boxes total and probably not all at once, depending on
cost and our budget), I've been trying to search for pre-made solutions
without much satisfaction. So far the best option seems to be something
like University Products' or Gaylord's 15" x 12" x 10" storage cartons,
which we've been happy with for other larger skull/skeletons.  However,
these cartons are a little smaller than what the manatees are currently
stored in and I fear that it would not be an equal transfer into the new
containers, thus increasing the number of boxes needed overall, leading to
even more of a space crunch.

I would love to know a) if your collection contains manatees, what type of
container you use for their skeletons and/or b) if other collections have
found good sources of large pre-made archival cartons (with lids).

If you prefer, feel free to reply off-list with any suggestions and advice
and I look forward to seeing the replies.

Thanks!
Verity


Verity Mathis, Ph.D.

Mammal Collections Manager

Florida Museum of Natural History

331 Dickinson Hall

1659 Museum Road
University of Florida
Gainesville, FL 32611-7800

Phone: (352) 273-2114

Email: vmathis at flmnh.ufl.edu

Website: https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.flmnh.ufl.edu_museum-2Dvoices_verity-2Dmathis_&d=AwIBaQ&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=CLFZJ3fvGSmDp7xK1dNZfh6uGV_h-8NVlo3fXNoRNzI&m=6yaScEXCCyiEx9xKdX9J_2VGUIA-ttD82Da9T9kQDX4&s=tKekx_pauZcYtNoGfCucRqzIS9bJUljHcJqoVZbd9BY&e= 
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