[Nhcoll-l] Protocols for curating and digitizing wood specimens and fluid-preserved plant specimens?

[Bentley, Andrew Charles]

Mare

Digitization of fluid material of any kind should be fairly similar given that you have the same issues as fish, herps etc. with labels in jars.  Traditionally in fish we have used other sources like ledgers or card catalogs to effect digitization rather than relying on labels in jars but if you do not have those resources then you may have to resort to extracting labels from jars to digitize unless the labels are legible without removing.  It sounds like removing labels may be a perfect opportunity for you to do some associated curation of the material by checking alcohol/formalin concentrations, changing fluids if necessary, creating new labels on better materials and maybe changing jars.  Wax sealing of lids does prevent evaporation but hinders use of the collection.  Most modern jars will have a good enough seal to prevent evaporation without that step and make the collection easier to access.

Happy to provide vendors and materials used in fish collections if it would help.

Andy

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Andy Bentley
Ichthyology Collection Manager
University of Kansas
Biodiversity Institute
Dyche Hall
1345 Jayhawk Boulevard
Lawrence, KS, 66045-7561
USA

Tel: (785) 864-3863
Fax: (785) 864-5335
Email: abentley at ku.edu<mailto:abentley at ku.edu>
http://ichthyology.biodiversity.ku.edu<http://ichthyology.biodiversity.ku.edu/>

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From: Nhcoll-l <nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu> on behalf of Mare Nazaire <mnazaire at calbg.org>
Date: Thursday, February 4, 2021 at 10:57 AM
To: "nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu" <Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu>
Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Protocols for curating and digitizing wood specimens and fluid-preserved plant specimens?

Greetings everyone,

We are preparing to work on some of our ancillary collections to curate and digitize them but I am falling short of finding good protocols for wood specimens and fluid preserved specimens.

The current state of our wood collection is specimens with non-archival labels stapled (!!!) to the specimen. I've read about various ways in which we could better prepare these specimens - including stamping accession numbers into the wood; drilling a hole in the specimen to attach a label; placing in archival plastic bags; or placing in archival paper sleeves or boxes. Since we want to barcode and image these materials we are looking for protocols that would also incorporate this step.

For our fluid preserved plant specimens - I've seen lots of protocols on digitizing other organisms (e.g., fish) but have not seen any (to my knowledge) protocols for digitizing fluid preserved plant material. Additionally, many of these specimens were sealed by dipping their tops in wax to prevent any loss of the fluid. I don't know if a best practice approach would be to just image in the jar or to remove and image. If the latter, then I wonder if moving the specimens into new jars would be the best approach. I would also be concerned about changing fluids and causing the specimens to become more brittle.

I welcome any guidance or experience you have and are willing to share. Thanks so much in advance.

~Mare

--
Mare Nazaire, Ph.D.
Administrative Curator, Herbarium [RSA-POM]
California Botanic Garden
Research Assistant Professor, Claremont Graduate University
1500 North College Avenue
Claremont, California 91711
909.625.8767 ext. 268
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