[Nhcoll-l] Why retain physical specimens

[Jennifer Doubt]

We get that quite a bit for herbarium specimens

The main points I make are that

-          Researchers sometimes need access to a part of the plant that is not visible on the mounted specimen (for example, it is hidden, or on the reverse side, OR it is so small that the resolution of an image can't capture it adequately)

-          We can't anticipate the kinds of questions that specimens will be used to answer in the future. It wouldn't have been possible to anticipate sampling herbarium specimens for DNA analysis at one time, for example, but it has become routine...and it is not possible with images. There are lots of instances where we are grateful for having the original. Who knows what might be included in the specimen that we might someday need?

Good wishes!

Jennifer


Jennifer Doubt
Curator, Botany / Conservatrice, Botanique
National Herbarium of Canada / Herbier national du Canada - CAN, CANM, CANL, CANA
Research and Collections / Recherche et Collections
Canadian Museum of Nature / Musée canadien de la nature
PO Box 3443 Stn "D" / CP 3443 Succ « D »
Ottawa, ON  Canada   K1P 6P4
T: 613-364-4076
E/C: jdoubt at mus-nature.ca<mailto:jdoubt at mus-nature.ca>
nature.ca




From: Nhcoll-l [mailto:nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu] On Behalf Of Sarah K. Huber
Sent: September-26-19 2:00 PM
To: nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu
Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Why retain physical specimens

Recently I've been fielding a lot of questions about why our collection should retain a physical specimen once it has been digitized (e.g., CT-scanned, photographed, x-rayed, etc.). I'm curious how often other museum professionals are asked this question and what your general responses are for justifying the retention of a physical specimen. Why do you tell people it's important to retain a specimen?

If anyone knows of article that have addressed this specific question I would appreciate references so that I can have them on hand for particularly curious visitors.

Thanks,
Sarah

Sarah K. Huber, Ph.D.
Curatorial Associate, VIMS Nunnally Ichthyology Collection
Office 804.684.7104 | Collection 804.684.7285
skhuber at vims.edu<mailto:skhuber at vims.edu> | http://www.vims.edu/research/facilities/fishcollection/index.php
PO Box 1346 | 1370 Greate Rd., Gloucester Pt., VA 23062

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.yale.edu/pipermail/nhcoll-l/attachments/20190926/2c4df5b0/attachment.html>