[Nhcoll-l] No-data specimens and the Graveyard Conundrum

Thu Oct 14 16:59:35 EDT 2021

Hi Rob,

It was purely coincidence that I also used the term "graveyard" - no reference to your posting was intended. However, the comparison is apposite; if there's one thing a collection manager should be able to overrule a researcher on, it's space management. A CM's prime duty is to ensure the collection's long-term stability and sustainability, and hoping for a good outcome is a dereliction of that. Still, many administrators tend to look first at the person's salary rather than listening to what's being said.

Paul Callomon
Collection Manager, Malacology and General Invertebrates
________________________________
Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University
1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia PA 19103-1195, USA
prc44 at drexel.edu<mailto:prc44 at drexel.edu> Tel 215-405-5096 - Fax 215-299-1170

From: Rob Robins <rhrobins at flmnh.ufl.edu>
Sent: Thursday, October 14, 2021 4:55 PM
To: Callomon,Paul <prc44 at drexel.edu>; Bentley, Andrew Charles <abentley at ku.edu>; Editor FourCats Press <editor at fourcatspress.com>; nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu
Subject: RE: No-data specimens and the Graveyard Conundrum

External.
Hi Paul,
Sorry, that wasn't the meaning I was trying to convey. This definition of "whistling past the graveyard" I had in mind:

To proceed with a task, ignoring an upcoming hazard, hoping for a good outcome

Wasn't about graveyards running out of space. Was about collections running out of space whilst ignoring best practices that would help them conserve it or collections failing to introduce new procedures that would utilize existing spaces more efficiently, prolonging the longevity of their facilities, etc.

Best wishes,

Rob

Robert H. Robins
Collection Manager
Division of Ichthyology
[FLMNH Fishes logo email small]
Florida Museum
1659 Museum Rd.
Gainesville, FL 32611-7800
Office: (352) 273-1957
rhrobins at flmnh.ufl.edu<mailto:rhrobins at flmnh.ufl.edu>

Search the Collection:
http://specifyportal.flmnh.ufl.edu/fishes/<https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fspecifyportal.flmnh.ufl.edu%2Ffishes%2F&data=04%7C01%7Cprc44%40drexel.edu%7C35329d00dee64014723f08d98f54e49a%7C3664e6fa47bd45a696708c4f080f8ca6%7C0%7C0%7C637698417042883075%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=0oz0dOvNu5%2FevtUCBbJwA4c1izAByVilJLJDuI4mN9A%3D&reserved=0>

Search samples suitable for dna analysis:
https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/grr/holdings/<https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.floridamuseum.ufl.edu%2Fgrr%2Fholdings%2F&data=04%7C01%7Cprc44%40drexel.edu%7C35329d00dee64014723f08d98f54e49a%7C3664e6fa47bd45a696708c4f080f8ca6%7C0%7C0%7C637698417042883075%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=PiZqacRJT5vHJbEfRMrW4CFAneeWpd2df2HK%2FDW%2FVMQ%3D&reserved=0>

[cid:image002.jpg at 01D7C11C.DCC23880]

From: Nhcoll-l <nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu<mailto:nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu>> On Behalf Of Callomon,Paul
Sent: Thursday, October 14, 2021 3:52 PM
To: Bentley, Andrew Charles <abentley at ku.edu<mailto:abentley at ku.edu>>; Editor FourCats Press <editor at fourcatspress.com<mailto:editor at fourcatspress.com>>; nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu<mailto:nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu>
Subject: [Nhcoll-l] No-data specimens and the Graveyard Conundrum

[External Email]
Several of the responses to this interesting thread point obliquely at the "graveyard conundrum". This is the famous proposal that if we continue to bury dead people in cemeteries we'll eventually run out of arable land and starve. Clearly that hasn't happened, so at some point someone must be making judgments as to what's worth keeping and what isn't.
In building a working and teachable philosophy of natural history museums we need not only to establish some general criteria for "scientific value" (both now and hypothetically) but also be clear about who gets to make those calls. Many research scientists insist that every last microscope slide or voucher specimen from their entire careers be cataloged and that that be prioritized over acquiring and sorting the collections of "amateurs", a term at which many still sneer. Museum management, on the other hand, can be blithely ignorant of any scheme of priorities other than things they immediately understand - famous names and "rarities".
When we think about the professionalization of collections management, therefore, a point we'd do well to promote is the collections manager as arbiter of value. (That's assuming that we don't hire people as CMs who are qualified and temperamentally inclined to be career researchers but who can't find a position at present so opt to "slum it" until something comes along).
The ability to size up a body of material and see how it might fit into the grand narrative of the museum's collections is something long-term CMs can develop best, given their extensive institutional knowledge, generally collegial nature and tendency to be objective about a specimen's "story".
A last point: techniques will certainly be developed in the future that will let us do things with specimens that we can't do now. However, the questions we are asking - what is the true nature of Nature and how do we maintain a healthy relationship with it - date back to the Greeks. A beautiful specimen with no data is unlikely ever to be of more use in answering them than a vouchered and accurately recorded collecting event.

Paul Callomon
Collection Manager, Malacology and General Invertebrates
________________________________
Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University
1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia PA 19103-1195, USA
prc44 at drexel.edu<mailto:prc44 at drexel.edu> Tel 215-405-5096 - Fax 215-299-1170

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