[Nhcoll-l] ULM's situation is not new there

[Kennedy, Robin C.]

Some years ago, ULM's longtime curator, R. Dale Thomas, faced this same ultimatum from his administration.  At that time he asked many of us other Herbarium Curators to write letters of support, which I did, as UMO had been the recipient of R. Dale's generous duplicate specimens for decades.  Apparently enough of us made a strong enough case, as the herbarium was spared at that time (and R. Dale thanked each of us individually).  This time, if there isn't any plant taxonomy/systematics program at ULM anymore (and thus very little usage of the Herbarium), that's probably not going to work again...  We at UMO faced the same problem about five years ago, albeit with a much more understanding administration (no 48 hour threats!).  Thus began a *three-year* effort which culminated  (in the fall of 2015) in the transfer of UMO's 275,000+ specimens to MO in St. Louis.  This kind of transfer, or adoption, of orphaned collections takes a **long** time, much perseverance, and the support of at least one or more "heavyweight" administrators at both ends. I wish R. Dale had undertaken a transfer lo! those many years ago, rather than relying on a reprieve that most of us in academia know often don't survive in a future administration's evaluations.  
    BTW, there *is* a ULM Herbarium website -- true, it's not on the U's main site, but is found by a search for "herbarium" there.  

Robin C. Kennedy, PhD
Curator Emeritus
Univ. Of Missouri Dunn-Palmer Herbarium (UMO)
Research Associate (MO)
Columbia, MO 65211
Kennedyr at missouri.edu