[Nhcoll-l] Rehousing specimens and retaining labels

[Simon Moore]

At the Natural History Museum in London we mounted all old / redundant labels into stamp albums with Mylar strips. This was to preserve handwritings of former curators and conservators, also some historic labels.  I was unsure about relying entirely on digital data system to keep this vital resource but that in the days when data systems could be hacked and injected with erasure viruses. However, it left an impression with me which is why I’m still rather sceptical about trusting all of my vital data to the computer!

With all good wishes, Simon

Simon Moore MIScT, RSci, FLS, ACR
Conservator of Natural Sciences and Cutlery Historian,

www.natural-history-conservation.com








> On 2 Jun 2021, at 18:03, Nicole Seiden <nseiden at fau.edu> wrote:
> 
> Hello everyone,  
> 
> We are about to begin a major reorganization project here at Harbor Branch to conserve on space and allow for future growth. One part to this project includes rehousing wet specimens into smaller size-appropriate jars, with our smallest jar being 20mL scintillation vials, then barcoding and organizing the jars by size. I’ve run into a dilemma with this however, and I wanted to ask the community for suggestions.  
> 
> Specimens housed in 20mL vials are currently stored in larger 8 oz jars so the handwritten collection label and printed label (2”x 3”) are housed with the specimen. By removing the 8 oz jars though, we can save a substantial amount of space. For example – we can house more than 5,500 scintillation jars in a single column of shelves, as opposed to ~900 8 oz jars per column. The problem with the small scintillation jars is that the collection labels are too large to store inside of them. While these jars will be barcoded with catalog numbers and unique location, I’m still uncomfortable with removing the internal specimen labels. 
> 
> One idea is to house these labels in a near-by folder and after this project is completed, printing off new jar-size appropriate labels, possibly with reduced information. The original handwritten labels will likely have to stay in this folder long-term though. 
> 
> I’m curious if anyone else has tackled this dilemma, or might have ideas on how they would address it if it were their own collection?  
> 
> Forever curious, 
> Nicki 
> 
> 
> 
> Nicki L. Seiden, M.Sc.
> She/Her/Hers
> Research Collection Manager
> Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute
> nseiden at fau.edu
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