[Nhcoll-l] Looking for examples of orphaned/rescued collections for BioScience article

[Adrain, Tiffany S]

Hi everyone,
I was contacted by Michelle Donahue (journalist and writer) regarding a feature for BioScience on orphaned natural history collections (see email below). Please contact Michelle (michelle.z.donahue at gmail.com<mailto:michelle.z.donahue at gmail.com>) or respond on NHCOLL if

  *   you have an example of an orphaned collection to share, or
  *   you have revitalized an endangered collection, or
  *   you are involved with a university natural history curation club.

I'm sure there are plenty of great examples to share.

Thanks,
Tiffany


Tiffany Adrain (pronouns: she/her/hers)
Collections Manager, Paleontology Repository
Instructor, Museum Studies Certificate Program
Department of Earth & Environmental Sciences
University of Iowa
115 Trowbridge Hall
Iowa City, Iowa, 52242

phone: 319 335 1822
fax: 319 335 1821
email: tiffany-adrain at uiowa.edu<mailto:tiffany-adrain at uiowa.edu>
website: <http://www.uiowa.edu/~geology/paleo> https://clas.uiowa.edu/ees/

________________________________
From: Michelle Z. Donahue <michelle.z.donahue at gmail.com>
Sent: Wednesday, April 13, 2022 4:25 PM
To: Adrain, Tiffany S <tiffany-adrain at uiowa.edu>
Subject: [External] interview request - fate of natural history collections - for BioScience

Ms. Adrain:

I’m a contributing writer for the features section of the journal BioScience, and for an upcoming issue I’m preparing a story on the fate of natural history collections when their curator retires or passes away, or a collection otherwise becomes disused, abandoned or orphaned. I spent some time on the SPNHC page and browsed the Threatened and Orphaned Collections wiki, and wonder if you might have time and interest in speaking for the article.

First and foremost, I’m interested in highlighting the donation or discovery of valuable natural history collections that otherwise may have been lost or forgotten. So if you know of any of these - I’m looking for examples. These could be private, at museums, universities, or other organizations (parks’ visitors centers come to mind.)

But I’d also like to get your thoughts on the section of the wiki concerning “warning signs of endangered collections” - and if you know of any people or places who have taken some of these principles to heart and revived the condition and use of a collection (see this amazing work out of Portugal<https://zookeys.pensoft.net/article/64607/>).

Other questions I’m pondering: How do organizations learn of collections that might be available for donation? How does the inclusion of such collections to museum or university collections advance biodiversity research or opportunities for expansion of digitization efforts? I also learned about the existence of university natural history curation clubs<https://crackingthecollections.wordpress.com/2016/02/16/nhc3-creating-a-network-of-natural-history-collections-clubs/>  which is a cool angle I want to include in the story - seems a clever way of accomplishing the goal of building interest in curation and collections care in the next generation, but also reviving the use of collections that might otherwise just sit on a shelf.

I’m out next week, but looking to schedule interviews for this story during the week of April 25 and May 2. My deadline is May 13. Please let me know if you have time and interest in chatting - thanks in advance for the consideration of the request.

Best,
Michelle

Michelle Z. Donahue
Freelance Journalist and Writer
www.MichelleZDonahue.com<http://www.MichelleZDonahue.com>
(571) 217-9554

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