From ellwoodlibby at gmail.com Wed Apr 1 11:28:55 2026 From: ellwoodlibby at gmail.com (Libby Ellwood) Date: Wed, 1 Apr 2026 11:28:55 -0400 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] 2026 Digital Data Conference-- Abstract Submissions & Registration Open Message-ID: *Today is the day **?**Abstract submissions and Registration is now open for the Digital Data in Biodiversity Research Conference.* This *FREE virtual event* will take place *June 2-4, 2026* using the Zoom Events platform. *Registration is required to submit an abstract.* Abstract submission links will be included in the ticket confirmation email. *Important Dates* April 1st: Abstract submissions & registration opens May 1st: Abstract submission deadline May 15th: Final agenda published June 2-4: Conference *Abstract Submissions* *Registration is required to submit an abstract. Abstract submission links will be included in the ticket confirmation email. Deadline: May 1st* *Oral presentation:* Presenters will have the option to present live or submit a prerecorded presentation. Presentations can be up to 12 minutes, 5 additional minutes will be given after the presentation for Q&A. All presentations will be recorded and shared publicly, unless otherwise stated. *Extended sessions: *This includes: workshop, discussion sessions, symposia, etc. Can be between 30 and 75 minutes. The structure should be determined by the organizers and panelists. These sessions may begin with a presentation or introduction followed by discussion or may be completely devoted to open discussion. No prerecording is required. *Poster presentation:* Presenters are required to submit a recorded presentation (5 minutes) with their poster. Prerecorded presentations and posters will be posted on the conference event page. *Exhibitor:* This year using Zoom Events we will be offering a virtual Expo where participants can virtually engage with booths. If you are interested in promoting a tool, institution, lab, company, or product, this is a great option! *Posters and Exhibitors will both be featured within the virtual Expo space. There will be times during the conference where participants will have the opportunity to engage with exhibitors attending live or submit questions for asynchronous engagement.* *Visit **https://idigb.io/h* to explore conference details, stay up to date on announcements and get the latest updates. If you have any *questions*, please feel free to reach out to Conference Organizer, Jill Goodwin at* jgoodwin at floridamuseum.ufl.edu *. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From bradbredehoft at museumstudy.com Wed Apr 1 11:38:15 2026 From: bradbredehoft at museumstudy.com (Brad Bredehoft) Date: Wed, 1 Apr 2026 11:38:15 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [Nhcoll-l] May online professional Development at Museum Study Message-ID: <1575031201.326084.1775057895233@email.ionos.com> We have three courses beginning May 4; Managing Museum Volunteers from Tara Young, Assessing Risk to Cultural Property from Rob Waller and Moya Dumville, and Creating Successful Traveling Exhibitions with Saul Sopoci Drake. Managing Museum Volunteers course begins May 4 on Museum Study The Managing Museum Volunteers course will focus on strategies for running a successful volunteer program that adapts to the needs of the museum. Appropriate for professionals starting a new volunteer program or wanting to reinvigorate an existing one, this course will include topics such as: assessing the museum?s needs for volunteers; managing the recruitment, selection, onboarding, training, and evaluating of volunteers; and troubleshooting problems with volunteers. We will also consider some of the ways that volunteerism in the US is changing overall and how those changes might affect museums. Join Instructor Tara Young for this 4 week online professional development course. For more information visit our website: https://www.museumstudy.com/managing-museum-volunteers Assessing Risk to Cultural Property 1 course begins August 31 on Museum Study Assessing risks to cultural property, including but not limited to Museum, Library, and Archive collections, is becoming a fundamental ability for collection care professionals. Join instructors Robert Waller and Moya Dumville for the first in a series of online courses on Risk to Cultural Property. This introductory course provides a firm foundation on which to build an understanding of risk-based approaches to cultural property protection. For more information visit our website: https://www.museumstudy.com/assessing-risk-to-cultural-property-1 Creating Successful Traveling Exhibitions course begins May 4 on Museum Study Ever wanted to know how to develop a traveling exhibition? If so, Creating Successful Traveling Exhibitions is for you. This class will be focused on providing you with the nuts and bolts on how to develop and tour traveling exhibitions. We will be delving into all stages of the traveling exhibit development process and tips and strategies will be provided to build sustainable frameworks for these types of exhibitions. Join Instructor Saul Sopoci Drake for this 4 week online professional development course. For more information visit our website: https://www.museumstudy.com/creating-successful-traveling-exhibitions Brad Bredehoft Museum Study -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From spnhc.ncdc at gmail.com Wed Apr 1 16:10:55 2026 From: spnhc.ncdc at gmail.com (Networking and Career Development Committee) Date: Wed, 1 Apr 2026 16:10:55 -0400 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] NCDC Upcoming Meeting Wednesday 4/8 from 2-3 pm EST Message-ID: The SPNHC - Networking and Career Development Committee is having its next meeting, *Wednesday, April 8th from 2-3pm EST* (Time Zone Converter Website ). *Note: The meeting time is different from our normal meeting time!!* *Permits with Benjamin Hess * Benjamin Hess is the Museum Registrar Senior for the University of Michigan (U-M) Herbarium and Museum of Zoology (UMMZ), serving this role since 2018. The museums are part of the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (EEB) within the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts (LSA). Ben also serves as the EEB Museums Safety Representative at the Research Museums Center (RMC). As a Registrar, Ben approves the documentation for all incoming specimens associated with the Herbarium and UMMZ. Working with respective researchers, he ensures the legal collection, transport, export, and import of material coming to the U-M. As a Safety Representative, he works with museum personnel working at the RMC to improve safety standards within lab and collection spaces. Ben educates others within EEB and LSA on best practices to bring material to the U-M through annual webinars or individual consulting. He serves as a resource for plant and animal material regulations, and works with state, federal, and international entities to improve this knowledge base. In addition to U-M service, Ben is a member of the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections and part of the Legislation and Regulations Committee, where they aim to provide guidance to those around the world to ensure compliance with global regulations. To join us, please email *spnhc.ncdc at gmail.com * at least 24 hrs in advance to receive the zoom link! Megan, Hannah and Meg SPNHC NCDC Co-Chairs *If you?re interested in joining our mailing list, an upcoming meeting, etc. feel free to fill out our general interest form: https://forms.gle/zkSp3ZrZygQU633j9 * -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From gnelson at floridamuseum.ufl.edu Thu Apr 2 10:38:04 2026 From: gnelson at floridamuseum.ufl.edu (Nelson,Gil) Date: Thu, 2 Apr 2026 14:38:04 +0000 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] April iDigBio webinars Message-ID: Hello everyone! Don?t forget to join us for our first April webinar and be sure to pre-register for the rest of our April lineup. Registration is now open! Check out our upcoming webinars below! Register here: https://www.idigbio.org/content/webinar-series-importance-sustaining-biodiversity-specimen-collections-digitization-absence For past recordings and upcoming events, visit the series Wiki page: https://www.idigbio.org/wiki/index.php/Sustaining_Collections_Digitization_Beyond_NSF_Funding:_A_Webinar_Series April 9, 2026: Planning for the future of Biodiversity Digitization and Data Mobilization at the Museum of Comparative Zoology (2:00-3:00pm ET) Speakers: Breda Zimkus (Harvard University, Museum of Comparative Zoology) Jon Woodward (Harvard University, Museum of Comparative Zoology) Richard A. Rabideau Childers (Harvard University, Museum of Comparative Zoology) Wei-Ping Chan (Harvard University, Museum of Comparative Zoology) Abstract: The Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University houses approximately 21 million animal specimens across ten departments, each with its own discipline-specific practices and priorities. As a result, collection digitization at the museum over the last 40 years has proceeded in a decentralized and often piecemeal fashion. In this talk, we will provide a history of digitization at the MCZ and examine both some of the successes and challenges of the past, using them as a lens through which to survey the foreseeable (and unforeseeable) future. We highlight how institutional priorities and community support have contributed to important advances in centralization and standardization and have kept digitization moving forward. We will focus particularly on a new high-throughput digitization system that we are developing, incorporating recent advances in 3D imaging and machine learning to dramatically improve the speed of specimen imaging and cataloging in collections for which conventional digitization is simply too extensive of a task. April 14, 2026: New advances and opportunities in 3D Digitization in the field and in the collection (3:00-5:00pm ET) Speakers: Genevieve Rios (Yale Peabody Museum) Duncan Irschick (University of Massachusetts - Amherst) Austin Mast (Florida State University, iDigBio) Mark Smith (Macroscopic Solutions) Abstract: Techniques for 3D modeling are advancing rapidly, and the biodiversity collections community will benefit from keeping abreast of the latest advances and thinking strategically about the new opportunities that 3D modeling offers. Here, we will present experimentation with recently developed methods (e.g., Neural Radiance Fields and 3D Gaussian Splatting), advances in robotics and macrophotography that provide scaling opportunities for model generation, and new analyses made possible with 3D modeling. These approaches have the potential to dramatically reduce digitization time while increasing fidelity and throughput across a wide range of specimen types. We will also discuss practical considerations for adoption, including infrastructure requirements, workflow integration, and sustainability. April 21, 2026: Planning for the future of Biodiversity Digitization and Data Mobilization at Carnegie Museum of Natural History (2:00-4:00pm ET) Speakers: Kathy Hollis (Carnegie Museum of Natural History) Mason Heberling (Carnegie Museum of Natural History) Mary Janecka (Carnegie Museum of Natural History) Valerie Warhol (Carnegie Museum of Natural History) Abstract: Carnegie Museum of Natural History (CMNH) houses over 22 million specimens and objects critical to understanding biodiversity, climate change, and cultural history. In addition to these physical collections, CMNH also stewards extensive long-term ecological and environmental observational data collected at its field station, Powdermill Nature Reserve (PNR). Together, these data resources form a vital foundation for scientific research and public engagement. While a significant portion of these collections and observational datasets are in digital formats, the museum faces significant challenges in managing, integrating, and mobilizing its diverse digital data and digital assets. This webinar presents CMNH?s strategic initiative to develop a comprehensive informatics program aimed at ensuring long-term accessibility, interoperability, and preservation of both collections and observational data. Presenters will outline the program?s goals, including the implementation of a centralized collections management system (CMS) and digital asset management system (DAMS), adherence to FAIR Data Principles, and the development of sustainable workflows and infrastructure. The session will offer insights into the assessment and planning process, current projects and implementation efforts, and the practical strategies CMNH is employing to build a resilient, scalable data stewardship program. April 30, 2026: Current State of Digitization in Mammalogy and Future Directions (2:00-4:00pm ET) Speakers: Cody Thompson (University of Michigan) Sharlene Santana (University of Washington) Bryan McLean (University of North Carolina at Greensboro) Nate Upham (Arizona State University) Noe de la Sancha (DePaul University) Emily Braker (University of Colorado - Boulder) Abstract: Beginning in the 1970s, mammal collections began the process of digitizing their paper catalogs using mainframe computers. By the 1990s, mammal collections shifted their specimen cataloging to electronic databases, which soon led to the phasing out of paper catalogs. Georeferencing and data aggregation efforts, such as the Mammal Networked Information System (MaNIS), soon followed, placing mammalogy and its natural history collections ahead of the digitization curve by the early 2000s. Recognizing the need for similar digitization efforts across all natural history collections, the National Science Foundation established the Advancing Digitization of Biodiversity Collections (ADBC) program and created iDigBio as the central coordinating organization, funding projects to digitize and mobilize data in many botanical and invertebrate collections. Because of the extent of their taxonomic diversity, these collections were prioritized over mammal and other vertebrate collections. As these biodiverse collections began to mobilize their specimen data, attention returned to vertebrate collections as ideas of the ?extended specimen? began take hold, leading to ambitious digitization projects, such oVert, that reinvigorated some scientific fields (e.g., anatomy) and expanded collection use in others (e.g., biomechanics). Additional mammal-focused digitization efforts have focused on expanding the availability of x-ray computed tomography (CT) datasets (i.e., FuncQEE and BatPEN!) and lifting trait data (i.e., Ranges). These digitization efforts, along with long-term investments in maintaining rigorous taxonomic and database resources, have positioned mammalogy to be a leader in digital collections. However, as technology continues to develop, more opportunities to expand digitization efforts in mammalogy will arise. We hope to see you there! Best, Gil Gil Nelson PhD, Director Integrated Digitized Biocollections (iDigBio) Immediate Past President, Natural Science Collections Alliance (NSCA) Florida Museum of Natural History University of Florida gnelson at floridamuseum.ufl.edu [FM_logo_horizontal_CMYK] -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Outlook-FM_logo_ho.png Type: image/png Size: 10269 bytes Desc: Outlook-FM_logo_ho.png URL: From gnelson at floridamuseum.ufl.edu Thu Apr 2 14:02:16 2026 From: gnelson at floridamuseum.ufl.edu (Nelson,Gil) Date: Thu, 2 Apr 2026 18:02:16 +0000 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] iDigBio Transitions Update Message-ID: Dear Colleagues, As you may recall, I posted an email in mid-March announcing changes to iDigBio, its website, and its wiki. I also promised to post updates as they became available. 1. In the previous email, I announced that the legacy iDigBio website and wiki are being preserved on the Internet Archive?s Wayback Machine (http://web.archive.org/web/20260423/idigbio.org) with the goal of being available in perpetuity. This archive is currently active. The archive does not nor is intended to function as an active website but will provide access in the absence of continued NSF funding. We apologize for any inconvenience and ask you to understand that iDigBio is in the process of closing its nearly 15-year project with as little disruption as possible and with the aim of migrating all aggregated data to GBIF and as much documentation as possible to the archive. 2. On April 24, iDigBio.org will be transitioned to a minimal single-page format with links to iDigBio?s data portal, its new GBIF Hosted portal, the internet archive, and the new iDigBio Events Hub. Links to iDigBio.org URLs will no longer be functional, except through the archive. As I mentioned in the previous announcement, since many of the digitization and data mobilization resources available through the current iDigBio website and wiki have been contributed in whole or in part by iDigBio?s users and collaborators, and may be more time intensive to access from the archive than presently, we encourage you to visit iDigBio.org at your earliest convenience prior to 24 April to download and preserve on your hardware any resources you may have found useful or potentially might find helpful to your future digitization activities. 3. The iDigBio data portal will cease data ingestion on 1 June 2026. More than 98% of our providers are now registered with and serving data through GBIF. We strongly encourage all of our providers to ensure they are registered with and serving their specimen data to GBIF. Cat Chapman at iDigBio can help with this, if needed. 4. The iDigBio IPT (https://ipt.idigbio.org/) has also moved. All of its content (including user accounts) has migrated to https://ipt.gbif.us/. While the previous ipt.idigbio.org URL will automatically redirect to ipt.gbif.us for now, we advise that those old links be updated to point to ipt.gbif.us going forward. Cat (see above) can also provide info and assistance with this. Thanks! Gil Gil Nelson PhD, Director Integrated Digitized Biocollections (iDigBio) Immediate Past President, Natural Science Collections Alliance (NSCA) Florida Museum of Natural History University of Florida gnelson at floridamuseum.ufl.edu [FM_logo_horizontal_CMYK] -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Outlook-FM_logo_ho.png Type: image/png Size: 10269 bytes Desc: Outlook-FM_logo_ho.png URL: From gnelson at floridamuseum.ufl.edu Mon Apr 6 06:37:47 2026 From: gnelson at floridamuseum.ufl.edu (Nelson,Gil) Date: Mon, 6 Apr 2026 10:37:47 +0000 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] =?windows-1252?q?This_week=92s_iDigBio_Webinar?= Message-ID: iDigBio is pleased to announce this week?s edition of our Sustaining Collections Digitization Beyond NSF Funding webinar series, featuring colleagues from the Museum of Comparative Zoology (MCZ) at Harvard University. MCZ has been a leader in collections digitization since before the beginning of NSF?s Advancing the Digitization of Biodiversity Collections program in 2011 and was one of the first museums visited by iDioBio staff as we surveyed digitization practices across the U.S. You won?t want to miss this event happening this Thursday, 9 April at 2:00 p.m. Eastern. Register here: https://www.idigbio.org/content/webinar-series-importance-sustaining-biodiversity-specimen-collections-digitization-absence For past recordings and upcoming events, visit the series Wiki page: https://www.idigbio.org/wiki/index.php/Sustaining_Collections_Digitization_Beyond_NSF_Funding:_A_Webinar_Series April 9, 2026: Planning for the future of Biodiversity Digitization and Data Mobilization at the Museum of Comparative Zoology (2:00-3:00pm ET) Speakers: Breda Zimkus (Harvard University, Museum of Comparative Zoology) Jon Woodward (Harvard University, Museum of Comparative Zoology) Richard A. Rabideau Childers (Harvard University, Museum of Comparative Zoology) Wei-Ping Chan (Harvard University, Museum of Comparative Zoology) Abstract: The Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University houses approximately 21 million animal specimens across ten departments, each with its own discipline-specific practices and priorities. As a result, collection digitization at the museum over the last 40 years has proceeded in a decentralized and often piecemeal fashion. In this talk, we will provide a history of digitization at the MCZ and examine both some of the successes and challenges of the past, using them as a lens through which to survey the foreseeable (and unforeseeable) future. We highlight how institutional priorities and community support have contributed to important advances in centralization and standardization and have kept digitization moving forward. We will focus particularly on a new high-throughput digitization system that we are developing, incorporating recent advances in 3D imaging and machine learning to dramatically improve the speed of specimen imaging and cataloging in collections for which conventional digitization is simply too extensive of a task. Best, Gil Gil Nelson PhD, Director Integrated Digitized Biocollections (iDigBio) Immediate Past President, Natural Science Collections Alliance (NSCA) Florida Museum of Natural History University of Florida gnelson at floridamuseum.ufl.edu [FM_logo_horizontal_CMYK] -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Outlook-FM_logo_ho.png Type: image/png Size: 10269 bytes Desc: Outlook-FM_logo_ho.png URL: From bejsak at email.com Wed Apr 8 02:23:54 2026 From: bejsak at email.com (Vratislav Bejsak) Date: Wed, 8 Apr 2026 08:23:54 +0200 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] [EXTERN] Desktop thermal printers? In-Reply-To: References: <24c7646c-c314-42a3-9a3b-f2ffd6a7556d@leibniz-lib.de> Message-ID: An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From Joachim.Haendel at zns.uni-halle.de Wed Apr 8 05:30:10 2026 From: Joachim.Haendel at zns.uni-halle.de (=?UTF-8?Q?Hans-Joachim=20H=C3=A4ndel?=) Date: Wed, 08 Apr 2026 11:30:10 +0200 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Antw: Re: [EXTERN] Desktop thermal printers? In-Reply-To: References: <24c7646c-c314-42a3-9a3b-f2ffd6a7556d@leibniz-lib.de> Message-ID: <69D62022020000B3000E150C@gwia0.itz.uni-halle.de> Important! Thermo-printer for collection labels meens thermal transfer printer! Thermal-transfer printing is done by melting wax on a carbon ribbon by the print heads and print it on the paper. This is a good and permanent method. You can use standard paper, archival paper, or even synthetic paper, card or textile materials Don't confuse this with classic thermal printing (or direct thermal printing), like that used for supermarket receipts or fax machines. This method is a bad idea for collections. The prints only last a short time. Good luck Joachim -- Joachim Haendel Center of Natural Science Collections of the Martin Luther University (ZNS) - Zoological Collection - Domplatz 4 D-06099 Halle (Saale) Germany Phone: +49 345 - 55 26 447 Email: joachim.haendel at zns.uni-halle.de >>> Vratislav Bejsak schrieb am 08.04.2026 um 08:23: Hi If I understand that for a thermal printer you need a special thermal paper. Is this paper archival style and how long printed label survive. I have some thermal print receipt from shops but in few montgs latter is impossible to read the print..... Keep care and be of good cheer Regards Vratislav Ricardo Eug?ne Maria John-Baptist Bejsak-Colloredo-Mansfeld retired entomologist Sydney Australia -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From kendrickorion at gmail.com Wed Apr 8 14:31:03 2026 From: kendrickorion at gmail.com (Kendrick Fowler) Date: Wed, 8 Apr 2026 14:31:03 -0400 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Desktop thermal printers? In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: One thing I feel should be pointed out (as discussed in Gali?s paper) is that laser and inkjet printers are different technologies: unfortunately, HP's brand name for their laser printers, "LaserJet," has became a genericization for all laser printers (like Kleenex, Band-Aid, or Ziploc are for tissues, adhesive bandages, and zipper bags), and presumably because both "LaserJet" and "inkjet" have the word "jet" in their name, folks sometimes conflate these types of printers. Katrina, I'm not saying you've done this, but it is a common mistake and I see at least one person in the email thread that split off from this one who seems to have made it, so I thought it seemed worth mentioning. Laser printers use heat to melt toner (colored plastic powder) onto paper/the printing substrate, and if the toner does not adhere well enough the letters can fall off the labels and make ?alphabet soup,? as Gali noted. There are also reports that laser printed labels may be degraded by lipids from fatty/oily specimens or by contact with plastic storage bags/containers. As discussed in the other email thread, some folks who use laser printers go over their labels with a hot iron, bake them in an oven, or treat them with an acrylic spray to improve adhesion of the toner after printing. Inkjet printers spray ink onto paper, and if a good permanent, pigment-based ink is used, the labels should last a very long time, just as handwritten labels made using pens with archival pigment-based inks do (but it is important to get the ink right: some inks are water-soluble and therefore are not suitable for wet labels, and inks that use dye rather than carbon black pigment for coloring will fade over time). Although I haven?t done a comprehensive review, my sense is that researchers who have studied the durability of wet labels (such as Gali) usually recommend inkjet over laser printing and have done so pretty consistently for the past ~25?30 years (see, as examples, the attached papers from 1999 and 2002). With either technology, the paper used should not only be free of acid and OBAs, but also lignin, i.e. the paper should be 100% cellulose. 100% cotton rag papers, like linen ledger paper or herbarium paper, are the best choices. Hope this helps, Kendrick *Kendrick Fowler*, *Entomology Lab Manager* Hawthorne Valley Farmscape Ecology Program | hvfarmscape.org +1 (518) 672-7994 (office) | +1 (267) 377-7567 (cell) *Follow us** on Facebook or subscribe to our **Progress of the Seasons Journal for weekly **photoessays on **Columbia County's natural **wonders**.* On Tue, Mar 24, 2026 at 3:19?PM Gali Beiner wrote: > Dear Katrina, > > I agree with Andy, laser printers are usually best avoided as far as fluid > collections are involved. In our collections, there are examples of > "alphabet soup" created by laser-printed labels where letters detached from > the substrate. > > There actually is precious little published info out there in terms of > labels for use in fluids. I authored a publication on this subject. Here is > a link for your convenience: > > > https://www.researchgate.net/publication/355103566_Labels_for_Eternity_Testing_Printed_Labels_for_use_in_Wet_Collections > > In our case, we opted for a high quality inkjet printer on acid free, OBA > free paper. > > Best wishes, > > Gali > > > > > > > Gali Beiner (ACR) > Conservator, Palaeontology Lab > National Natural History Collections > The Hebrew University of Jerusalem > Berman Building, Edmond J. Safra campus, Givat Ram > Jerusalem 91904, Israel > Fax. 972-2-6585785 > *gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il * > > *https://nnhc.huji.ac.il/?lang=en * > > ?????? ??? ??, 24 ???? 2026, 18:09, ??? Derieg, Katrina ?< > katrina.derieg at mso.umt.edu>: > >> Hi NHC community, >> I am hoping to step up my game with fluid labeling. We have a very small >> fluid collection in just a few flammable cabinets, so we have a low volume >> of fluid specimens being prepared, but I'm hoping to slowly expand. For >> reference, we are using only ethanol and not formalin going forward. >> >> A few years ago, I bought and used a GoDEX ZX430i thermal printer when I >> was at UMNH and that thing was the bane of my existence. I found it >> difficult to dial in the settings, and the media (Tyvek) was too slick for >> the rollers to grab consistently. I'm sure the Tyvek was mostly the problem >> there, but in any case I would prefer to avoid an industrial thermal >> printer, mostly because of cost. >> >> Has anyone used desktop thermal printers? Example: Brother TD-4520TN >> If >> so, can you use them with continuous rolls of printing media? Most of the >> desktop ones seem to be direct thermal for sticker labels. I mainly want to >> print small tags (1" x 0.25") for individual specimens, as well as internal >> jar labels (~ 3" x 4" or 4" x 6"). Has anyone achieved this with desktop >> thermal printers? With what kind of media? >> >> I'd like to spend less than $1000 USD on a printer. >> >> Alternatively, does anyone have any thoughts on laser jet printing with >> special media for fluid tags/labels? This would honestly be my preference, >> as I already have a laser jet printer. Currently I am just printing fluid >> tags on acid-free card stock with the laser jet, but I know that is far >> from ideal. >> >> I know there is a TON of info out there on labeling for fluid >> collections, but I find it hard to sift through for my needs and would just >> like to hear from the community on what works for you folks. >> >> Thanks in advance!! >> -Katrina >> >> *KATRINA DERIEG **(she/her)* >> >> *Curator | Museum Collections and Outreach Coordinator* >> >> *Phillip L. Wright Zoological Museum (UMZM)* >> https://www.umt.edu/zoological-museum/ >> >> *Shipping: Health Science 104 | 32 Campus Drive | 406 >> -243-4743* >> *Office: Health Science 211* >> >> *katrina.derieg at umontana.edu | >> umzm at mso.umt.edu * >> >> *University of Montana* >> >> *Search the UMZM collections on Arctos: Birds >> | Mammals >> | Eggs & >> Nests | >> Parasites * >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Nhcoll-l mailing list >> Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu >> https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l >> >> _______________________________________________ >> NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of >> Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose >> mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of >> natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to >> society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. >> Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. >> > _______________________________________________ > Nhcoll-l mailing list > Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu > https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l > > _______________________________________________ > NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of > Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose > mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of > natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to > society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. > Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Hillyard_and_Beccaloni_2002?Computer_Generated_Labels_for_Wet_Collections.pdf Type: application/pdf Size: 1451432 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Carter_and_Walker_1999?Papers_inks_and_label_conservation.pdf Type: application/pdf Size: 11457685 bytes Desc: not available URL: From Joachim.Haendel at zns.uni-halle.de Thu Apr 9 01:47:32 2026 From: Joachim.Haendel at zns.uni-halle.de (=?UTF-8?Q?Hans-Joachim=20H=C3=A4ndel?=) Date: Thu, 09 Apr 2026 07:47:32 +0200 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Antw: Re: Desktop thermal printers? In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <69D73D74020000B3000E1580@gwia0.itz.uni-halle.de> Dear Kendrick, Thank you very much for the information. Nevertheless, I?m a bit sceptical about using inkjet printers. To find out for certain, I wrote to all printer ink manufacturers in Europe a few years ago and asked about the longevity of their inks. None of them could guarantee legibility for longer than 20 years. Things may be different now ? my research dates back to 2005. Furthermore, my tests showed that many inks become less legible in alcohol after a while. The letters become blurred at the edges. I actually intended to publish this, but the tests were practically never completed and then I lost track of it. In the meantime, I?m trying out laser printers on synthetic ?paper? (Neobond, Artisyn, Pretex ? ? I?m still testing). These papers are supposed to be age-resistant, and the toner is supposed to bond permanently and irrevocably with the paper. We?ll see ? I?m optimistic. All the best Joachim -- Joachim Haendel Center of Natural Science Collections of the Martin Luther University (ZNS) - Zoological Collection - Domplatz 4 D-06099 Halle (Saale) Germany Phone: +49 345 - 55 26 447 Email: joachim.haendel at zns.uni-halle.de >>> Kendrick Fowler schrieb am 08.04.2026 um 20:31: One thing I feel should be pointed out (as discussed in Gali?s paper) is that laser and inkjet printers are different technologies: unfortunately, HP's brand name for their laser printers, "LaserJet," has became a genericization for all laser printers (like Kleenex, Band-Aid, or Ziploc are for tissues, adhesive bandages, and zipper bags), and presumably because both "LaserJet" and "inkjet" have the word "jet" in their name, folks sometimes conflate these types of printers. Katrina, I'm not saying you've done this, but it is a common mistake and I see at least one person in the email thread that split off from this one who seems to have made it, so I thought it seemed worth mentioning. Laser printers use heat to melt toner (colored plastic powder) onto paper/the printing substrate, and if the toner does not adhere well enough the letters can fall off the labels and make ?alphabet soup,? as Gali noted. There are also reports that laser printed labels may be degraded by lipids from fatty/oily specimens or by contact with plastic storage bags/containers. As discussed in the other email thread, some folks who use laser printers go over their labels with a hot iron, bake them in an oven, or treat them with an acrylic spray to improve adhesion of the toner after printing. Inkjet printers spray ink onto paper, and if a good permanent, pigment-based ink is used, the labels should last a very long time, just as handwritten labels made using pens with archival pigment-based inks do (but it is important to get the ink right: some inks are water-soluble and therefore are not suitable for wet labels, and inks that use dye rather than carbon black pigment for coloring will fade over time). Although I haven?t done a comprehensive review, my sense is that researchers who have studied the durability of wet labels (such as Gali) usually recommend inkjet over laser printing and have done so pretty consistently for the past ~25?30 years (see, as examples, the attached papers from 1999 and 2002). With either technology, the paper used should not only be free of acid and OBAs, but also lignin, i.e. the paper should be 100% cellulose. 100% cotton rag papers, like linen ledger paper or herbarium paper, are the best choices. Hope this helps, Kendrick Kendrick Fowler, Entomology Lab Manager Hawthorne Valley Farmscape Ecology Program | hvfarmscape.org +1 (518) 672-7994 (office) | +1 (267) 377-7567 (cell) Follow us on Facebook ( https://www.facebook.com/Farmscape-Ecology-Program-154393294745947/) or subscribe to our Progress of the Seasons Journal ( https://progressoftheseasons.wordpress.com/) for weekly photoessays on Columbia County's natural wonders. On Tue, Mar 24, 2026 at 3:19?PM Gali Beiner wrote: Dear Katrina, I agree with Andy, laser printers are usually best avoided as far as fluid collections are involved. In our collections, there are examples of "alphabet soup" created by laser-printed labels where letters detached from the substrate. There actually is precious little published info out there in terms of labels for use in fluids. I authored a publication on this subject. Here is a link for your convenience: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/355103566_Labels_for_Eternity_Testing_Printed_Labels_for_use_in_Wet_Collections In our case, we opted for a high quality inkjet printer on acid free, OBA free paper. Best wishes, Gali Gali Beiner (ACR) Conservator, Palaeontology Lab National Natural History Collections The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Berman Building, Edmond J. Safra campus, Givat Ram Jerusalem 91904, Israel Fax. 972-2-6585785 gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il https://nnhc.huji.ac.il/?lang=en ?????? ??? ??, 24 ???? 2026, 18:09, ??? Derieg, Katrina ?: Hi NHC community, I am hoping to step up my game with fluid labeling. We have a very small fluid collection in just a few flammable cabinets, so we have a low volume of fluid specimens being prepared, but I'm hoping to slowly expand. For reference, we are using only ethanol and not formalin going forward. A few years ago, I bought and used a GoDEX ZX430i thermal printer when I was at UMNH and that thing was the bane of my existence. I found it difficult to dial in the settings, and the media (Tyvek) was too slick for the rollers to grab consistently. I'm sure the Tyvek was mostly the problem there, but in any case I would prefer to avoid an industrial thermal printer, mostly because of cost. Has anyone used desktop thermal printers? Example: Brother TD-4520TN ( https://brothermobilesolutions.com/products/printers/td/td-4/td4520tn/) If so, can you use them with continuous rolls of printing media? Most of the desktop ones seem to be direct thermal for sticker labels. I mainly want to print small tags (1" x 0.25") for individual specimens, as well as internal jar labels (~ 3" x 4" or 4" x 6"). Has anyone achieved this with desktop thermal printers? With what kind of media? I'd like to spend less than $1000 USD on a printer. Alternatively, does anyone have any thoughts on laser jet printing with special media for fluid tags/labels? This would honestly be my preference, as I already have a laser jet printer. Currently I am just printing fluid tags on acid-free card stock with the laser jet, but I know that is far from ideal. I know there is a TON of info out there on labeling for fluid collections, but I find it hard to sift through for my needs and would just like to hear from the community on what works for you folks. Thanks in advance!! -Katrina KATRINA DERIEG(she/her) Curator | Museum Collections and Outreach Coordinator Phillip L. Wright Zoological Museum (UMZM) https://www.umt.edu/zoological-museum/ Shipping: Health Science 104 | 32 Campus Drive | 406 ( https://www.google.com/maps/search/32+Campus+Drive+%7C+406?entry=gmail&source=g) -243-4743 Office: Health Science 211 katrina.derieg at umontana.edu | umzm at mso.umt.edu University of Montana Search the UMZM collections on Arctos:Birds ( https://arctos.database.museum/search.cfm?guid_prefix=UMZM:Bird) | Mammals ( https://arctos.database.museum/search.cfm?guid_prefix=UMZM:Mamm) | Eggs & Nests ( https://arctos.database.museum/search.cfm?guid_prefix=UMZM:Egg) | Parasites ( https://arctos.database.museum/search.cfm?guid_prefix=UMZM:Para) _______________________________________________ Nhcoll-l mailing list Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l _______________________________________________ NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. _______________________________________________ Nhcoll-l mailing list Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l _______________________________________________ NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. _______________________________________________ Nhcoll-l mailing list Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l _______________________________________________ NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il Thu Apr 9 02:38:27 2026 From: gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il (Gali Beiner) Date: Thu, 9 Apr 2026 09:38:27 +0300 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Desktop thermal printers? In-Reply-To: <69D73D74020000B3000E1580@gwia0.itz.uni-halle.de> References: <69D73D74020000B3000E1580@gwia0.itz.uni-halle.de> Message-ID: Dear Joachim, Your information on your own tests, plus whatever the ink manufacturers said, is the kind I urge you to publish - it would be good to see how this info fits in with the rest of the views and whichever tests were performed (including my own). Other than that, I think that maybe we could use this forum to up the level of testing a bit - after all we have a pool of collection professionals here, all with the same problem to solve re:labels for wet collections (mainly alcohol but also other). Why shouldn't we gather ourselves into a group of say 5 to 10 people in different collections and agree on some sort of protocol for different labels in each collection (or maybe sets of different labels to be tested in all collections, we could consider the details) - and have this followed both in the short and long terms? That would be more interesting than any individual test. Dear readers in this forum, how does this sound to you? Gali On Thu, Apr 9, 2026 at 8:47?AM Hans-Joachim H?ndel < Joachim.Haendel at zns.uni-halle.de> wrote: > Dear Kendrick, > Thank you very much for the information. > Nevertheless, I?m a bit sceptical about using inkjet printers. > To find out for certain, I wrote to all printer ink manufacturers in > Europe a few years ago and asked about the longevity of their inks. > None of them could guarantee legibility for longer than 20 years. > Things may be different now ? my research dates back to 2005. > Furthermore, my tests showed that many inks become less legible in alcohol > after a while. The letters become blurred at the edges. > I actually intended to publish this, but the tests were practically never > completed and then I lost track of it. > > In the meantime, I?m trying out laser printers on synthetic ?paper? > (Neobond, Artisyn, Pretex ? ? I?m still testing). These papers are supposed > to be age-resistant, and the toner is supposed to bond permanently and > irrevocably with the paper. > > We?ll see ? I?m optimistic. > > All the best > Joachim > > -- > Joachim Haendel > > Center of Natural Science Collections > of the Martin Luther University (ZNS) > - Zoological Collection - > > Domplatz 4 > D-06099 Halle (Saale) > Germany > > Phone: +49 345 - 55 26 447 > Email: joachim.haendel at zns.uni-halle.de > > > > >>> Kendrick Fowler schrieb am 08.04.2026 um > 20:31: > One thing I feel should be pointed out (as discussed in Gali?s paper) is > that laser and inkjet printers are different technologies: unfortunately, > HP's brand name for their laser printers, "LaserJet," has became a > genericization for all laser printers (like Kleenex, Band-Aid, or Ziploc > are for tissues, adhesive bandages, and zipper bags), and presumably > because both "LaserJet" and "inkjet" have the word "jet" in their name, > folks sometimes conflate these types of printers. Katrina, I'm not saying > you've done this, but it is a common mistake and I see at least one person > in the email thread that split off from this one who seems to have made it, > so I thought it seemed worth mentioning. > > Laser printers use heat to melt toner (colored plastic powder) onto > paper/the printing substrate, and if the toner does not adhere well enough > the letters can fall off the labels and make ?alphabet soup,? as Gali > noted. There are also reports that laser printed labels may be degraded by > lipids from fatty/oily specimens or by contact with plastic storage > bags/containers. As discussed in the other email thread, some folks who use > laser printers go over their labels with a hot iron, bake them in an oven, > or treat them with an acrylic spray to improve adhesion of the toner after > printing. > > Inkjet printers spray ink onto paper, and if a good permanent, > pigment-based ink is used, the labels should last a very long time, just as > handwritten labels made using pens with archival pigment-based inks do (but > it is important to get the ink right: some inks are water-soluble and > therefore are not suitable for wet labels, and inks that use dye rather > than carbon black pigment for coloring will fade over time). Although I > haven?t done a comprehensive review, my sense is that researchers who have > studied the durability of wet labels (such as Gali) usually recommend > inkjet over laser printing and have done so pretty consistently for the > past ~25?30 years (see, as examples, the attached papers from 1999 and > 2002). > > With either technology, the paper used should not only be free of acid and > OBAs, but also lignin, i.e. the paper should be 100% cellulose. 100% cotton > rag papers, like linen ledger paper or herbarium paper, are the best > choices. > > Hope this helps, > Kendrick > > > *Kendrick Fowler*, *Entomology Lab Manager* > Hawthorne Valley Farmscape Ecology Program | hvfarmscape.org > +1 (518) 672-7994 (office) | +1 (267) 377-7567 (cell) > > *Follow us** on Facebook > or > subscribe to our **Progress of the Seasons Journal > for weekly **photoessays > on **Columbia County's natural **wonders**.* > > > On Tue, Mar 24, 2026 at 3:19?PM Gali Beiner > wrote: > >> Dear Katrina, >> >> I agree with Andy, laser printers are usually best avoided as far as >> fluid collections are involved. In our collections, there are examples of >> "alphabet soup" created by laser-printed labels where letters detached from >> the substrate. >> >> There actually is precious little published info out there in terms of >> labels for use in fluids. I authored a publication on this subject. Here is >> a link for your convenience: >> >> >> https://www.researchgate.net/publication/355103566_Labels_for_Eternity_Testing_Printed_Labels_for_use_in_Wet_Collections >> >> In our case, we opted for a high quality inkjet printer on acid free, OBA >> free paper. >> >> Best wishes, >> >> Gali >> >> >> >> >> >> >> Gali Beiner (ACR) >> Conservator, Palaeontology Lab >> National Natural History Collections >> The Hebrew University of Jerusalem >> Berman Building, Edmond J. Safra campus, Givat Ram >> Jerusalem 91904, Israel >> Fax. 972-2-6585785 >> *gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il * >> >> *https://nnhc.huji.ac.il/?lang=en * >> >> ?????? ??? ??, 24 ???? 2026, 18:09, ??? Derieg, Katrina ?< >> katrina.derieg at mso.umt.edu>: >> >>> Hi NHC community, >>> I am hoping to step up my game with fluid labeling. We have a very small >>> fluid collection in just a few flammable cabinets, so we have a low volume >>> of fluid specimens being prepared, but I'm hoping to slowly expand. For >>> reference, we are using only ethanol and not formalin going forward. >>> >>> A few years ago, I bought and used a GoDEX ZX430i thermal printer when I >>> was at UMNH and that thing was the bane of my existence. I found it >>> difficult to dial in the settings, and the media (Tyvek) was too slick for >>> the rollers to grab consistently. I'm sure the Tyvek was mostly the problem >>> there, but in any case I would prefer to avoid an industrial thermal >>> printer, mostly because of cost. >>> >>> Has anyone used desktop thermal printers? Example: Brother TD-4520TN >>> If >>> so, can you use them with continuous rolls of printing media? Most of the >>> desktop ones seem to be direct thermal for sticker labels. I mainly want to >>> print small tags (1" x 0.25") for individual specimens, as well as internal >>> jar labels (~ 3" x 4" or 4" x 6"). Has anyone achieved this with desktop >>> thermal printers? With what kind of media? >>> >>> I'd like to spend less than $1000 USD on a printer. >>> >>> Alternatively, does anyone have any thoughts on laser jet printing with >>> special media for fluid tags/labels? This would honestly be my preference, >>> as I already have a laser jet printer. Currently I am just printing fluid >>> tags on acid-free card stock with the laser jet, but I know that is far >>> from ideal. >>> >>> I know there is a TON of info out there on labeling for fluid >>> collections, but I find it hard to sift through for my needs and would just >>> like to hear from the community on what works for you folks. >>> >>> Thanks in advance!! >>> -Katrina >>> >>> *KATRINA DERIEG **(she/her)* >>> *Curator | Museum Collections and Outreach Coordinator* >>> *Phillip L. Wright Zoological Museum (UMZM)* >>> https://www.umt.edu/zoological-museum/ >>> *Shipping: Health Science 104 | 32 Campus Drive | 406 >>> -243-4743* >>> *Office: Health Science 211* >>> *katrina.derieg at umontana.edu | >>> umzm at mso.umt.edu * >>> *University of Montana* >>> >>> *Search the UMZM collections on Arctos: Birds >>> | Mammals >>> | Eggs & >>> Nests | >>> Parasites * >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> Nhcoll-l mailing list >>> Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu >>> https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of >>> Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose >>> mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of >>> natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to >>> society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. >>> Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. >>> >> _______________________________________________ >> Nhcoll-l mailing list >> Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu >> https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l >> >> _______________________________________________ >> NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of >> Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose >> mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of >> natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to >> society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. >> Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. >> > _______________________________________________ > > Nhcoll-l mailing list > Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu > https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l > > _______________________________________________ > NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of > Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose > mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of > natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to > society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. > Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. > -- Gali Beiner (ACR) Conservator, Palaeontology Lab National Natural History Collections The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Berman Building, Edmond J. Safra campus, Givat Ram Jerusalem 91904, Israel Fax. 972-2-6585785 *gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il * *https://nnhc.huji.ac.il/?lang=en * -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From annika.sander at vestfoldmuseene.no Thu Apr 9 08:20:26 2026 From: annika.sander at vestfoldmuseene.no (Annika Sander) Date: Thu, 9 Apr 2026 12:20:26 +0000 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Recommendations on ethanol use in natural history collections Message-ID: Dear colleagues, I am seeking specific recommendations regarding the use of undenatured ethanol for wet specimens, as well as references addressing any potentially harmful effects of denatured ethanol on such specimens. The background is as follows: We are a regional museum in Norway with an important collection of wet specimens, particularly whale foetuses and other specimens related to whaling. As is common in wet collections, our specimens gradually lose preservation fluid over time. In order to replenish the jars, we need to procure undenatured ethanol. In Norway, this type of ethanol is subject to specific taxation regulations. To be registered with the relevant authorities and obtain access, we are required to provide documentation demonstrating the necessity of using undenatured ethanol. This is further complicated by the fact that we are not a university, laboratory, or scientific institution, which would otherwise have more straightforward access to such materials. Previously, a taxidermist carried out the refilling and transfer from older preservation fluids to ethanol, but this is no longer an option. Any recommendations for relevant literature or other guidance on how to deal with this would be greatly appreciated. Kind regards, Annika Sander, Conservator (wood and furniture) Dep. Archives and Collections phone: +47 981 87 851 e-mail: annika.sander at vestfoldmuseene.no Vestfoldmuseene IKS www.vestfoldmuseene.no -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From neotieno at gmail.com Thu Apr 9 08:58:02 2026 From: neotieno at gmail.com (Nickson Otieno) Date: Thu, 9 Apr 2026 15:58:02 +0300 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Recommendations on ethanol use in natural history collections In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Just a little point, that for any specimens from which that you might later wish to derive tissues for purposes of stable isotope analyses, preservation in ethanol of any kind, would significantly distort the isotooic signatures (particularly for the case of isotopes of nitrogen). Nickson Otienio National Museums of Kenya On Thu, Apr 9, 2026 at 3:20?PM Annika Sander < annika.sander at vestfoldmuseene.no> wrote: > Dear colleagues, > I am seeking specific recommendations regarding the use of undenatured > ethanol for wet specimens, as well as references addressing any potentially > harmful effects of denatured ethanol on such specimens. > The background is as follows: > We are a regional museum in Norway with an important collection of wet > specimens, particularly whale foetuses and other specimens related to > whaling. As is common in wet collections, our specimens gradually lose > preservation fluid over time. In order to replenish the jars, we need to > procure undenatured ethanol. > In Norway, this type of ethanol is subject to specific taxation > regulations. To be registered with the relevant authorities and obtain > access, we are required to provide documentation demonstrating the > necessity of using undenatured ethanol. This is further complicated by the > fact that we are not a university, laboratory, or scientific institution, > which would otherwise have more straightforward access to such materials. > Previously, a taxidermist carried out the refilling and transfer from > older preservation fluids to ethanol, but this is no longer an option. > Any recommendations for relevant literature or other guidance on how to > deal with this would be greatly appreciated. > > Kind regards, > > *Annika Sander,* > > Conservator (wood and furniture) > > > > Dep. Archives and Collections > > phone: +47 981 87 851 > > e-mail: *annika.sander at vestfoldmuseene.no* > > > > > Vestfoldmuseene IKS > > *www.vestfoldmuseene.no* > > > _______________________________________________ > Nhcoll-l mailing list > Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu > https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l > > _______________________________________________ > NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of > Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose > mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of > natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to > society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. > Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From ianicus.za at gmail.com Thu Apr 9 11:36:26 2026 From: ianicus.za at gmail.com (Ian Engelbrecht) Date: Thu, 9 Apr 2026 17:36:26 +0200 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Recommendations on ethanol use in natural history collections In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: I'm interesting to hear about this too, the question of using 'denatured' ethanol for long term specimen preservation. We have a similar situation here in South Africa - standard ethanol is prohibitively expensive because of a tax levied on it, essentially so that people don't buy it to drink. In order to get around paying that tax you have to register with the national taxation body, which is exceedingly difficult to do, even if you are a large national museum or other institution. Many people are falling back to 'denatured' ethanol, which typically has another compound added to make it undrinkable. I'd imagine the question of the impact on specimens depends on what the ethanol is denatured with. Most often (here) it's isopropyl alcohol, but sometimes it's ethyl acetate. In both instances we don't actually know what the long term implications are for specimen preservation. Ethyl acetate, for example, might make specimens very brittle. Bleaching might be another concern. Furthermore, these added compounds are unpleasant to work with. People describe feeling light headed, or even getting headaches, from prolonged exposure. There might be more serious health implications too. Ian On Thu, Apr 9, 2026 at 2:58?PM Nickson Otieno wrote: > Just a little point, that for any specimens from which that you might > later wish to derive tissues for purposes of stable isotope analyses, > preservation in ethanol of any kind, would significantly distort the > isotooic signatures (particularly for the case of isotopes of nitrogen). > > Nickson Otienio > National Museums of Kenya > > > > > > On Thu, Apr 9, 2026 at 3:20?PM Annika Sander < > annika.sander at vestfoldmuseene.no> wrote: > >> Dear colleagues, >> I am seeking specific recommendations regarding the use of undenatured >> ethanol for wet specimens, as well as references addressing any potentially >> harmful effects of denatured ethanol on such specimens. >> The background is as follows: >> We are a regional museum in Norway with an important collection of wet >> specimens, particularly whale foetuses and other specimens related to >> whaling. As is common in wet collections, our specimens gradually lose >> preservation fluid over time. In order to replenish the jars, we need to >> procure undenatured ethanol. >> In Norway, this type of ethanol is subject to specific taxation >> regulations. To be registered with the relevant authorities and obtain >> access, we are required to provide documentation demonstrating the >> necessity of using undenatured ethanol. This is further complicated by the >> fact that we are not a university, laboratory, or scientific institution, >> which would otherwise have more straightforward access to such materials. >> Previously, a taxidermist carried out the refilling and transfer from >> older preservation fluids to ethanol, but this is no longer an option. >> Any recommendations for relevant literature or other guidance on how to >> deal with this would be greatly appreciated. >> >> Kind regards, >> >> *Annika Sander,* >> >> Conservator (wood and furniture) >> >> >> >> Dep. Archives and Collections >> >> phone: +47 981 87 851 >> >> e-mail: *annika.sander at vestfoldmuseene.no* >> >> >> >> >> Vestfoldmuseene IKS >> >> *www.vestfoldmuseene.no* >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Nhcoll-l mailing list >> Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu >> https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l >> >> _______________________________________________ >> NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of >> Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose >> mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of >> natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to >> society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. >> Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. >> > _______________________________________________ > Nhcoll-l mailing list > Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu > https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l > > _______________________________________________ > NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of > Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose > mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of > natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to > society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. > Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From dyanega at gmail.com Thu Apr 9 11:41:11 2026 From: dyanega at gmail.com (Douglas Yanega) Date: Thu, 9 Apr 2026 08:41:11 -0700 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Desktop thermal printers? In-Reply-To: References: <69D73D74020000B3000E1580@gwia0.itz.uni-halle.de> Message-ID: <9be072e8-2c72-4e94-a755-bf387ea19307@gmail.com> On 4/8/26 11:38 PM, Gali Beiner wrote: > Other than that, I think that maybe we could use this forum to up the > level of testing a bit - after all we have a pool of collection > professionals here, all with the same problem to solve re:labels for > wet collections (mainly alcohol but also other). Why shouldn't we > gather ourselves into a group of say 5 to 10 people in different > collections and agree on some sort of protocol for different labels in > each collection (or maybe sets of different labels to be tested in all > collections, we could consider the details)? - and have this followed > both in the short and long terms? That would be more interesting > than?any individual test. Dear readers in this forum, how does this > sound to you? > Compilation of different people's experiences have been done here and elsewhere with some regularity, and one thing that is a universal impediment to generating a coherent picture is the variability of the medium that is being printed on. Comparisons of different printers are nearly meaningless if the "tests" are on different paper stock. The most dramatic example I can offer is one from personal experience: back in 1990, we obtained a Laserjet, a fairly new technology at that time, and printed thousands of labels for both dry and ethanol specimens. The first several months everything worked flawlessly, and to this day, almost 40 years on, those original labels are perfectly fine, even the ones stored in ethanol. Then one day we ran out of the existing stock of paper, bought a new ream, and loaded it into the printer without changing anything else. The lettering on those labels chipped, flaked, and rubbed off the dry labels, and when we tried to put them into ethanol, the letters floated off.?No alteration of settings was involved, and nothing we did made the labels viable. That is, until we checked the packaging on the original ream; we found it was not the exact same thing that we had switched to, so we bought something IDENTICAL, and the resulting labels were just fine again.?The problem had literally nothing to do with the printer, and everything to do with the paper. Again, any "test" that does not control for the medium will not be a fair and objective test of the merits of a printer. We presently use an HP Laser printer, and yes, we have had to try different types of paper to find paper stocks that work well with this printer. Not all do. Even worse, when we use "replacement" toner cartridges (not the official HP brand), sometimes *but not always*, the printing is slightly flaky and easily abraded. That means there are at least THREE parameters that need to be controlled: the printer, the medium, and the toner. Variation in any one of those three can lead to variation in the quality of the results. This makes objective assessment and testing *very* difficult, and ultimately it's just a litany of anecdotes. Peace, -- Doug Yanega Dept. of Entomology Entomology Research Museum Univ. of California, Riverside, CA 92521-0314 phone: 951-827-4315 FaceBook: Doug Yanega (disclaimer: opinions are mine, not UCR's) https://faculty.ucr.edu/~heraty/yanega.html "There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness is the true method" - Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chap. 82 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il Thu Apr 9 12:20:11 2026 From: gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il (Gali Beiner) Date: Thu, 9 Apr 2026 19:20:11 +0300 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Desktop thermal printers? In-Reply-To: <9be072e8-2c72-4e94-a755-bf387ea19307@gmail.com> References: <69D73D74020000B3000E1580@gwia0.itz.uni-halle.de> <9be072e8-2c72-4e94-a755-bf387ea19307@gmail.com> Message-ID: Doug is pointing out the heart of the problem - the variety of printing combinations which makes comparisons difficult. In fact, the variations in the way printer-ink-subsrate (paper or other) combinations work is the main reason why manufacturers recommend using their own brand for all three parts of the combo. In other words, the manufacturers say HP printers are supposed to yield better, more permanent results with original HP toners and HP specialized paper. The same goes for Canon, Epson or any other brand. Testing according to conservation parameters can work with that - or at least look very carefully into what, exactly is chosen for use (eg paper - OBA free, lignin free etc etc). The way things stand now - with endless possible variations and combinations - basically means it is up to us to try and set the criteria of choice and monitor whether that works. Not easy, but possibly we can try. Gali Gali Beiner (ACR) Conservator, Palaeontology Lab National Natural History Collections The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Berman Building, Edmond J. Safra campus, Givat Ram Jerusalem 91904, Israel Fax. 972-2-6585785 *gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il * *https://nnhc.huji.ac.il/?lang=en * ?????? ??? ??, 9 ????? 2026, 18:46, ??? Douglas Yanega ?: > On 4/8/26 11:38 PM, Gali Beiner wrote: > > Other than that, I think that maybe we could use this forum to up the > level of testing a bit - after all we have a pool of collection > professionals here, all with the same problem to solve re:labels for wet > collections (mainly alcohol but also other). Why shouldn't we gather > ourselves into a group of say 5 to 10 people in different collections and > agree on some sort of protocol for different labels in each collection (or > maybe sets of different labels to be tested in all collections, we could > consider the details) - and have this followed both in the short and long > terms? That would be more interesting than any individual test. Dear > readers in this forum, how does this sound to you? > > Compilation of different people's experiences have been done here and > elsewhere with some regularity, and one thing that is a universal > impediment to generating a coherent picture is the variability of the > medium that is being printed on. Comparisons of different printers are > nearly meaningless if the "tests" are on different paper stock. > > The most dramatic example I can offer is one from personal experience: > back in 1990, we obtained a Laserjet, a fairly new technology at that time, > and printed thousands of labels for both dry and ethanol specimens. The > first several months everything worked flawlessly, and to this day, almost > 40 years on, those original labels are perfectly fine, even the ones stored > in ethanol. Then one day we ran out of the existing stock of paper, bought > a new ream, and loaded it into the printer without changing anything else. > The lettering on those labels chipped, flaked, and rubbed off the dry > labels, and when we tried to put them into ethanol, the letters floated > off. No alteration of settings was involved, and nothing we did made the > labels viable. That is, until we checked the packaging on the original > ream; we found it was not the exact same thing that we had switched to, so > we bought something IDENTICAL, and the resulting labels were just fine > again. The problem had literally nothing to do with the printer, and > everything to do with the paper. > > Again, any "test" that does not control for the medium will not be a fair > and objective test of the merits of a printer. > > We presently use an HP Laser printer, and yes, we have had to try > different types of paper to find paper stocks that work well with this > printer. Not all do. Even worse, when we use "replacement" toner cartridges > (not the official HP brand), sometimes *but not always*, the printing is > slightly flaky and easily abraded. That means there are at least THREE > parameters that need to be controlled: the printer, the medium, and the > toner. Variation in any one of those three can lead to variation in the > quality of the results. This makes objective assessment and testing *very* > difficult, and ultimately it's just a litany of anecdotes. > > Peace, > > -- > Doug Yanega Dept. of Entomology Entomology Research Museum > Univ. of California, Riverside, CA 92521-0314 phone: 951-827-4315 > FaceBook: Doug Yanega (disclaimer: opinions are mine, not UCR's) > https://faculty.ucr.edu/~heraty/yanega.html > "There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness > is the true method" - Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chap. 82 > > _______________________________________________ > Nhcoll-l mailing list > Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu > https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l > > _______________________________________________ > NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of > Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose > mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of > natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to > society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. > Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From d.neumann at leibniz-lib.de Thu Apr 9 13:16:21 2026 From: d.neumann at leibniz-lib.de (Dirk Neumann) Date: Thu, 9 Apr 2026 19:16:21 +0200 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] [EXTERN] Re: Recommendations on ethanol use in natural history collections In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <01d5a2a8-cb96-438d-bb8b-10aebcd6df54@leibniz-lib.de> Dear Annika and all implementing regulation (EU) 2018/1880 of the European Commission gives a neat summary of the most common currently used denaturing agents. Keep in mind that some like the low boiling benzine petroleum ether (CAS 8032-32-4) - which in fact is not an ether - may not appear there, as it is no longer used. Here is a link to the reg which is available in all languages of the EU: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=celex:32018R1880 Most common (in Europe) is Methylethylkentone (MEK), and as taxation rules are harmonised throughout Europe, it would not be surprising if MEK is added in Norway as well. Additionally to MEK, the bitterant denatonium benzoate (bitrex, CAS 3734-33-6) is added. MEK is a very aggressive ketone and solvent that is also used in chromatography. MEK dissolves polystyrene and and used as a welding agent for polystyrene, it can break up and autoxidise into acetone, and is know to affect plastics such as PVC by breaking up the polymer chains. Camphor has been frequently added in francophone countries, but is no longer on the list of approved EU denaturants as is an irritant. Ingested it is toxic, prolonged exposure to camphor vapours may cause dizziness or disorientation and may be toxic if respired in higher doses. Camphor is a natural resin and tends to stain specimens brownish to dark brown (if they are exposed for long time) - and is also used as an agent for browning or blackening. Isopropanol (added in the UK, Sweden and Croatia) tends to embrittle tissues and ligaments, it is used as solvent, and may also oxidise to acetone. In some countries in Europe, there are exemptions for natural history collections to use undenatured alcohol for their collection. If I recall correctly (others may correct me), this is the case in Switzerland, Italy and Sweden, but there may be more countries. Thus it might be worth checking. MEK accelerates discolouration of specimens (see images on plate 7 D and E and plate 9 in our book); 7E is haemoglobinie leacheing from the gills of freshly transferred whitefish, right is a jar with African chlorophyll leached from herbivorous distichodus. In many museum, alcohol specimens have a history of topping up, i.e. a large mixture of several denaturants that were 'added' over time which may cause unwanted secondary reactions. This is might be occasionally be the case if there is residual petroleum ether, which may at a sudden turn cloudy when topping up with MEK denatured alcohol. Hope this helps and offers some orientation. With best wishes Dirk [cid:part1.zCfxtWFA.GwnPnSvw at leibniz-lib.de] [cid:part2.VqDeXyNC.Pc9fZn7i at leibniz-lib.de] Am 09.04.2026 um 17:36 schrieb Ian Engelbrecht: ACHTUNG/ATTENTION: Diese E-Mail stammt von einem externen Absender. / This e-mail comes from an external sender. I'm interesting to hear about this too, the question of using 'denatured' ethanol for long term specimen preservation. We have a similar situation here in South Africa - standard ethanol is prohibitively expensive because of a tax levied on it, essentially so that people don't buy it to drink. In order to get around paying that tax you have to register with the national taxation body, which is exceedingly difficult to do, even if you are a large national museum or other institution. Many people are falling back to 'denatured' ethanol, which typically has another compound added to make it undrinkable. I'd imagine the question of the impact on specimens depends on what the ethanol is denatured with. Most often (here) it's isopropyl alcohol, but sometimes it's ethyl acetate. In both instances we don't actually know what the long term implications are for specimen preservation. Ethyl acetate, for example, might make specimens very brittle. Bleaching might be another concern. Furthermore, these added compounds are unpleasant to work with. People describe feeling light headed, or even getting headaches, from prolonged exposure. There might be more serious health implications too. Ian On Thu, Apr 9, 2026 at 2:58?PM Nickson Otieno > wrote: Just a little point, that for any specimens from which that you might later wish to derive tissues for purposes of stable isotope analyses, preservation in ethanol of any kind, would significantly distort the isotooic signatures (particularly for the case of isotopes of nitrogen). Nickson Otienio National Museums of Kenya On Thu, Apr 9, 2026 at 3:20?PM Annika Sander > wrote: Dear colleagues, I am seeking specific recommendations regarding the use of undenatured ethanol for wet specimens, as well as references addressing any potentially harmful effects of denatured ethanol on such specimens. The background is as follows: We are a regional museum in Norway with an important collection of wet specimens, particularly whale foetuses and other specimens related to whaling. As is common in wet collections, our specimens gradually lose preservation fluid over time. In order to replenish the jars, we need to procure undenatured ethanol. In Norway, this type of ethanol is subject to specific taxation regulations. To be registered with the relevant authorities and obtain access, we are required to provide documentation demonstrating the necessity of using undenatured ethanol. This is further complicated by the fact that we are not a university, laboratory, or scientific institution, which would otherwise have more straightforward access to such materials. Previously, a taxidermist carried out the refilling and transfer from older preservation fluids to ethanol, but this is no longer an option. Any recommendations for relevant literature or other guidance on how to deal with this would be greatly appreciated. Kind regards, Annika Sander, Conservator (wood and furniture) Dep. Archives and Collections phone: +47 981 87 851 e-mail: annika.sander at vestfoldmuseene.no Vestfoldmuseene IKS www.vestfoldmuseene.no _______________________________________________ Nhcoll-l mailing list Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l _______________________________________________ NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. _______________________________________________ Nhcoll-l mailing list Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l _______________________________________________ NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. _______________________________________________ Nhcoll-l mailing list Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l _______________________________________________ NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. -- **** Dirk Neumann Collection Manager, Hamburg Postal address: Museum of Nature Hamburg Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change Dirk Neumann Martin-Luther-King-Platz 3 20146 Hamburg +49 40 238 317 ? 628 d.neumann at leibniz-lib.de www.leibniz-lib.de -- Stiftung Leibniz-Institut zur Analyse des Biodiversit?tswandels Postanschrift: Adenauerallee 127, 53113 Bonn, Germany Stiftung des ?ffentlichen Rechts; Generaldirektion: Prof. Dr. Bernhard Misof (Generaldirektor), Adrian Gr?ter (Kaufm. Gesch?ftsf?hrer) Sitz der Stiftung: Adenauerallee 160 in Bonn Vorsitzender des Stiftungsrates: Dr. Michael Wappelhorst -- Stiftung Leibniz-Institut zur Analyse des Biodiversit?tswandels Postanschrift: Adenauerallee 127, 53113 Bonn, Germany Stiftung des ?ffentlichen Rechts; Generaldirektion: Prof. Dr. Bernhard Misof (Generaldirektor), Adrian Gr?ter (Kaufm. Gesch?ftsf?hrer) Sitz der Stiftung: Adenauerallee 160 in Bonn Vorsitzender des Stiftungsrates: Dr. Michael H. Wappelhorst -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: wU55TCS9xl7DTJYt.png Type: image/png Size: 309665 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: UEFPjvdRAwGBsIZQ.png Type: image/png Size: 451107 bytes Desc: not available URL: From prc44 at drexel.edu Thu Apr 9 14:32:50 2026 From: prc44 at drexel.edu (Callomon,Paul) Date: Thu, 9 Apr 2026 18:32:50 +0000 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Recommendations on ethanol use in natural history collections In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Normally ?denatured? means alcohol that has been refined to over 95% (the limit of distillation) by the addition of chemical dehydrating agents that carry off the remaining water. What folks are talking about here, however, is ?methylated spirits? and other forms of alcohol that have been deliberately poisoned to make them undrinkable. Isopropyl (rubbing alcohol) is not a bad long-term storage agent, and does preserve DNA, but it can shrink and harden specimens, often to the point of making dissections very difficult. It?s also not the nicest stuff to work with. If your country won?t let you easily buy ethanol, though, you might be better off going with Isopropyl than with some adulterated formula. Paul Callomon Collection Manager, Malacology and General Invertebrates ________________________________ Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, Philadelphia callomon at ansp.org Tel 215-405-5096 - Fax 215-299-1170 From: Nhcoll-l On Behalf Of Ian Engelbrecht Sent: Thursday, April 9, 2026 11:36 AM To: Nickson Otieno Cc: Annika Sander ; nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] Recommendations on ethanol use in natural history collections External. I'm interesting to hear about this too, the question of using 'denatured' ethanol for long term specimen preservation. We have a similar situation here in South Africa - standard ethanol is prohibitively expensive because of a tax levied on it, essentially so that people don't buy it to drink. In order to get around paying that tax you have to register with the national taxation body, which is exceedingly difficult to do, even if you are a large national museum or other institution. Many people are falling back to 'denatured' ethanol, which typically has another compound added to make it undrinkable. I'd imagine the question of the impact on specimens depends on what the ethanol is denatured with. Most often (here) it's isopropyl alcohol, but sometimes it's ethyl acetate. In both instances we don't actually know what the long term implications are for specimen preservation. Ethyl acetate, for example, might make specimens very brittle. Bleaching might be another concern. Furthermore, these added compounds are unpleasant to work with. People describe feeling light headed, or even getting headaches, from prolonged exposure. There might be more serious health implications too. Ian On Thu, Apr 9, 2026 at 2:58?PM Nickson Otieno > wrote: Just a little point, that for any specimens from which that you might later wish to derive tissues for purposes of stable isotope analyses, preservation in ethanol of any kind, would significantly distort the isotooic signatures (particularly for the case of isotopes of nitrogen). Nickson Otienio National Museums of Kenya On Thu, Apr 9, 2026 at 3:20?PM Annika Sander > wrote: Dear colleagues, I am seeking specific recommendations regarding the use of undenatured ethanol for wet specimens, as well as references addressing any potentially harmful effects of denatured ethanol on such specimens. The background is as follows: We are a regional museum in Norway with an important collection of wet specimens, particularly whale foetuses and other specimens related to whaling. As is common in wet collections, our specimens gradually lose preservation fluid over time. In order to replenish the jars, we need to procure undenatured ethanol. In Norway, this type of ethanol is subject to specific taxation regulations. To be registered with the relevant authorities and obtain access, we are required to provide documentation demonstrating the necessity of using undenatured ethanol. This is further complicated by the fact that we are not a university, laboratory, or scientific institution, which would otherwise have more straightforward access to such materials. Previously, a taxidermist carried out the refilling and transfer from older preservation fluids to ethanol, but this is no longer an option. Any recommendations for relevant literature or other guidance on how to deal with this would be greatly appreciated. Kind regards, Annika Sander, Conservator (wood and furniture) Dep. Archives and Collections phone: +47 981 87 851 e-mail: annika.sander at vestfoldmuseene.no Vestfoldmuseene IKS www.vestfoldmuseene.no _______________________________________________ Nhcoll-l mailing list Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l _______________________________________________ NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. _______________________________________________ Nhcoll-l mailing list Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l _______________________________________________ NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From ianicus.za at gmail.com Thu Apr 9 14:49:12 2026 From: ianicus.za at gmail.com (Ian Engelbrecht) Date: Thu, 9 Apr 2026 20:49:12 +0200 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Desktop thermal printers? In-Reply-To: References: <69D73D74020000B3000E1580@gwia0.itz.uni-halle.de> <9be072e8-2c72-4e94-a755-bf387ea19307@gmail.com> Message-ID: Plus the fact that things change over time. HP printer - toner - paper combination might work now, but will it still 30 years from now when they?ve redesigned one or three of those components? Ian On Thu, 09 Apr 2026 at 18:20, Gali Beiner wrote: > Doug is pointing out the heart of the problem - the variety of printing > combinations which makes comparisons difficult. > > In fact, the variations in the way printer-ink-subsrate (paper or other) > combinations work is the main reason why manufacturers recommend using > their own brand for all three parts of the combo. In other words, the > manufacturers say HP printers are supposed to yield better, more permanent > results with original HP toners and HP specialized paper. The same goes for > Canon, Epson or any other brand. Testing according to conservation > parameters can work with that - or at least look very carefully into what, > exactly is chosen for use (eg paper - OBA free, lignin free etc etc). > > The way things stand now - with endless possible variations and > combinations - basically means it is up to us to try and set the criteria > of choice and monitor whether that works. Not easy, but possibly we can > try. > > Gali > > > > Gali Beiner (ACR) > Conservator, Palaeontology Lab > National Natural History Collections > The Hebrew University of Jerusalem > Berman Building, Edmond J. Safra campus, Givat Ram > Jerusalem 91904, Israel > Fax. 972-2-6585785 > *gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il * > > *https://nnhc.huji.ac.il/?lang=en * > > ?????? ??? ??, 9 ????? 2026, 18:46, ??? Douglas Yanega ? >: > >> On 4/8/26 11:38 PM, Gali Beiner wrote: >> >> Other than that, I think that maybe we could use this forum to up the >> level of testing a bit - after all we have a pool of collection >> professionals here, all with the same problem to solve re:labels for wet >> collections (mainly alcohol but also other). Why shouldn't we gather >> ourselves into a group of say 5 to 10 people in different collections and >> agree on some sort of protocol for different labels in each collection (or >> maybe sets of different labels to be tested in all collections, we could >> consider the details) - and have this followed both in the short and long >> terms? That would be more interesting than any individual test. Dear >> readers in this forum, how does this sound to you? >> >> Compilation of different people's experiences have been done here and >> elsewhere with some regularity, and one thing that is a universal >> impediment to generating a coherent picture is the variability of the >> medium that is being printed on. Comparisons of different printers are >> nearly meaningless if the "tests" are on different paper stock. >> >> The most dramatic example I can offer is one from personal experience: >> back in 1990, we obtained a Laserjet, a fairly new technology at that time, >> and printed thousands of labels for both dry and ethanol specimens. The >> first several months everything worked flawlessly, and to this day, almost >> 40 years on, those original labels are perfectly fine, even the ones stored >> in ethanol. Then one day we ran out of the existing stock of paper, bought >> a new ream, and loaded it into the printer without changing anything else. >> The lettering on those labels chipped, flaked, and rubbed off the dry >> labels, and when we tried to put them into ethanol, the letters floated >> off. No alteration of settings was involved, and nothing we did made the >> labels viable. That is, until we checked the packaging on the original >> ream; we found it was not the exact same thing that we had switched to, so >> we bought something IDENTICAL, and the resulting labels were just fine >> again. The problem had literally nothing to do with the printer, and >> everything to do with the paper. >> >> Again, any "test" that does not control for the medium will not be a fair >> and objective test of the merits of a printer. >> >> We presently use an HP Laser printer, and yes, we have had to try >> different types of paper to find paper stocks that work well with this >> printer. Not all do. Even worse, when we use "replacement" toner cartridges >> (not the official HP brand), sometimes *but not always*, the printing is >> slightly flaky and easily abraded. That means there are at least THREE >> parameters that need to be controlled: the printer, the medium, and the >> toner. Variation in any one of those three can lead to variation in the >> quality of the results. This makes objective assessment and testing >> *very* difficult, and ultimately it's just a litany of anecdotes. >> >> Peace, >> >> -- >> Doug Yanega Dept. of Entomology Entomology Research Museum >> Univ. of California, Riverside, CA 92521-0314 phone: 951-827-4315 >> FaceBook: Doug Yanega (disclaimer: opinions are mine, not UCR's) >> https://faculty.ucr.edu/~heraty/yanega.html >> "There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness >> is the true method" - Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chap. 82 >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Nhcoll-l mailing list >> Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu >> https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l >> >> _______________________________________________ >> NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of >> Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose >> mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of >> natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to >> society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. >> Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. >> > _______________________________________________ > Nhcoll-l mailing list > Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu > https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l > > _______________________________________________ > NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of > Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose > mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of > natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to > society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. > Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From jpbrown at fieldmuseum.org Thu Apr 9 14:55:37 2026 From: jpbrown at fieldmuseum.org (JP Brown) Date: Thu, 9 Apr 2026 13:55:37 -0500 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Recommendations on ethanol use in natural history collections In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: *Normally ?denatured? means alcohol that has been refined to over 95% (the limit of distillation) by the addition of chemical dehydrating agents that carry off the remaining water.*> Not to hijack the thread, but I don't think this is correct, Paul. Denatured alcohol (in the US) is ethanol with a bittering or poisoning agent added to it to render it unfit for human consumption. This is the same idea as methylated spirits (in the UK and Commonwealth) - see, for instance, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denatured_alcohol. JP *JP Brown *(he/his) Senior Conservator Vice-Chair MFT-IDG Field Museum 1400 S. DuSable Lake Shore Dr. Chicago, IL 60605 fieldmuseum.org On Thu, Apr 9, 2026 at 1:33?PM Callomon,Paul wrote: > Normally ?denatured? means alcohol that has been refined to over 95% (the > limit of distillation) by the addition of chemical dehydrating agents that > carry off the remaining water. What folks are talking about here, however, > is ?methylated spirits? and other forms of alcohol that have been > deliberately poisoned to make them undrinkable. > > > > Isopropyl (rubbing alcohol) is not a bad long-term storage agent, and does > preserve DNA, but it can shrink and harden specimens, often to the point of > making dissections very difficult. It?s also not the nicest stuff to work > with. > > > > If your country won?t let you easily buy ethanol, though, you might be > better off going with Isopropyl than with some adulterated formula. > > > > *Paul Callomon* > *Collection Manager, Malacology and General Invertebrates* > ------------------------------ > > *Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, Philadelphia* > *callomon at ansp.org Tel 215-405-5096 - Fax 215-299-1170* > > > > > > *From:* Nhcoll-l *On Behalf Of *Ian > Engelbrecht > *Sent:* Thursday, April 9, 2026 11:36 AM > *To:* Nickson Otieno > *Cc:* Annika Sander ; > nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu > *Subject:* Re: [Nhcoll-l] Recommendations on ethanol use in natural > history collections > > > > *External.* > > I'm interesting to hear about this too, the question of using 'denatured' > ethanol for long term specimen preservation. We have a similar situation > here in South Africa - standard ethanol is prohibitively expensive because > of a tax levied on it, essentially so that people don't buy it to drink. In > order to get around paying that tax you have to register with the national > taxation body, which is exceedingly difficult to do, even if you are a > large national museum or other institution. Many people are falling back to > 'denatured' ethanol, which typically has another compound added to make it > undrinkable. > > > > I'd imagine the question of the impact on specimens depends on what the > ethanol is denatured with. Most often (here) it's isopropyl alcohol, but > sometimes it's ethyl acetate. In both instances we don't actually know what > the long term implications are for specimen preservation. Ethyl acetate, > for example, might make specimens very brittle. Bleaching might be another > concern. > > > > Furthermore, these added compounds are unpleasant to work with. People > describe feeling light headed, or even getting headaches, from prolonged > exposure. There might be more serious health implications too. > > > > Ian > > > > On Thu, Apr 9, 2026 at 2:58?PM Nickson Otieno wrote: > > Just a little point, that for any specimens from which that you might > later wish to derive tissues for purposes of stable isotope analyses, > preservation in ethanol of any kind, would significantly distort the > isotooic signatures (particularly for the case of isotopes of nitrogen). > > > > Nickson Otienio > > National Museums of Kenya > > > > > > > > > > > > On Thu, Apr 9, 2026 at 3:20?PM Annika Sander < > annika.sander at vestfoldmuseene.no> wrote: > > Dear colleagues, > > I am seeking specific recommendations regarding the use of undenatured > ethanol for wet specimens, as well as references addressing any potentially > harmful effects of denatured ethanol on such specimens. > > The background is as follows: > We are a regional museum in Norway with an important collection of wet > specimens, particularly whale foetuses and other specimens related to > whaling. As is common in wet collections, our specimens gradually lose > preservation fluid over time. In order to replenish the jars, we need to > procure undenatured ethanol. > > In Norway, this type of ethanol is subject to specific taxation > regulations. To be registered with the relevant authorities and obtain > access, we are required to provide documentation demonstrating the > necessity of using undenatured ethanol. This is further complicated by the > fact that we are not a university, laboratory, or scientific institution, > which would otherwise have more straightforward access to such materials. > > Previously, a taxidermist carried out the refilling and transfer from > older preservation fluids to ethanol, but this is no longer an option. > > Any recommendations for relevant literature or other guidance on how to > deal with this would be greatly appreciated. > > > > Kind regards, > > *Annika Sander,* > > Conservator (wood and furniture) > > > > Dep. Archives and Collections > > phone: +47 981 87 851 > > e-mail: annika.sander at vestfoldmuseene.no > > > > Vestfoldmuseene IKS > > www.vestfoldmuseene.no > > > > _______________________________________________ > Nhcoll-l mailing list > Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu > https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l > > _______________________________________________ > NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of > Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose > mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of > natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to > society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. > Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. > > _______________________________________________ > Nhcoll-l mailing list > Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu > https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l > > _______________________________________________ > NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of > Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose > mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of > natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to > society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. > Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. > > _______________________________________________ > Nhcoll-l mailing list > Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu > https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l > > _______________________________________________ > NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of > Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose > mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of > natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to > society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. > Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il Thu Apr 9 16:17:42 2026 From: gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il (Gali Beiner) Date: Thu, 9 Apr 2026 23:17:42 +0300 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Desktop thermal printers? In-Reply-To: References: <69D73D74020000B3000E1580@gwia0.itz.uni-halle.de> <9be072e8-2c72-4e94-a755-bf387ea19307@gmail.com> Message-ID: Redesigning is already happening: new tech pops in, for example the thermal transfer printers are new compared to inkjets, and new substrates are also being developed. One way to deal with inevitable change is to understand the "recipe" as much as possible and seek out the "cleaner" products - as in the case of "OBA free, acid free, lignin free" etc paper or understanding which types of toners are likely to be more permanent. Understanding the technology as much as possible and testing what we can may help narrow down choices and set clearer standards. The other way is to remain out of it and use handwritten labels, but it seems that all of us regard this option mostly as a ship that has sailed: too hard to get the workforce to do it. Gali Gali Beiner (ACR) Conservator, Palaeontology Lab National Natural History Collections The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Berman Building, Edmond J. Safra campus, Givat Ram Jerusalem 91904, Israel Fax. 972-2-6585785 *gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il * *https://nnhc.huji.ac.il/?lang=en * ?????? ??? ??, 9 ????? 2026, 21:49, ??? Ian Engelbrecht ?< ianicus.za at gmail.com>: > Plus the fact that things change over time. HP printer - toner - paper > combination might work now, but will it still 30 years from now when > they?ve redesigned one or three of those components? > > Ian > > On Thu, 09 Apr 2026 at 18:20, Gali Beiner > wrote: > >> Doug is pointing out the heart of the problem - the variety of printing >> combinations which makes comparisons difficult. >> >> In fact, the variations in the way printer-ink-subsrate (paper or other) >> combinations work is the main reason why manufacturers recommend using >> their own brand for all three parts of the combo. In other words, the >> manufacturers say HP printers are supposed to yield better, more permanent >> results with original HP toners and HP specialized paper. The same goes for >> Canon, Epson or any other brand. Testing according to conservation >> parameters can work with that - or at least look very carefully into what, >> exactly is chosen for use (eg paper - OBA free, lignin free etc etc). >> >> The way things stand now - with endless possible variations and >> combinations - basically means it is up to us to try and set the criteria >> of choice and monitor whether that works. Not easy, but possibly we can >> try. >> >> Gali >> >> >> >> Gali Beiner (ACR) >> Conservator, Palaeontology Lab >> National Natural History Collections >> The Hebrew University of Jerusalem >> Berman Building, Edmond J. Safra campus, Givat Ram >> Jerusalem 91904, Israel >> Fax. 972-2-6585785 >> *gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il * >> >> *https://nnhc.huji.ac.il/?lang=en * >> >> ?????? ??? ??, 9 ????? 2026, 18:46, ??? Douglas Yanega ?< >> dyanega at gmail.com>: >> >>> On 4/8/26 11:38 PM, Gali Beiner wrote: >>> >>> Other than that, I think that maybe we could use this forum to up the >>> level of testing a bit - after all we have a pool of collection >>> professionals here, all with the same problem to solve re:labels for wet >>> collections (mainly alcohol but also other). Why shouldn't we gather >>> ourselves into a group of say 5 to 10 people in different collections and >>> agree on some sort of protocol for different labels in each collection (or >>> maybe sets of different labels to be tested in all collections, we could >>> consider the details) - and have this followed both in the short and long >>> terms? That would be more interesting than any individual test. Dear >>> readers in this forum, how does this sound to you? >>> >>> Compilation of different people's experiences have been done here and >>> elsewhere with some regularity, and one thing that is a universal >>> impediment to generating a coherent picture is the variability of the >>> medium that is being printed on. Comparisons of different printers are >>> nearly meaningless if the "tests" are on different paper stock. >>> >>> The most dramatic example I can offer is one from personal experience: >>> back in 1990, we obtained a Laserjet, a fairly new technology at that time, >>> and printed thousands of labels for both dry and ethanol specimens. The >>> first several months everything worked flawlessly, and to this day, almost >>> 40 years on, those original labels are perfectly fine, even the ones stored >>> in ethanol. Then one day we ran out of the existing stock of paper, bought >>> a new ream, and loaded it into the printer without changing anything else. >>> The lettering on those labels chipped, flaked, and rubbed off the dry >>> labels, and when we tried to put them into ethanol, the letters floated >>> off. No alteration of settings was involved, and nothing we did made the >>> labels viable. That is, until we checked the packaging on the original >>> ream; we found it was not the exact same thing that we had switched to, so >>> we bought something IDENTICAL, and the resulting labels were just fine >>> again. The problem had literally nothing to do with the printer, and >>> everything to do with the paper. >>> >>> Again, any "test" that does not control for the medium will not be a >>> fair and objective test of the merits of a printer. >>> >>> We presently use an HP Laser printer, and yes, we have had to try >>> different types of paper to find paper stocks that work well with this >>> printer. Not all do. Even worse, when we use "replacement" toner cartridges >>> (not the official HP brand), sometimes *but not always*, the printing >>> is slightly flaky and easily abraded. That means there are at least THREE >>> parameters that need to be controlled: the printer, the medium, and the >>> toner. Variation in any one of those three can lead to variation in the >>> quality of the results. This makes objective assessment and testing >>> *very* difficult, and ultimately it's just a litany of anecdotes. >>> >>> Peace, >>> >>> -- >>> Doug Yanega Dept. of Entomology Entomology Research Museum >>> Univ. of California, Riverside, CA 92521-0314 phone: 951-827-4315 >>> FaceBook: Doug Yanega (disclaimer: opinions are mine, not UCR's) >>> https://faculty.ucr.edu/~heraty/yanega.html >>> "There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness >>> is the true method" - Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chap. 82 >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> Nhcoll-l mailing list >>> Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu >>> https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of >>> Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose >>> mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of >>> natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to >>> society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. >>> Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. >>> >> _______________________________________________ >> Nhcoll-l mailing list >> Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu >> https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l >> >> _______________________________________________ >> NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of >> Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose >> mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of >> natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to >> society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. >> Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. >> > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From abentley at ku.edu Thu Apr 9 17:05:04 2026 From: abentley at ku.edu (Bentley, Andrew Charles) Date: Thu, 9 Apr 2026 21:05:04 +0000 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Desktop thermal printers? In-Reply-To: References: <69D73D74020000B3000E1580@gwia0.itz.uni-halle.de> <9be072e8-2c72-4e94-a755-bf387ea19307@gmail.com> Message-ID: This is true of thermal transfer supplies. We have gone through three different iterations of ribbon - SDR to SDR+ to SDR5+ which have all provided increasing resistance to alcohols. They have recently also transferred from a glossy spun bound polyester medium to a matte version. This matte version has the added benefit of allowing writing in pencil directly onto the media for field applications which the glossy version did not. I have had a non-scientific experiment going on the window ledge of my office where I have labels in all collection fluids - ethanol, isopropanol, formalin and glycerin in various concentrations and using the various iterations or ribbon and media. They have been there for up to 25 years and show no signs of fading, cracking, yellowing or any other deleterious effects. I can basically print a brand new label and place it next to any of these and you cannot tell the difference. I still swear by thermal transfer printing as the gold standard for wet collection labeling for the above reasons. We have never had any issue with any of these labels across our ichthyology, herpetology, entomology or invertebrate zoology collections bar a single instance of an incorrect ribbon being sent to us that resulted in text floating off labels but we caught it very early and were able to mitigate any effects. Andy A : A : A : }<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<)))_?> V V V 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 ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3093-1258 http://ichthyology.biodiversity.ku.edu A : A : A : }<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<)))_?> V V V ________________________________ From: Nhcoll-l on behalf of Gali Beiner Sent: Thursday, April 9, 2026 3:17 PM To: Ian Engelbrecht Cc: NHCOLL-new Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] Desktop thermal printers? Redesigning is already happening: new tech pops in, for example the thermal transfer printers are new compared to inkjets, and new substrates are also being developed. One way to deal with inevitable change is to understand the "recipe" as much as possible and seek out the "cleaner" products - as in the case of "OBA free, acid free, lignin free" etc paper or understanding which types of toners are likely to be more permanent. Understanding the technology as much as possible and testing what we can may help narrow down choices and set clearer standards. The other way is to remain out of it and use handwritten labels, but it seems that all of us regard this option mostly as a ship that has sailed: too hard to get the workforce to do it. Gali [https://docs.google.com/a/mail.huji.ac.il/uc?id=0B5B3I3QnN7dsSzNkbGlLNDNGWG8&export=download]Gali Beiner (ACR) Conservator, Palaeontology Lab National Natural History Collections The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Berman Building, Edmond J. Safra campus, Givat Ram Jerusalem 91904, Israel Fax. 972-2-6585785 gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il https://nnhc.huji.ac.il/?lang=en ?????? ??? ??, 9 ????? 2026, 21:49, ??? Ian Engelbrecht ?>: Plus the fact that things change over time. HP printer - toner - paper combination might work now, but will it still 30 years from now when they?ve redesigned one or three of those components? Ian On Thu, 09 Apr 2026 at 18:20, Gali Beiner > wrote: Doug is pointing out the heart of the problem - the variety of printing combinations which makes comparisons difficult. In fact, the variations in the way printer-ink-subsrate (paper or other) combinations work is the main reason why manufacturers recommend using their own brand for all three parts of the combo. In other words, the manufacturers say HP printers are supposed to yield better, more permanent results with original HP toners and HP specialized paper. The same goes for Canon, Epson or any other brand. Testing according to conservation parameters can work with that - or at least look very carefully into what, exactly is chosen for use (eg paper - OBA free, lignin free etc etc). The way things stand now - with endless possible variations and combinations - basically means it is up to us to try and set the criteria of choice and monitor whether that works. Not easy, but possibly we can try. Gali [https://docs.google.com/a/mail.huji.ac.il/uc?id=0B5B3I3QnN7dsSzNkbGlLNDNGWG8&export=download]Gali Beiner (ACR) Conservator, Palaeontology Lab National Natural History Collections The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Berman Building, Edmond J. Safra campus, Givat Ram Jerusalem 91904, Israel Fax. 972-2-6585785 gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il https://nnhc.huji.ac.il/?lang=en ?????? ??? ??, 9 ????? 2026, 18:46, ??? Douglas Yanega ?>: On 4/8/26 11:38 PM, Gali Beiner wrote: Other than that, I think that maybe we could use this forum to up the level of testing a bit - after all we have a pool of collection professionals here, all with the same problem to solve re:labels for wet collections (mainly alcohol but also other). Why shouldn't we gather ourselves into a group of say 5 to 10 people in different collections and agree on some sort of protocol for different labels in each collection (or maybe sets of different labels to be tested in all collections, we could consider the details) - and have this followed both in the short and long terms? That would be more interesting than any individual test. Dear readers in this forum, how does this sound to you? Compilation of different people's experiences have been done here and elsewhere with some regularity, and one thing that is a universal impediment to generating a coherent picture is the variability of the medium that is being printed on. Comparisons of different printers are nearly meaningless if the "tests" are on different paper stock. The most dramatic example I can offer is one from personal experience: back in 1990, we obtained a Laserjet, a fairly new technology at that time, and printed thousands of labels for both dry and ethanol specimens. The first several months everything worked flawlessly, and to this day, almost 40 years on, those original labels are perfectly fine, even the ones stored in ethanol. Then one day we ran out of the existing stock of paper, bought a new ream, and loaded it into the printer without changing anything else. The lettering on those labels chipped, flaked, and rubbed off the dry labels, and when we tried to put them into ethanol, the letters floated off. No alteration of settings was involved, and nothing we did made the labels viable. That is, until we checked the packaging on the original ream; we found it was not the exact same thing that we had switched to, so we bought something IDENTICAL, and the resulting labels were just fine again. The problem had literally nothing to do with the printer, and everything to do with the paper. Again, any "test" that does not control for the medium will not be a fair and objective test of the merits of a printer. We presently use an HP Laser printer, and yes, we have had to try different types of paper to find paper stocks that work well with this printer. Not all do. Even worse, when we use "replacement" toner cartridges (not the official HP brand), sometimes but not always, the printing is slightly flaky and easily abraded. That means there are at least THREE parameters that need to be controlled: the printer, the medium, and the toner. Variation in any one of those three can lead to variation in the quality of the results. This makes objective assessment and testing very difficult, and ultimately it's just a litany of anecdotes. Peace, -- Doug Yanega Dept. of Entomology Entomology Research Museum Univ. of California, Riverside, CA 92521-0314 phone: 951-827-4315 FaceBook: Doug Yanega (disclaimer: opinions are mine, not UCR's) https://faculty.ucr.edu/~heraty/yanega.html "There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness is the true method" - Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chap. 82 _______________________________________________ Nhcoll-l mailing list Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l _______________________________________________ NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. _______________________________________________ Nhcoll-l mailing list Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l _______________________________________________ NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From couteaufin at btinternet.com Thu Apr 9 18:19:06 2026 From: couteaufin at btinternet.com (Simon Moore) Date: Thu, 9 Apr 2026 23:19:06 +0100 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Recommendations on ethanol use in natural history collections In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <249EC93F-8711-43EE-99C8-DA86B5C3D077@btinternet.com> Very interesting about the definition of denatured reacting to preserving alcohol. I have always favoured ?adulterated? but this term was not generally taken up. With all good wishes, Simon Simon Moore MIScT, RSci, FLS, ACR Conservator of Natural Sciences and Cutlery Historian. www.natural-history-conservation.com > On 9 Apr 2026, at 19:55, JP Brown wrote: > > Normally ?denatured? means alcohol that has been refined to over 95% (the limit of distillation) by the addition of chemical dehydrating agents that carry off the remaining water.> > > Not to hijack the thread, but I don't think this is correct, Paul. Denatured alcohol (in the US) is ethanol with a bittering or poisoning agent added to it to render it unfit for human consumption. This is the same idea as methylated spirits (in the UK and Commonwealth) - see, for instance, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denatured_alcohol. > > JP > > JP Brown (he/his) > Senior Conservator > Vice-Chair MFT-IDG > > Field Museum > 1400 S. DuSable Lake Shore Dr. > Chicago, IL 60605 > fieldmuseum.org > > > > > > On Thu, Apr 9, 2026 at 1:33?PM Callomon,Paul wrote: > Normally ?denatured? means alcohol that has been refined to over 95% (the limit of distillation) by the addition of chemical dehydrating agents that carry off the remaining water. What folks are talking about here, however, is ?methylated spirits? and other forms of alcohol that have been deliberately poisoned to make them undrinkable. > Isopropyl (rubbing alcohol) is not a bad long-term storage agent, and does preserve DNA, but it can shrink and harden specimens, often to the point of making dissections very difficult. It?s also not the nicest stuff to work with. > If your country won?t let you easily buy ethanol, though, you might be better off going with Isopropyl than with some adulterated formula. > Paul Callomon > Collection Manager, Malacology and General Invertebrates > Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, Philadelphia > callomon at ansp.org Tel 215-405-5096 - Fax 215-299-1170 > From: Nhcoll-l On Behalf Of Ian Engelbrecht > Sent: Thursday, April 9, 2026 11:36 AM > To: Nickson Otieno > Cc: Annika Sander ; nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu > Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] Recommendations on ethanol use in natural history collections > External. > I'm interesting to hear about this too, the question of using 'denatured' ethanol for long term specimen preservation. We have a similar situation here in South Africa - standard ethanol is prohibitively expensive because of a tax levied on it, essentially so that people don't buy it to drink. In order to get around paying that tax you have to register with the national taxation body, which is exceedingly difficult to do, even if you are a large national museum or other institution. Many people are falling back to 'denatured' ethanol, which typically has another compound added to make it undrinkable. > I'd imagine the question of the impact on specimens depends on what the ethanol is denatured with. Most often (here) it's isopropyl alcohol, but sometimes it's ethyl acetate. In both instances we don't actually know what the long term implications are for specimen preservation. Ethyl acetate, for example, might make specimens very brittle. Bleaching might be another concern. > Furthermore, these added compounds are unpleasant to work with. People describe feeling light headed, or even getting headaches, from prolonged exposure. There might be more serious health implications too. > Ian > On Thu, Apr 9, 2026 at 2:58?PM Nickson Otieno wrote: > Just a little point, that for any specimens from which that you might later wish to derive tissues for purposes of stable isotope analyses, preservation in ethanol of any kind, would significantly distort the isotooic signatures (particularly for the case of isotopes of nitrogen). > Nickson Otienio > National Museums of Kenya > On Thu, Apr 9, 2026 at 3:20?PM Annika Sander wrote: > Dear colleagues, > I am seeking specific recommendations regarding the use of undenatured ethanol for wet specimens, as well as references addressing any potentially harmful effects of denatured ethanol on such specimens. > The background is as follows: > We are a regional museum in Norway with an important collection of wet specimens, particularly whale foetuses and other specimens related to whaling. As is common in wet collections, our specimens gradually lose preservation fluid over time. In order to replenish the jars, we need to procure undenatured ethanol. > In Norway, this type of ethanol is subject to specific taxation regulations. To be registered with the relevant authorities and obtain access, we are required to provide documentation demonstrating the necessity of using undenatured ethanol. This is further complicated by the fact that we are not a university, laboratory, or scientific institution, which would otherwise have more straightforward access to such materials. > Previously, a taxidermist carried out the refilling and transfer from older preservation fluids to ethanol, but this is no longer an option. > Any recommendations for relevant literature or other guidance on how to deal with this would be greatly appreciated. > Kind regards, > Annika Sander, > Conservator (wood and furniture) > Dep. Archives and Collections > phone: +47 981 87 851 > e-mail: annika.sander at vestfoldmuseene.no > Vestfoldmuseene IKS > www.vestfoldmuseene.no > _______________________________________________ > Nhcoll-l mailing list > Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu > https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l > > _______________________________________________ > NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of > Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose > mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of > natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to > society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. > Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. > _______________________________________________ > Nhcoll-l mailing list > Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu > https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l > > _______________________________________________ > NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of > Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose > mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of > natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to > society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. > Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. > _______________________________________________ > Nhcoll-l mailing list > Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu > https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l > > _______________________________________________ > NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of > Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose > mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of > natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to > society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. > Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. > _______________________________________________ > Nhcoll-l mailing list > Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu > https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l > > _______________________________________________ > NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of > Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose > mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of > natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to > society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. > Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. From maru.digi at gmail.com Thu Apr 9 20:05:36 2026 From: maru.digi at gmail.com (Mariana Di Giacomo) Date: Thu, 9 Apr 2026 20:05:36 -0400 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Survey on experiences with DiceCT specimen requests Message-ID: Dear colleagues, I am working on a publication about DiceCT and staining using Lugol's solution as a technique from the point of view of conservation. As part of my interest in capturing what we know, I was wondering if there are things that only those who manage collections and see these specimens on a regular basis are aware of, but have never been published. This could be because they are either considered anecdotal information or because you think "everyone knows this" because you talk to your colleagues about it, so it must be widespread information. For this reason, I created a survey for you to tell me, anonymously, everything and anything you want about your professional experience with the technique or the staining. The survey will only be open *until April 24th*, so please don't delay responding. You can also edit your response after you've done it, so if you forgot anything, you can go back. You would really help me a lot by filling it out. Here is the link: https://forms.gle/yUj1NbSx4zDu38F48 Thank you so much for considering! Mariana *Mariana Di Giacomo, PhD* *Natural History Conservator, Yale Peabody Museum* Member at Large; Associate Editor (Collection Forum), SPNHC -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From ianicus.za at gmail.com Fri Apr 10 02:19:17 2026 From: ianicus.za at gmail.com (Ian Engelbrecht) Date: Fri, 10 Apr 2026 08:19:17 +0200 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Desktop thermal printers? In-Reply-To: References: <69D73D74020000B3000E1580@gwia0.itz.uni-halle.de> <9be072e8-2c72-4e94-a755-bf387ea19307@gmail.com> Message-ID: Just replying to Gali, I must admit I miss something of that antique feel of old hand written labels. But as you say, not practical. Unless we use something like this: https://youtube.com/shorts/RgsEHRWPVvM?si=h9McGR4hPlIlbBTb ? On Thu, 09 Apr 2026 at 23:05, Bentley, Andrew Charles wrote: > This is true of thermal transfer supplies. We have gone through three > different iterations of ribbon - SDR to SDR+ to SDR5+ which have all > provided increasing resistance to alcohols. They have recently also > transferred from a glossy spun bound polyester medium to a matte version. > This matte version has the added benefit of allowing writing in pencil > directly onto the media for field applications which the glossy version did > not. > > I have had a non-scientific experiment going on the window ledge of my > office where I have labels in all collection fluids - ethanol, isopropanol, > formalin and glycerin in various concentrations and using the various > iterations or ribbon and media. They have been there for up to 25 years > and show no signs of fading, cracking, yellowing or any other deleterious > effects. I can basically print a brand new label and place it next to any > of these and you cannot tell the difference. > > I still swear by thermal transfer printing as the gold standard for wet > collection labeling for the above reasons. We have never had any issue > with any of these labels across our ichthyology, herpetology, entomology or > invertebrate zoology collections bar a single instance of an incorrect > ribbon being sent to us that resulted in text floating off labels but we > caught it very early and were able to mitigate any effects. > > Andy > > A : A : A : > }<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<)))_?> > V V V > Andy Bentley > > Ichthyology > Collection Manager > > University > of Kansas > Biodiversity Institute > > Dyche Hall > *1345 Jayhawk Boulevard > * > *Lawrence, KS, 66045-7561 > * > *USA > * > > Tel: *(785) 864-3863* <%28785%29%20864-3863> > Fax: *(785) 864-5335* <%28785%29%20864-5335> > Email: *abentley at ku.edu* > > ORCID: *https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3093-1258* > > > *http://ichthyology.biodiversity.ku.edu* > > > A : A : A : > }<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<)))_?> > V V V > > > ------------------------------ > *From:* Nhcoll-l on behalf of Gali > Beiner > *Sent:* Thursday, April 9, 2026 3:17 PM > *To:* Ian Engelbrecht > *Cc:* NHCOLL-new > > *Subject:* Re: [Nhcoll-l] Desktop thermal printers? > > Redesigning is already happening: new tech pops in, for example the > thermal transfer printers are new compared to inkjets, and new substrates > are also being developed. > > One way to deal with inevitable change is to understand the "recipe" as > much as possible and seek out the "cleaner" products - as in the case of > "OBA free, acid free, lignin free" etc paper or understanding which types > of toners are likely to be more permanent. Understanding the technology as > much as possible and testing what we can may help narrow down choices and > set clearer standards. The other way is to remain out of it and use > handwritten labels, but it seems that all of us regard this option mostly > as a ship that has sailed: too hard to get the workforce to do it. > > Gali > > Gali Beiner (ACR) > Conservator, Palaeontology Lab > National Natural History Collections > The Hebrew University of Jerusalem > Berman Building, Edmond J. Safra campus, Givat Ram > Jerusalem 91904, Israel > Fax. 972-2-6585785 > *gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il * > > *https://nnhc.huji.ac.il/?lang=en * > > ?????? ??? ??, 9 ????? 2026, 21:49, ??? Ian Engelbrecht ?< > ianicus.za at gmail.com>: > > Plus the fact that things change over time. HP printer - toner - paper > combination might work now, but will it still 30 years from now when > they?ve redesigned one or three of those components? > > Ian > > On Thu, 09 Apr 2026 at 18:20, Gali Beiner > wrote: > > Doug is pointing out the heart of the problem - the variety of printing > combinations which makes comparisons difficult. > > In fact, the variations in the way printer-ink-subsrate (paper or other) > combinations work is the main reason why manufacturers recommend using > their own brand for all three parts of the combo. In other words, the > manufacturers say HP printers are supposed to yield better, more permanent > results with original HP toners and HP specialized paper. The same goes for > Canon, Epson or any other brand. Testing according to conservation > parameters can work with that - or at least look very carefully into what, > exactly is chosen for use (eg paper - OBA free, lignin free etc etc). > > The way things stand now - with endless possible variations and > combinations - basically means it is up to us to try and set the criteria > of choice and monitor whether that works. Not easy, but possibly we can > try. > > Gali > > > > Gali Beiner (ACR) > Conservator, Palaeontology Lab > National Natural History Collections > The Hebrew University of Jerusalem > Berman Building, Edmond J. Safra campus, Givat Ram > Jerusalem 91904, Israel > Fax. 972-2-6585785 > *gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il * > > *https://nnhc.huji.ac.il/?lang=en * > > ?????? ??? ??, 9 ????? 2026, 18:46, ??? Douglas Yanega ? >: > > On 4/8/26 11:38 PM, Gali Beiner wrote: > > Other than that, I think that maybe we could use this forum to up the > level of testing a bit - after all we have a pool of collection > professionals here, all with the same problem to solve re:labels for wet > collections (mainly alcohol but also other). Why shouldn't we gather > ourselves into a group of say 5 to 10 people in different collections and > agree on some sort of protocol for different labels in each collection (or > maybe sets of different labels to be tested in all collections, we could > consider the details) - and have this followed both in the short and long > terms? That would be more interesting than any individual test. Dear > readers in this forum, how does this sound to you? > > Compilation of different people's experiences have been done here and > elsewhere with some regularity, and one thing that is a universal > impediment to generating a coherent picture is the variability of the > medium that is being printed on. Comparisons of different printers are > nearly meaningless if the "tests" are on different paper stock. > > The most dramatic example I can offer is one from personal experience: > back in 1990, we obtained a Laserjet, a fairly new technology at that time, > and printed thousands of labels for both dry and ethanol specimens. The > first several months everything worked flawlessly, and to this day, almost > 40 years on, those original labels are perfectly fine, even the ones stored > in ethanol. Then one day we ran out of the existing stock of paper, bought > a new ream, and loaded it into the printer without changing anything else. > The lettering on those labels chipped, flaked, and rubbed off the dry > labels, and when we tried to put them into ethanol, the letters floated > off. No alteration of settings was involved, and nothing we did made the > labels viable. That is, until we checked the packaging on the original > ream; we found it was not the exact same thing that we had switched to, so > we bought something IDENTICAL, and the resulting labels were just fine > again. The problem had literally nothing to do with the printer, and > everything to do with the paper. > > Again, any "test" that does not control for the medium will not be a fair > and objective test of the merits of a printer. > > We presently use an HP Laser printer, and yes, we have had to try > different types of paper to find paper stocks that work well with this > printer. Not all do. Even worse, when we use "replacement" toner cartridges > (not the official HP brand), sometimes *but not always*, the printing is > slightly flaky and easily abraded. That means there are at least THREE > parameters that need to be controlled: the printer, the medium, and the > toner. Variation in any one of those three can lead to variation in the > quality of the results. This makes objective assessment and testing *very* > difficult, and ultimately it's just a litany of anecdotes. > > Peace, > > -- > Doug Yanega Dept. of Entomology Entomology Research Museum > Univ. of California, Riverside, CA 92521-0314 phone: 951-827-4315 > FaceBook: Doug Yanega (disclaimer: opinions are mine, not UCR's) > https://faculty.ucr.edu/~heraty/yanega.html > "There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness > is the true method" - Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chap. 82 > > _______________________________________________ > Nhcoll-l mailing list > Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu > https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l > > _______________________________________________ > NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of > Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose > mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of > natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to > society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. > Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. > > _______________________________________________ > Nhcoll-l mailing list > Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu > https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l > > _______________________________________________ > NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of > Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose > mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of > natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to > society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. > Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From simmons.johne at gmail.com Fri Apr 10 05:44:18 2026 From: simmons.johne at gmail.com (John E Simmons) Date: Fri, 10 Apr 2026 05:44:18 -0400 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Recommendations on ethanol use in natural history collections In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: JP is correct. In the US, ethanol that has been dehydrated beyond its maximum distillation strength of 95.6% is called "absolute alcohol" or "anhydrous alcohol" if it is 99 to 100% ethanol. Absolute alcohol is much more expensive that full-strength (95.6%) ethanol and may contain traces of the dehydrating chemicals which can affect its use. Denatured alcohol can be any strength but has one or more chemicals added to it to make it undrinkable. In most countries, only a limited number of denaturants are allowed and they are listed on the safety sheet or label. Under US regulations, chemical companies do not have to list what denaturants are used (there are more than 100 denaturants allowed in the US). Some companies do list denaturants, some do not. Furthermore, because alcohol barrels can be re-used with minimal cleaning, there may be traces of past denaturants in the alcohol as well as those added to that batch. These are all reasons to avoid the use of denatured alcohol in preservation if possible. --John John E. Simmons US Fulbright Senior Scholar Writer and Museum Consultant, Museologica *and* Research Associate, Earth and Mineral Sciences Museum & Art Gallery, Penn State University *and* Investigador Asociado, Departamento de Ornitolog?a, Museo de Historia Natural, Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Lima On Thu, Apr 9, 2026 at 2:56?PM JP Brown wrote: > *Normally ?denatured? means alcohol that has been refined to over 95% (the > limit of distillation) by the addition of chemical dehydrating agents that > carry off the remaining water.*> > > Not to hijack the thread, but I don't think this is correct, Paul. > Denatured alcohol (in the US) is ethanol with a bittering or poisoning > agent added to it to render it unfit for human consumption. This is the > same idea as methylated spirits (in the UK and Commonwealth) - see, for > instance, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denatured_alcohol. > > JP > > *JP Brown *(he/his) > Senior Conservator > Vice-Chair MFT-IDG > > Field Museum > 1400 S. DuSable Lake Shore Dr. > Chicago, IL 60605 > fieldmuseum.org > > > > > > On Thu, Apr 9, 2026 at 1:33?PM Callomon,Paul wrote: > >> Normally ?denatured? means alcohol that has been refined to over 95% (the >> limit of distillation) by the addition of chemical dehydrating agents that >> carry off the remaining water. What folks are talking about here, however, >> is ?methylated spirits? and other forms of alcohol that have been >> deliberately poisoned to make them undrinkable. >> >> >> >> Isopropyl (rubbing alcohol) is not a bad long-term storage agent, and >> does preserve DNA, but it can shrink and harden specimens, often to the >> point of making dissections very difficult. It?s also not the nicest stuff >> to work with. >> >> >> >> If your country won?t let you easily buy ethanol, though, you might be >> better off going with Isopropyl than with some adulterated formula. >> >> >> >> *Paul Callomon* >> *Collection Manager, Malacology and General Invertebrates* >> ------------------------------ >> >> *Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, Philadelphia* >> *callomon at ansp.org Tel 215-405-5096 - Fax >> 215-299-1170* >> >> >> >> >> >> *From:* Nhcoll-l *On Behalf Of *Ian >> Engelbrecht >> *Sent:* Thursday, April 9, 2026 11:36 AM >> *To:* Nickson Otieno >> *Cc:* Annika Sander ; >> nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu >> *Subject:* Re: [Nhcoll-l] Recommendations on ethanol use in natural >> history collections >> >> >> >> *External.* >> >> I'm interesting to hear about this too, the question of using 'denatured' >> ethanol for long term specimen preservation. We have a similar situation >> here in South Africa - standard ethanol is prohibitively expensive because >> of a tax levied on it, essentially so that people don't buy it to drink. In >> order to get around paying that tax you have to register with the national >> taxation body, which is exceedingly difficult to do, even if you are a >> large national museum or other institution. Many people are falling back to >> 'denatured' ethanol, which typically has another compound added to make it >> undrinkable. >> >> >> >> I'd imagine the question of the impact on specimens depends on what the >> ethanol is denatured with. Most often (here) it's isopropyl alcohol, but >> sometimes it's ethyl acetate. In both instances we don't actually know what >> the long term implications are for specimen preservation. Ethyl acetate, >> for example, might make specimens very brittle. Bleaching might be another >> concern. >> >> >> >> Furthermore, these added compounds are unpleasant to work with. People >> describe feeling light headed, or even getting headaches, from prolonged >> exposure. There might be more serious health implications too. >> >> >> >> Ian >> >> >> >> On Thu, Apr 9, 2026 at 2:58?PM Nickson Otieno wrote: >> >> Just a little point, that for any specimens from which that you might >> later wish to derive tissues for purposes of stable isotope analyses, >> preservation in ethanol of any kind, would significantly distort the >> isotooic signatures (particularly for the case of isotopes of nitrogen). >> >> >> >> Nickson Otienio >> >> National Museums of Kenya >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> On Thu, Apr 9, 2026 at 3:20?PM Annika Sander < >> annika.sander at vestfoldmuseene.no> wrote: >> >> Dear colleagues, >> >> I am seeking specific recommendations regarding the use of undenatured >> ethanol for wet specimens, as well as references addressing any potentially >> harmful effects of denatured ethanol on such specimens. >> >> The background is as follows: >> We are a regional museum in Norway with an important collection of wet >> specimens, particularly whale foetuses and other specimens related to >> whaling. As is common in wet collections, our specimens gradually lose >> preservation fluid over time. In order to replenish the jars, we need to >> procure undenatured ethanol. >> >> In Norway, this type of ethanol is subject to specific taxation >> regulations. To be registered with the relevant authorities and obtain >> access, we are required to provide documentation demonstrating the >> necessity of using undenatured ethanol. This is further complicated by the >> fact that we are not a university, laboratory, or scientific institution, >> which would otherwise have more straightforward access to such materials. >> >> Previously, a taxidermist carried out the refilling and transfer from >> older preservation fluids to ethanol, but this is no longer an option. >> >> Any recommendations for relevant literature or other guidance on how to >> deal with this would be greatly appreciated. >> >> >> >> Kind regards, >> >> *Annika Sander,* >> >> Conservator (wood and furniture) >> >> >> >> Dep. Archives and Collections >> >> phone: +47 981 87 851 >> >> e-mail: annika.sander at vestfoldmuseene.no >> >> >> >> Vestfoldmuseene IKS >> >> www.vestfoldmuseene.no >> >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Nhcoll-l mailing list >> Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu >> https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l >> >> _______________________________________________ >> NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of >> Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose >> mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of >> natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to >> society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. >> Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Nhcoll-l mailing list >> Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu >> https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l >> >> _______________________________________________ >> NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of >> Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose >> mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of >> natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to >> society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. >> Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Nhcoll-l mailing list >> Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu >> https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l >> >> _______________________________________________ >> NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of >> Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose >> mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of >> natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to >> society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. >> Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. >> > _______________________________________________ > Nhcoll-l mailing list > Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu > https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l > > _______________________________________________ > NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of > Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose > mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of > natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to > society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. > Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From rw at protectheritage.com Fri Apr 10 10:18:18 2026 From: rw at protectheritage.com (Robert Waller) Date: Fri, 10 Apr 2026 14:18:18 +0000 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Desktop thermal printers? In-Reply-To: References: <69D73D74020000B3000E1580@gwia0.itz.uni-halle.de> <9be072e8-2c72-4e94-a755-bf387ea19307@gmail.com> Message-ID: Hi Gali, Your suggestion "to understand the "recipe" as much as possible" seems a very good idea. If you or someone else decides to initiate a task group within SPNHC to take that on, I suggest you reach out to archives and paper conservators through their discussion groups as they may already have useful information available. Perhaps the subject could be suggested as a good research project for a conservation student. That is, a compilation of information combined with some experimentation for validation. Rob ________________________________ From: Nhcoll-l on behalf of Gali Beiner Sent: Thursday, April 09, 2026 4:17 PM To: Ian Engelbrecht Cc: NHCOLL-new Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] Desktop thermal printers? Redesigning is already happening: new tech pops in, for example the thermal transfer printers are new compared to inkjets, and new substrates are also being developed. One way to deal with inevitable change is to understand the "recipe" as much as possible and seek out the "cleaner" products - as in the case of "OBA free, acid free, lignin free" etc paper or understanding which types of toners are likely to be more permanent. Understanding the technology as much as possible and testing what we can may help narrow down choices and set clearer standards. The other way is to remain out of it and use handwritten labels, but it seems that all of us regard this option mostly as a ship that has sailed: too hard to get the workforce to do it. Gali [https://docs.google.com/a/mail.huji.ac.il/uc?id=0B5B3I3QnN7dsSzNkbGlLNDNGWG8&export=download]Gali Beiner (ACR) Conservator, Palaeontology Lab National Natural History Collections The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Berman Building, Edmond J. Safra campus, Givat Ram Jerusalem 91904, Israel Fax. 972-2-6585785 gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il https://nnhc.huji.ac.il/?lang=en ?????? ??? ??, 9 ????? 2026, 21:49, ??? Ian Engelbrecht ?>: Plus the fact that things change over time. HP printer - toner - paper combination might work now, but will it still 30 years from now when they?ve redesigned one or three of those components? Ian On Thu, 09 Apr 2026 at 18:20, Gali Beiner > wrote: Doug is pointing out the heart of the problem - the variety of printing combinations which makes comparisons difficult. In fact, the variations in the way printer-ink-subsrate (paper or other) combinations work is the main reason why manufacturers recommend using their own brand for all three parts of the combo. In other words, the manufacturers say HP printers are supposed to yield better, more permanent results with original HP toners and HP specialized paper. The same goes for Canon, Epson or any other brand. Testing according to conservation parameters can work with that - or at least look very carefully into what, exactly is chosen for use (eg paper - OBA free, lignin free etc etc). The way things stand now - with endless possible variations and combinations - basically means it is up to us to try and set the criteria of choice and monitor whether that works. Not easy, but possibly we can try. Gali [https://docs.google.com/a/mail.huji.ac.il/uc?id=0B5B3I3QnN7dsSzNkbGlLNDNGWG8&export=download]Gali Beiner (ACR) Conservator, Palaeontology Lab National Natural History Collections The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Berman Building, Edmond J. Safra campus, Givat Ram Jerusalem 91904, Israel Fax. 972-2-6585785 gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il https://nnhc.huji.ac.il/?lang=en ?????? ??? ??, 9 ????? 2026, 18:46, ??? Douglas Yanega ?>: On 4/8/26 11:38 PM, Gali Beiner wrote: Other than that, I think that maybe we could use this forum to up the level of testing a bit - after all we have a pool of collection professionals here, all with the same problem to solve re:labels for wet collections (mainly alcohol but also other). Why shouldn't we gather ourselves into a group of say 5 to 10 people in different collections and agree on some sort of protocol for different labels in each collection (or maybe sets of different labels to be tested in all collections, we could consider the details) - and have this followed both in the short and long terms? That would be more interesting than any individual test. Dear readers in this forum, how does this sound to you? Compilation of different people's experiences have been done here and elsewhere with some regularity, and one thing that is a universal impediment to generating a coherent picture is the variability of the medium that is being printed on. Comparisons of different printers are nearly meaningless if the "tests" are on different paper stock. The most dramatic example I can offer is one from personal experience: back in 1990, we obtained a Laserjet, a fairly new technology at that time, and printed thousands of labels for both dry and ethanol specimens. The first several months everything worked flawlessly, and to this day, almost 40 years on, those original labels are perfectly fine, even the ones stored in ethanol. Then one day we ran out of the existing stock of paper, bought a new ream, and loaded it into the printer without changing anything else. The lettering on those labels chipped, flaked, and rubbed off the dry labels, and when we tried to put them into ethanol, the letters floated off. No alteration of settings was involved, and nothing we did made the labels viable. That is, until we checked the packaging on the original ream; we found it was not the exact same thing that we had switched to, so we bought something IDENTICAL, and the resulting labels were just fine again. The problem had literally nothing to do with the printer, and everything to do with the paper. Again, any "test" that does not control for the medium will not be a fair and objective test of the merits of a printer. We presently use an HP Laser printer, and yes, we have had to try different types of paper to find paper stocks that work well with this printer. Not all do. Even worse, when we use "replacement" toner cartridges (not the official HP brand), sometimes but not always, the printing is slightly flaky and easily abraded. That means there are at least THREE parameters that need to be controlled: the printer, the medium, and the toner. Variation in any one of those three can lead to variation in the quality of the results. This makes objective assessment and testing very difficult, and ultimately it's just a litany of anecdotes. Peace, -- Doug Yanega Dept. of Entomology Entomology Research Museum Univ. of California, Riverside, CA 92521-0314 phone: 951-827-4315 FaceBook: Doug Yanega (disclaimer: opinions are mine, not UCR's) https://faculty.ucr.edu/~heraty/yanega.html "There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness is the true method" - Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chap. 82 _______________________________________________ Nhcoll-l mailing list Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l _______________________________________________ NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. _______________________________________________ Nhcoll-l mailing list Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l _______________________________________________ NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From aadineen at berkeley.edu Fri Apr 10 16:17:50 2026 From: aadineen at berkeley.edu (Ashley Dineen) Date: Fri, 10 Apr 2026 13:17:50 -0700 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Call for Proposals: New Paleontological Society Collections Grant Message-ID: *The Paleontological Society (PS) invites applications for its new Collections Grants program*, which provides funding for members working in natural history collections to support paleontological/paleobiological curatorial and digitization projects in order to address the backlog many collections face, and support collections care, management, and broad access. Grants will be issued from anywhere between $500 to $5,000 (max amount); the number of awards to be made each year is flexible, but likely to be between two and ten. Lead applicants must be members of the Paleontological Society at the time of application, and can be curators, faculty members, collection managers, collections staff, graduate or undergraduate students, and/or avocational collectors or clubs. *Grant proposal deadline is June 1st 2026, with recipients receiving notice of funding by August 15th.* See application details here. -- Ashley A. Dineen, PhD Sr. Museum Scientist, Invertebrate Paleontology UC Museum of Paleontology Chair, Collections Committee The Paleontological Society -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il Sun Apr 12 02:06:02 2026 From: gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il (Gali Beiner) Date: Sun, 12 Apr 2026 09:06:02 +0300 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Desktop thermal printers? In-Reply-To: References: <69D73D74020000B3000E1580@gwia0.itz.uni-halle.de> <9be072e8-2c72-4e94-a755-bf387ea19307@gmail.com> Message-ID: Hi Rob and all, I'm not familiar with task groups in SPNHC, so somebody who already works with one will have to explain to me how that works, but generally speaking - the main problem here is formulating the right kind of question to answer in a scientific research. In fact, it crosses my mind that if anybody here has a contact within the Image Permanence Institute, I'd be happy to get in touch (IPI, according to its own vision, is "dedicated to supporting the preservation of cultural heritage collections in libraries, archives, and museums around the world"). Possibly the study question should be about finding the most permanent printer-ink-substrate combo (for ethanol?) in each category (laser, inkjet, thermal transfer), and then comparing categories. This would involve thinking about *the best ways to test permanence for labels in fluids* - for example, in my own published paper I presented a form of accelerated aging as a testing method. What would be the best way for testing, other than waiting 50-100 years? Maybe discussing this with people at the Image Permanence Institute could help. Gali On Fri, Apr 10, 2026 at 5:18?PM Robert Waller wrote: > Hi Gali, > Your suggestion "to understand the "recipe" as much as possible" seems a > very good idea. > If you or someone else decides to initiate a task group within SPNHC to > take that on, I suggest you reach out to archives and paper conservators > through their discussion groups as they may already have useful information > available. Perhaps the subject could be suggested as a good research > project for a conservation student. That is, a compilation of information > combined with some experimentation for validation. > Rob > > ------------------------------ > *From:* Nhcoll-l on behalf of Gali > Beiner > *Sent:* Thursday, April 09, 2026 4:17 PM > *To:* Ian Engelbrecht > *Cc:* NHCOLL-new > *Subject:* Re: [Nhcoll-l] Desktop thermal printers? > > Redesigning is already happening: new tech pops in, for example the > thermal transfer printers are new compared to inkjets, and new substrates > are also being developed. > > One way to deal with inevitable change is to understand the "recipe" as > much as possible and seek out the "cleaner" products - as in the case of > "OBA free, acid free, lignin free" etc paper or understanding which types > of toners are likely to be more permanent. Understanding the technology as > much as possible and testing what we can may help narrow down choices and > set clearer standards. The other way is to remain out of it and use > handwritten labels, but it seems that all of us regard this option mostly > as a ship that has sailed: too hard to get the workforce to do it. > > Gali > > Gali Beiner (ACR) > Conservator, Palaeontology Lab > National Natural History Collections > The Hebrew University of Jerusalem > Berman Building, Edmond J. Safra campus, Givat Ram > Jerusalem 91904, Israel > Fax. 972-2-6585785 > *gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il* > *https://nnhc.huji.ac.il/?lang=en* > > ?????? ??? ??, 9 ????? 2026, 21:49, ??? Ian Engelbrecht ?< > ianicus.za at gmail.com>: > > Plus the fact that things change over time. HP printer - toner - paper > combination might work now, but will it still 30 years from now when > they?ve redesigned one or three of those components? > > Ian > > On Thu, 09 Apr 2026 at 18:20, Gali Beiner > wrote: > > Doug is pointing out the heart of the problem - the variety of printing > combinations which makes comparisons difficult. > > In fact, the variations in the way printer-ink-subsrate (paper or other) > combinations work is the main reason why manufacturers recommend using > their own brand for all three parts of the combo. In other words, the > manufacturers say HP printers are supposed to yield better, more permanent > results with original HP toners and HP specialized paper. The same goes for > Canon, Epson or any other brand. Testing according to conservation > parameters can work with that - or at least look very carefully into what, > exactly is chosen for use (eg paper - OBA free, lignin free etc etc). > > The way things stand now - with endless possible variations and > combinations - basically means it is up to us to try and set the criteria > of choice and monitor whether that works. Not easy, but possibly we can > try. > > Gali > > > > Gali Beiner (ACR) > Conservator, Palaeontology Lab > National Natural History Collections > The Hebrew University of Jerusalem > Berman Building, Edmond J. Safra campus, Givat Ram > Jerusalem 91904, Israel > Fax. 972-2-6585785 > *gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il* > *https://nnhc.huji.ac.il/?lang=en* > > ?????? ??? ??, 9 ????? 2026, 18:46, ??? Douglas Yanega ? >: > > On 4/8/26 11:38 PM, Gali Beiner wrote: > > Other than that, I think that maybe we could use this forum to up the > level of testing a bit - after all we have a pool of collection > professionals here, all with the same problem to solve re:labels for wet > collections (mainly alcohol but also other). Why shouldn't we gather > ourselves into a group of say 5 to 10 people in different collections and > agree on some sort of protocol for different labels in each collection (or > maybe sets of different labels to be tested in all collections, we could > consider the details) - and have this followed both in the short and long > terms? That would be more interesting than any individual test. Dear > readers in this forum, how does this sound to you? > > Compilation of different people's experiences have been done here and > elsewhere with some regularity, and one thing that is a universal > impediment to generating a coherent picture is the variability of the > medium that is being printed on. Comparisons of different printers are > nearly meaningless if the "tests" are on different paper stock. > > The most dramatic example I can offer is one from personal experience: > back in 1990, we obtained a Laserjet, a fairly new technology at that time, > and printed thousands of labels for both dry and ethanol specimens. The > first several months everything worked flawlessly, and to this day, almost > 40 years on, those original labels are perfectly fine, even the ones stored > in ethanol. Then one day we ran out of the existing stock of paper, bought > a new ream, and loaded it into the printer without changing anything else. > The lettering on those labels chipped, flaked, and rubbed off the dry > labels, and when we tried to put them into ethanol, the letters floated > off. No alteration of settings was involved, and nothing we did made the > labels viable. That is, until we checked the packaging on the original > ream; we found it was not the exact same thing that we had switched to, so > we bought something IDENTICAL, and the resulting labels were just fine > again. The problem had literally nothing to do with the printer, and > everything to do with the paper. > > Again, any "test" that does not control for the medium will not be a fair > and objective test of the merits of a printer. > > We presently use an HP Laser printer, and yes, we have had to try > different types of paper to find paper stocks that work well with this > printer. Not all do. Even worse, when we use "replacement" toner cartridges > (not the official HP brand), sometimes *but not always*, the printing is > slightly flaky and easily abraded. That means there are at least THREE > parameters that need to be controlled: the printer, the medium, and the > toner. Variation in any one of those three can lead to variation in the > quality of the results. This makes objective assessment and testing *very* difficult, > and ultimately it's just a litany of anecdotes. > > Peace, > > -- > Doug Yanega Dept. of Entomology Entomology Research Museum > Univ. of California, Riverside, CA 92521-0314 phone: 951-827-4315 > FaceBook: Doug Yanega (disclaimer: opinions are mine, not UCR's) > https://faculty.ucr.edu/~heraty/yanega.html > "There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness > is the true method" - Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chap. 82 > > _______________________________________________ > Nhcoll-l mailing list > Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu > https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l > > _______________________________________________ > NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of > Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose > mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of > natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to > society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. > Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. > > _______________________________________________ > Nhcoll-l mailing list > Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu > https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l > > _______________________________________________ > NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of > Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose > mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of > natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to > society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. > Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. > > -- Gali Beiner (ACR) Conservator, Palaeontology Lab National Natural History Collections The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Berman Building, Edmond J. Safra campus, Givat Ram Jerusalem 91904, Israel Fax. 972-2-6585785 *gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il * *https://nnhc.huji.ac.il/?lang=en * -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From rw at protectheritage.com Sun Apr 12 10:48:41 2026 From: rw at protectheritage.com (Robert Waller) Date: Sun, 12 Apr 2026 14:48:41 +0000 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Desktop thermal printers? In-Reply-To: References: <69D73D74020000B3000E1580@gwia0.itz.uni-halle.de> <9be072e8-2c72-4e94-a755-bf387ea19307@gmail.com> Message-ID: Hi Gali, You will want to connect with the SPNHC Conservation Committee via the Chair Fran Ritchie. If a task group would be the way to go then Fran would be the one to help get that set up. Connecting with IPI would seem to be a good idea. Jennifer Jae Gutierrez would probably be the best first contact. Both Fran's and Jennifer's emails are available on the SPNHC or IPI websites. Good luck, Rob ________________________________ From: Gali Beiner Sent: Sunday, April 12, 2026 2:06 AM To: Robert Waller Cc: NHCOLL-new Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] Desktop thermal printers? Hi Rob and all, I'm not familiar with task groups in SPNHC, so somebody who already works with one will have to explain to me how that works, but generally speaking - the main problem here is formulating the right kind of question to answer in a scientific research. In fact, it crosses my mind that if anybody here has a contact within the Image Permanence Institute, I'd be happy to get in touch (IPI, according to its own vision, is "dedicated to supporting the preservation of cultural heritage collections in libraries, archives, and museums around the world"). Possibly the study question should be about finding the most permanent printer-ink-substrate combo (for ethanol?) in each category (laser, inkjet, thermal transfer), and then comparing categories. This would involve thinking about the best ways to test permanence for labels in fluids - for example, in my own published paper I presented a form of accelerated aging as a testing method. What would be the best way for testing, other than waiting 50-100 years? Maybe discussing this with people at the Image Permanence Institute could help. Gali On Fri, Apr 10, 2026 at 5:18?PM Robert Waller > wrote: Hi Gali, Your suggestion "to understand the "recipe" as much as possible" seems a very good idea. If you or someone else decides to initiate a task group within SPNHC to take that on, I suggest you reach out to archives and paper conservators through their discussion groups as they may already have useful information available. Perhaps the subject could be suggested as a good research project for a conservation student. That is, a compilation of information combined with some experimentation for validation. Rob ________________________________ From: Nhcoll-l > on behalf of Gali Beiner > Sent: Thursday, April 09, 2026 4:17 PM To: Ian Engelbrecht > Cc: NHCOLL-new > Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] Desktop thermal printers? Redesigning is already happening: new tech pops in, for example the thermal transfer printers are new compared to inkjets, and new substrates are also being developed. One way to deal with inevitable change is to understand the "recipe" as much as possible and seek out the "cleaner" products - as in the case of "OBA free, acid free, lignin free" etc paper or understanding which types of toners are likely to be more permanent. Understanding the technology as much as possible and testing what we can may help narrow down choices and set clearer standards. The other way is to remain out of it and use handwritten labels, but it seems that all of us regard this option mostly as a ship that has sailed: too hard to get the workforce to do it. Gali [https://docs.google.com/a/mail.huji.ac.il/uc?id=0B5B3I3QnN7dsSzNkbGlLNDNGWG8&export=download]Gali Beiner (ACR) Conservator, Palaeontology Lab National Natural History Collections The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Berman Building, Edmond J. Safra campus, Givat Ram Jerusalem 91904, Israel Fax. 972-2-6585785 gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il https://nnhc.huji.ac.il/?lang=en ?????? ??? ??, 9 ????? 2026, 21:49, ??? Ian Engelbrecht ?>: Plus the fact that things change over time. HP printer - toner - paper combination might work now, but will it still 30 years from now when they?ve redesigned one or three of those components? Ian On Thu, 09 Apr 2026 at 18:20, Gali Beiner > wrote: Doug is pointing out the heart of the problem - the variety of printing combinations which makes comparisons difficult. In fact, the variations in the way printer-ink-subsrate (paper or other) combinations work is the main reason why manufacturers recommend using their own brand for all three parts of the combo. In other words, the manufacturers say HP printers are supposed to yield better, more permanent results with original HP toners and HP specialized paper. The same goes for Canon, Epson or any other brand. Testing according to conservation parameters can work with that - or at least look very carefully into what, exactly is chosen for use (eg paper - OBA free, lignin free etc etc). The way things stand now - with endless possible variations and combinations - basically means it is up to us to try and set the criteria of choice and monitor whether that works. Not easy, but possibly we can try. Gali [https://docs.google.com/a/mail.huji.ac.il/uc?id=0B5B3I3QnN7dsSzNkbGlLNDNGWG8&export=download]Gali Beiner (ACR) Conservator, Palaeontology Lab National Natural History Collections The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Berman Building, Edmond J. Safra campus, Givat Ram Jerusalem 91904, Israel Fax. 972-2-6585785 gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il https://nnhc.huji.ac.il/?lang=en ?????? ??? ??, 9 ????? 2026, 18:46, ??? Douglas Yanega ?>: On 4/8/26 11:38 PM, Gali Beiner wrote: Other than that, I think that maybe we could use this forum to up the level of testing a bit - after all we have a pool of collection professionals here, all with the same problem to solve re:labels for wet collections (mainly alcohol but also other). Why shouldn't we gather ourselves into a group of say 5 to 10 people in different collections and agree on some sort of protocol for different labels in each collection (or maybe sets of different labels to be tested in all collections, we could consider the details) - and have this followed both in the short and long terms? That would be more interesting than any individual test. Dear readers in this forum, how does this sound to you? Compilation of different people's experiences have been done here and elsewhere with some regularity, and one thing that is a universal impediment to generating a coherent picture is the variability of the medium that is being printed on. Comparisons of different printers are nearly meaningless if the "tests" are on different paper stock. The most dramatic example I can offer is one from personal experience: back in 1990, we obtained a Laserjet, a fairly new technology at that time, and printed thousands of labels for both dry and ethanol specimens. The first several months everything worked flawlessly, and to this day, almost 40 years on, those original labels are perfectly fine, even the ones stored in ethanol. Then one day we ran out of the existing stock of paper, bought a new ream, and loaded it into the printer without changing anything else. The lettering on those labels chipped, flaked, and rubbed off the dry labels, and when we tried to put them into ethanol, the letters floated off. No alteration of settings was involved, and nothing we did made the labels viable. That is, until we checked the packaging on the original ream; we found it was not the exact same thing that we had switched to, so we bought something IDENTICAL, and the resulting labels were just fine again. The problem had literally nothing to do with the printer, and everything to do with the paper. Again, any "test" that does not control for the medium will not be a fair and objective test of the merits of a printer. We presently use an HP Laser printer, and yes, we have had to try different types of paper to find paper stocks that work well with this printer. Not all do. Even worse, when we use "replacement" toner cartridges (not the official HP brand), sometimes but not always, the printing is slightly flaky and easily abraded. That means there are at least THREE parameters that need to be controlled: the printer, the medium, and the toner. Variation in any one of those three can lead to variation in the quality of the results. This makes objective assessment and testing very difficult, and ultimately it's just a litany of anecdotes. Peace, -- Doug Yanega Dept. of Entomology Entomology Research Museum Univ. of California, Riverside, CA 92521-0314 phone: 951-827-4315 FaceBook: Doug Yanega (disclaimer: opinions are mine, not UCR's) https://faculty.ucr.edu/~heraty/yanega.html "There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness is the true method" - Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chap. 82 _______________________________________________ Nhcoll-l mailing list Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l _______________________________________________ NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. _______________________________________________ Nhcoll-l mailing list Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l _______________________________________________ NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. -- [https://docs.google.com/a/mail.huji.ac.il/uc?id=0B5B3I3QnN7dsSzNkbGlLNDNGWG8&export=download]Gali Beiner (ACR) Conservator, Palaeontology Lab National Natural History Collections The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Berman Building, Edmond J. Safra campus, Givat Ram Jerusalem 91904, Israel Fax. 972-2-6585785 gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il https://nnhc.huji.ac.il/?lang=en -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il Mon Apr 13 02:35:20 2026 From: gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il (Gali Beiner) Date: Mon, 13 Apr 2026 09:35:20 +0300 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Desktop thermal printers? In-Reply-To: References: <69D73D74020000B3000E1580@gwia0.itz.uni-halle.de> <9be072e8-2c72-4e94-a755-bf387ea19307@gmail.com> Message-ID: Thanks, Rob! If anyone would like to contribute their thoughts on what the appropriate research question(s) should be re:printed labels for fluid collections, or any other related issue, please let me know off-list. Cheers, Gali On Sun, Apr 12, 2026 at 5:48?PM Robert Waller wrote: > Hi Gali, > You will want to connect with the SPNHC Conservation Committee via the > Chair Fran Ritchie. > If a task group would be the way to go then Fran would be the one to help > get that set up. > Connecting with IPI would seem to be a good idea. Jennifer Jae Gutierrez > would probably be the best first contact. Both Fran's and Jennifer's emails > are available on the SPNHC or IPI websites. > Good luck, > Rob > > > ------------------------------ > *From:* Gali Beiner > *Sent:* Sunday, April 12, 2026 2:06 AM > *To:* Robert Waller > *Cc:* NHCOLL-new > *Subject:* Re: [Nhcoll-l] Desktop thermal printers? > > Hi Rob and all, > > I'm not familiar with task groups in SPNHC, so somebody who already works > with one will have to explain to me how that works, but generally speaking > - the main problem here is formulating the right kind of question to answer > in a scientific research. In fact, it crosses my mind that if anybody here > has a contact within the Image Permanence Institute, I'd be happy to get in > touch (IPI, according to its own vision, is "dedicated to supporting the > preservation of cultural heritage collections in libraries, archives, and > museums around the world"). > > Possibly the study question should be about finding the most permanent > printer-ink-substrate combo (for ethanol?) in each category (laser, inkjet, > thermal transfer), and then comparing categories. This would involve > thinking about *the best ways to test permanence for labels in fluids* - > for example, in my own published paper I presented a form of accelerated > aging as a testing method. What would be the best way for testing, other > than waiting 50-100 years? Maybe discussing this with people at the Image > Permanence Institute could help. > > Gali > > > > On Fri, Apr 10, 2026 at 5:18?PM Robert Waller > wrote: > > Hi Gali, > Your suggestion "to understand the "recipe" as much as possible" seems a > very good idea. > If you or someone else decides to initiate a task group within SPNHC to > take that on, I suggest you reach out to archives and paper conservators > through their discussion groups as they may already have useful information > available. Perhaps the subject could be suggested as a good research > project for a conservation student. That is, a compilation of information > combined with some experimentation for validation. > Rob > > ------------------------------ > *From:* Nhcoll-l on behalf of Gali > Beiner > *Sent:* Thursday, April 09, 2026 4:17 PM > *To:* Ian Engelbrecht > *Cc:* NHCOLL-new > *Subject:* Re: [Nhcoll-l] Desktop thermal printers? > > Redesigning is already happening: new tech pops in, for example the > thermal transfer printers are new compared to inkjets, and new substrates > are also being developed. > > One way to deal with inevitable change is to understand the "recipe" as > much as possible and seek out the "cleaner" products - as in the case of > "OBA free, acid free, lignin free" etc paper or understanding which types > of toners are likely to be more permanent. Understanding the technology as > much as possible and testing what we can may help narrow down choices and > set clearer standards. The other way is to remain out of it and use > handwritten labels, but it seems that all of us regard this option mostly > as a ship that has sailed: too hard to get the workforce to do it. > > Gali > > Gali Beiner (ACR) > Conservator, Palaeontology Lab > National Natural History Collections > The Hebrew University of Jerusalem > Berman Building, Edmond J. Safra campus, Givat Ram > Jerusalem 91904, Israel > Fax. 972-2-6585785 > *gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il* > *https://nnhc.huji.ac.il/?lang=en* > > ?????? ??? ??, 9 ????? 2026, 21:49, ??? Ian Engelbrecht ?< > ianicus.za at gmail.com>: > > Plus the fact that things change over time. HP printer - toner - paper > combination might work now, but will it still 30 years from now when > they?ve redesigned one or three of those components? > > Ian > > On Thu, 09 Apr 2026 at 18:20, Gali Beiner > wrote: > > Doug is pointing out the heart of the problem - the variety of printing > combinations which makes comparisons difficult. > > In fact, the variations in the way printer-ink-subsrate (paper or other) > combinations work is the main reason why manufacturers recommend using > their own brand for all three parts of the combo. In other words, the > manufacturers say HP printers are supposed to yield better, more permanent > results with original HP toners and HP specialized paper. The same goes for > Canon, Epson or any other brand. Testing according to conservation > parameters can work with that - or at least look very carefully into what, > exactly is chosen for use (eg paper - OBA free, lignin free etc etc). > > The way things stand now - with endless possible variations and > combinations - basically means it is up to us to try and set the criteria > of choice and monitor whether that works. Not easy, but possibly we can > try. > > Gali > > > > Gali Beiner (ACR) > Conservator, Palaeontology Lab > National Natural History Collections > The Hebrew University of Jerusalem > Berman Building, Edmond J. Safra campus, Givat Ram > Jerusalem 91904, Israel > Fax. 972-2-6585785 > *gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il* > *https://nnhc.huji.ac.il/?lang=en* > > ?????? ??? ??, 9 ????? 2026, 18:46, ??? Douglas Yanega ? >: > > On 4/8/26 11:38 PM, Gali Beiner wrote: > > Other than that, I think that maybe we could use this forum to up the > level of testing a bit - after all we have a pool of collection > professionals here, all with the same problem to solve re:labels for wet > collections (mainly alcohol but also other). Why shouldn't we gather > ourselves into a group of say 5 to 10 people in different collections and > agree on some sort of protocol for different labels in each collection (or > maybe sets of different labels to be tested in all collections, we could > consider the details) - and have this followed both in the short and long > terms? That would be more interesting than any individual test. Dear > readers in this forum, how does this sound to you? > > Compilation of different people's experiences have been done here and > elsewhere with some regularity, and one thing that is a universal > impediment to generating a coherent picture is the variability of the > medium that is being printed on. Comparisons of different printers are > nearly meaningless if the "tests" are on different paper stock. > > The most dramatic example I can offer is one from personal experience: > back in 1990, we obtained a Laserjet, a fairly new technology at that time, > and printed thousands of labels for both dry and ethanol specimens. The > first several months everything worked flawlessly, and to this day, almost > 40 years on, those original labels are perfectly fine, even the ones stored > in ethanol. Then one day we ran out of the existing stock of paper, bought > a new ream, and loaded it into the printer without changing anything else. > The lettering on those labels chipped, flaked, and rubbed off the dry > labels, and when we tried to put them into ethanol, the letters floated > off. No alteration of settings was involved, and nothing we did made the > labels viable. That is, until we checked the packaging on the original > ream; we found it was not the exact same thing that we had switched to, so > we bought something IDENTICAL, and the resulting labels were just fine > again. The problem had literally nothing to do with the printer, and > everything to do with the paper. > > Again, any "test" that does not control for the medium will not be a fair > and objective test of the merits of a printer. > > We presently use an HP Laser printer, and yes, we have had to try > different types of paper to find paper stocks that work well with this > printer. Not all do. Even worse, when we use "replacement" toner cartridges > (not the official HP brand), sometimes *but not always*, the printing is > slightly flaky and easily abraded. That means there are at least THREE > parameters that need to be controlled: the printer, the medium, and the > toner. Variation in any one of those three can lead to variation in the > quality of the results. This makes objective assessment and testing *very* difficult, > and ultimately it's just a litany of anecdotes. > > Peace, > > -- > Doug Yanega Dept. of Entomology Entomology Research Museum > Univ. of California, Riverside, CA 92521-0314 phone: 951-827-4315 > FaceBook: Doug Yanega (disclaimer: opinions are mine, not UCR's) > https://faculty.ucr.edu/~heraty/yanega.html > "There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness > is the true method" - Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chap. 82 > > _______________________________________________ > Nhcoll-l mailing list > Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu > https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l > > _______________________________________________ > NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of > Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose > mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of > natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to > society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. > Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. > > _______________________________________________ > Nhcoll-l mailing list > Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu > https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l > > _______________________________________________ > NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of > Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose > mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of > natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to > society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. > Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. > > > > -- > Gali Beiner (ACR) > Conservator, Palaeontology Lab > National Natural History Collections > The Hebrew University of Jerusalem > Berman Building, Edmond J. Safra campus, Givat Ram > Jerusalem 91904, Israel > Fax. 972-2-6585785 > *gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il* > *https://nnhc.huji.ac.il/?lang=en* > -- Gali Beiner (ACR) Conservator, Palaeontology Lab National Natural History Collections The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Berman Building, Edmond J. Safra campus, Givat Ram Jerusalem 91904, Israel Fax. 972-2-6585785 *gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il * *https://nnhc.huji.ac.il/?lang=en * -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From abentley at ku.edu Mon Apr 13 10:44:32 2026 From: abentley at ku.edu (Bentley, Andrew Charles) Date: Mon, 13 Apr 2026 14:44:32 +0000 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Desktop thermal printers? In-Reply-To: References: <69D73D74020000B3000E1580@gwia0.itz.uni-halle.de> <9be072e8-2c72-4e94-a755-bf387ea19307@gmail.com> Message-ID: Hi all I think the rub (pun intended) with accelerated aging tests is that they can over-express real-world scenarios. A thermal transfer printer label (or any label for that matter) inserted into a glass jar, is going to be subject to limited abrasion and, as such, any accelerated aging test that uses physical abrasion as its main mechanism of aging is not going to be an accurate representation of real word effects in my opinion. Maybe placing a jar of alcohol with specimen and label in the equivalent of a rock tumbler would more closely approximate a real-world scenario. Andy A : A : A : }<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<)))_?> V V V 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 ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3093-1258 http://ichthyology.biodiversity.ku.edu A : A : A : }<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<)))_?> V V V ________________________________ From: Nhcoll-l on behalf of Gali Beiner Sent: Sunday, April 12, 2026 1:06 AM To: Robert Waller Cc: NHCOLL-new Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] Desktop thermal printers? Hi Rob and all, I'm not familiar with task groups in SPNHC, so somebody who already works with one will have to explain to me how that works, but generally speaking - the main problem here is formulating the right kind of question to answer in a scientific research. In fact, it crosses my mind that if anybody here has a contact within the Image Permanence Institute, I'd be happy to get in touch (IPI, according to its own vision, is "dedicated to supporting the preservation of cultural heritage collections in libraries, archives, and museums around the world"). Possibly the study question should be about finding the most permanent printer-ink-substrate combo (for ethanol?) in each category (laser, inkjet, thermal transfer), and then comparing categories. This would involve thinking about the best ways to test permanence for labels in fluids - for example, in my own published paper I presented a form of accelerated aging as a testing method. What would be the best way for testing, other than waiting 50-100 years? Maybe discussing this with people at the Image Permanence Institute could help. Gali On Fri, Apr 10, 2026 at 5:18?PM Robert Waller > wrote: Hi Gali, Your suggestion "to understand the "recipe" as much as possible" seems a very good idea. If you or someone else decides to initiate a task group within SPNHC to take that on, I suggest you reach out to archives and paper conservators through their discussion groups as they may already have useful information available. Perhaps the subject could be suggested as a good research project for a conservation student. That is, a compilation of information combined with some experimentation for validation. Rob ________________________________ From: Nhcoll-l > on behalf of Gali Beiner > Sent: Thursday, April 09, 2026 4:17 PM To: Ian Engelbrecht > Cc: NHCOLL-new > Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] Desktop thermal printers? Redesigning is already happening: new tech pops in, for example the thermal transfer printers are new compared to inkjets, and new substrates are also being developed. One way to deal with inevitable change is to understand the "recipe" as much as possible and seek out the "cleaner" products - as in the case of "OBA free, acid free, lignin free" etc paper or understanding which types of toners are likely to be more permanent. Understanding the technology as much as possible and testing what we can may help narrow down choices and set clearer standards. The other way is to remain out of it and use handwritten labels, but it seems that all of us regard this option mostly as a ship that has sailed: too hard to get the workforce to do it. Gali [https://docs.google.com/a/mail.huji.ac.il/uc?id=0B5B3I3QnN7dsSzNkbGlLNDNGWG8&export=download]Gali Beiner (ACR) Conservator, Palaeontology Lab National Natural History Collections The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Berman Building, Edmond J. Safra campus, Givat Ram Jerusalem 91904, Israel Fax. 972-2-6585785 gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il https://nnhc.huji.ac.il/?lang=en ?????? ??? ??, 9 ????? 2026, 21:49, ??? Ian Engelbrecht ?>: Plus the fact that things change over time. HP printer - toner - paper combination might work now, but will it still 30 years from now when they?ve redesigned one or three of those components? Ian On Thu, 09 Apr 2026 at 18:20, Gali Beiner > wrote: Doug is pointing out the heart of the problem - the variety of printing combinations which makes comparisons difficult. In fact, the variations in the way printer-ink-subsrate (paper or other) combinations work is the main reason why manufacturers recommend using their own brand for all three parts of the combo. In other words, the manufacturers say HP printers are supposed to yield better, more permanent results with original HP toners and HP specialized paper. The same goes for Canon, Epson or any other brand. Testing according to conservation parameters can work with that - or at least look very carefully into what, exactly is chosen for use (eg paper - OBA free, lignin free etc etc). The way things stand now - with endless possible variations and combinations - basically means it is up to us to try and set the criteria of choice and monitor whether that works. Not easy, but possibly we can try. Gali [https://docs.google.com/a/mail.huji.ac.il/uc?id=0B5B3I3QnN7dsSzNkbGlLNDNGWG8&export=download]Gali Beiner (ACR) Conservator, Palaeontology Lab National Natural History Collections The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Berman Building, Edmond J. Safra campus, Givat Ram Jerusalem 91904, Israel Fax. 972-2-6585785 gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il https://nnhc.huji.ac.il/?lang=en ?????? ??? ??, 9 ????? 2026, 18:46, ??? Douglas Yanega ?>: On 4/8/26 11:38 PM, Gali Beiner wrote: Other than that, I think that maybe we could use this forum to up the level of testing a bit - after all we have a pool of collection professionals here, all with the same problem to solve re:labels for wet collections (mainly alcohol but also other). Why shouldn't we gather ourselves into a group of say 5 to 10 people in different collections and agree on some sort of protocol for different labels in each collection (or maybe sets of different labels to be tested in all collections, we could consider the details) - and have this followed both in the short and long terms? That would be more interesting than any individual test. Dear readers in this forum, how does this sound to you? Compilation of different people's experiences have been done here and elsewhere with some regularity, and one thing that is a universal impediment to generating a coherent picture is the variability of the medium that is being printed on. Comparisons of different printers are nearly meaningless if the "tests" are on different paper stock. The most dramatic example I can offer is one from personal experience: back in 1990, we obtained a Laserjet, a fairly new technology at that time, and printed thousands of labels for both dry and ethanol specimens. The first several months everything worked flawlessly, and to this day, almost 40 years on, those original labels are perfectly fine, even the ones stored in ethanol. Then one day we ran out of the existing stock of paper, bought a new ream, and loaded it into the printer without changing anything else. The lettering on those labels chipped, flaked, and rubbed off the dry labels, and when we tried to put them into ethanol, the letters floated off. No alteration of settings was involved, and nothing we did made the labels viable. That is, until we checked the packaging on the original ream; we found it was not the exact same thing that we had switched to, so we bought something IDENTICAL, and the resulting labels were just fine again. The problem had literally nothing to do with the printer, and everything to do with the paper. Again, any "test" that does not control for the medium will not be a fair and objective test of the merits of a printer. We presently use an HP Laser printer, and yes, we have had to try different types of paper to find paper stocks that work well with this printer. Not all do. Even worse, when we use "replacement" toner cartridges (not the official HP brand), sometimes but not always, the printing is slightly flaky and easily abraded. That means there are at least THREE parameters that need to be controlled: the printer, the medium, and the toner. Variation in any one of those three can lead to variation in the quality of the results. This makes objective assessment and testing very difficult, and ultimately it's just a litany of anecdotes. Peace, -- Doug Yanega Dept. of Entomology Entomology Research Museum Univ. of California, Riverside, CA 92521-0314 phone: 951-827-4315 FaceBook: Doug Yanega (disclaimer: opinions are mine, not UCR's) https://faculty.ucr.edu/~heraty/yanega.html "There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness is the true method" - Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chap. 82 _______________________________________________ Nhcoll-l mailing list Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l _______________________________________________ NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. _______________________________________________ Nhcoll-l mailing list Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l _______________________________________________ NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. -- [https://docs.google.com/a/mail.huji.ac.il/uc?id=0B5B3I3QnN7dsSzNkbGlLNDNGWG8&export=download]Gali Beiner (ACR) Conservator, Palaeontology Lab National Natural History Collections The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Berman Building, Edmond J. Safra campus, Givat Ram Jerusalem 91904, Israel Fax. 972-2-6585785 gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il https://nnhc.huji.ac.il/?lang=en -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From abentley at ku.edu Mon Apr 13 11:22:28 2026 From: abentley at ku.edu (Bentley, Andrew Charles) Date: Mon, 13 Apr 2026 15:22:28 +0000 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Desktop thermal printers? In-Reply-To: References: <69D73D74020000B3000E1580@gwia0.itz.uni-halle.de> <9be072e8-2c72-4e94-a755-bf387ea19307@gmail.com> Message-ID: Hi Rob Yes, agreed on all fronts. Andy A : A : A : }<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<)))_?> V V V 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 ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3093-1258 http://ichthyology.biodiversity.ku.edu A : A : A : }<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<)))_?> V V V ________________________________ From: Robert Waller Sent: Monday, April 13, 2026 10:20 AM To: Bentley, Andrew Charles ; Gali Beiner Cc: NHCOLL-new Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] Desktop thermal printers? Hi Andy, You are right that accelerated aging tests can be misleading. I am not sure that is what would be wanted. Just having casually read the messages though, I thought that some guidance on specification of papers and inks might be useful. For example, where print simply floated off the paper when immersed, I might guess that could be a result of using a clay coated paper. That is just a guess as I do not have expertise in either printers or papers. It just seemed that we might clarify, even simplify, our understandings by communicating with the people who have expertise in that. IPI would seem a good place to start. Perhaps I should have explained that to start. Best, Rob ________________________________ From: Bentley, Andrew Charles Sent: Monday, April 13, 2026 10:44 AM To: Gali Beiner ; Robert Waller Cc: NHCOLL-new Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] Desktop thermal printers? Hi all I think the rub (pun intended) with accelerated aging tests is that they can over-express real-world scenarios. A thermal transfer printer label (or any label for that matter) inserted into a glass jar, is going to be subject to limited abrasion and, as such, any accelerated aging test that uses physical abrasion as its main mechanism of aging is not going to be an accurate representation of real word effects in my opinion. Maybe placing a jar of alcohol with specimen and label in the equivalent of a rock tumbler would more closely approximate a real-world scenario. Andy A : A : A : }<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<)))_?> V V V 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 ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3093-1258 http://ichthyology.biodiversity.ku.edu A : A : A : }<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<)))_?> V V V ________________________________ From: Nhcoll-l on behalf of Gali Beiner Sent: Sunday, April 12, 2026 1:06 AM To: Robert Waller Cc: NHCOLL-new Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] Desktop thermal printers? Hi Rob and all, I'm not familiar with task groups in SPNHC, so somebody who already works with one will have to explain to me how that works, but generally speaking - the main problem here is formulating the right kind of question to answer in a scientific research. In fact, it crosses my mind that if anybody here has a contact within the Image Permanence Institute, I'd be happy to get in touch (IPI, according to its own vision, is "dedicated to supporting the preservation of cultural heritage collections in libraries, archives, and museums around the world"). Possibly the study question should be about finding the most permanent printer-ink-substrate combo (for ethanol?) in each category (laser, inkjet, thermal transfer), and then comparing categories. This would involve thinking about the best ways to test permanence for labels in fluids - for example, in my own published paper I presented a form of accelerated aging as a testing method. What would be the best way for testing, other than waiting 50-100 years? Maybe discussing this with people at the Image Permanence Institute could help. Gali On Fri, Apr 10, 2026 at 5:18?PM Robert Waller > wrote: Hi Gali, Your suggestion "to understand the "recipe" as much as possible" seems a very good idea. If you or someone else decides to initiate a task group within SPNHC to take that on, I suggest you reach out to archives and paper conservators through their discussion groups as they may already have useful information available. Perhaps the subject could be suggested as a good research project for a conservation student. That is, a compilation of information combined with some experimentation for validation. Rob ________________________________ From: Nhcoll-l > on behalf of Gali Beiner > Sent: Thursday, April 09, 2026 4:17 PM To: Ian Engelbrecht > Cc: NHCOLL-new > Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] Desktop thermal printers? Redesigning is already happening: new tech pops in, for example the thermal transfer printers are new compared to inkjets, and new substrates are also being developed. One way to deal with inevitable change is to understand the "recipe" as much as possible and seek out the "cleaner" products - as in the case of "OBA free, acid free, lignin free" etc paper or understanding which types of toners are likely to be more permanent. Understanding the technology as much as possible and testing what we can may help narrow down choices and set clearer standards. The other way is to remain out of it and use handwritten labels, but it seems that all of us regard this option mostly as a ship that has sailed: too hard to get the workforce to do it. Gali [https://docs.google.com/a/mail.huji.ac.il/uc?id=0B5B3I3QnN7dsSzNkbGlLNDNGWG8&export=download]Gali Beiner (ACR) Conservator, Palaeontology Lab National Natural History Collections The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Berman Building, Edmond J. Safra campus, Givat Ram Jerusalem 91904, Israel Fax. 972-2-6585785 gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il https://nnhc.huji.ac.il/?lang=en ?????? ??? ??, 9 ????? 2026, 21:49, ??? Ian Engelbrecht ?>: Plus the fact that things change over time. HP printer - toner - paper combination might work now, but will it still 30 years from now when they?ve redesigned one or three of those components? Ian On Thu, 09 Apr 2026 at 18:20, Gali Beiner > wrote: Doug is pointing out the heart of the problem - the variety of printing combinations which makes comparisons difficult. In fact, the variations in the way printer-ink-subsrate (paper or other) combinations work is the main reason why manufacturers recommend using their own brand for all three parts of the combo. In other words, the manufacturers say HP printers are supposed to yield better, more permanent results with original HP toners and HP specialized paper. The same goes for Canon, Epson or any other brand. Testing according to conservation parameters can work with that - or at least look very carefully into what, exactly is chosen for use (eg paper - OBA free, lignin free etc etc). The way things stand now - with endless possible variations and combinations - basically means it is up to us to try and set the criteria of choice and monitor whether that works. Not easy, but possibly we can try. Gali [https://docs.google.com/a/mail.huji.ac.il/uc?id=0B5B3I3QnN7dsSzNkbGlLNDNGWG8&export=download]Gali Beiner (ACR) Conservator, Palaeontology Lab National Natural History Collections The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Berman Building, Edmond J. Safra campus, Givat Ram Jerusalem 91904, Israel Fax. 972-2-6585785 gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il https://nnhc.huji.ac.il/?lang=en ?????? ??? ??, 9 ????? 2026, 18:46, ??? Douglas Yanega ?>: On 4/8/26 11:38 PM, Gali Beiner wrote: Other than that, I think that maybe we could use this forum to up the level of testing a bit - after all we have a pool of collection professionals here, all with the same problem to solve re:labels for wet collections (mainly alcohol but also other). Why shouldn't we gather ourselves into a group of say 5 to 10 people in different collections and agree on some sort of protocol for different labels in each collection (or maybe sets of different labels to be tested in all collections, we could consider the details) - and have this followed both in the short and long terms? That would be more interesting than any individual test. Dear readers in this forum, how does this sound to you? Compilation of different people's experiences have been done here and elsewhere with some regularity, and one thing that is a universal impediment to generating a coherent picture is the variability of the medium that is being printed on. Comparisons of different printers are nearly meaningless if the "tests" are on different paper stock. The most dramatic example I can offer is one from personal experience: back in 1990, we obtained a Laserjet, a fairly new technology at that time, and printed thousands of labels for both dry and ethanol specimens. The first several months everything worked flawlessly, and to this day, almost 40 years on, those original labels are perfectly fine, even the ones stored in ethanol. Then one day we ran out of the existing stock of paper, bought a new ream, and loaded it into the printer without changing anything else. The lettering on those labels chipped, flaked, and rubbed off the dry labels, and when we tried to put them into ethanol, the letters floated off. No alteration of settings was involved, and nothing we did made the labels viable. That is, until we checked the packaging on the original ream; we found it was not the exact same thing that we had switched to, so we bought something IDENTICAL, and the resulting labels were just fine again. The problem had literally nothing to do with the printer, and everything to do with the paper. Again, any "test" that does not control for the medium will not be a fair and objective test of the merits of a printer. We presently use an HP Laser printer, and yes, we have had to try different types of paper to find paper stocks that work well with this printer. Not all do. Even worse, when we use "replacement" toner cartridges (not the official HP brand), sometimes but not always, the printing is slightly flaky and easily abraded. That means there are at least THREE parameters that need to be controlled: the printer, the medium, and the toner. Variation in any one of those three can lead to variation in the quality of the results. This makes objective assessment and testing very difficult, and ultimately it's just a litany of anecdotes. Peace, -- Doug Yanega Dept. of Entomology Entomology Research Museum Univ. of California, Riverside, CA 92521-0314 phone: 951-827-4315 FaceBook: Doug Yanega (disclaimer: opinions are mine, not UCR's) https://faculty.ucr.edu/~heraty/yanega.html "There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness is the true method" - Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chap. 82 _______________________________________________ Nhcoll-l mailing list Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l _______________________________________________ NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. _______________________________________________ Nhcoll-l mailing list Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l _______________________________________________ NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. -- [https://docs.google.com/a/mail.huji.ac.il/uc?id=0B5B3I3QnN7dsSzNkbGlLNDNGWG8&export=download]Gali Beiner (ACR) Conservator, Palaeontology Lab National Natural History Collections The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Berman Building, Edmond J. Safra campus, Givat Ram Jerusalem 91904, Israel Fax. 972-2-6585785 gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il https://nnhc.huji.ac.il/?lang=en -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From rw at protectheritage.com Mon Apr 13 11:20:03 2026 From: rw at protectheritage.com (Robert Waller) Date: Mon, 13 Apr 2026 15:20:03 +0000 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Desktop thermal printers? In-Reply-To: References: <69D73D74020000B3000E1580@gwia0.itz.uni-halle.de> <9be072e8-2c72-4e94-a755-bf387ea19307@gmail.com> Message-ID: Hi Andy, You are right that accelerated aging tests can be misleading. I am not sure that is what would be wanted. Just having casually read the messages though, I thought that some guidance on specification of papers and inks might be useful. For example, where print simply floated off the paper when immersed, I might guess that could be a result of using a clay coated paper. That is just a guess as I do not have expertise in either printers or papers. It just seemed that we might clarify, even simplify, our understandings by communicating with the people who have expertise in that. IPI would seem a good place to start. Perhaps I should have explained that to start. Best, Rob ________________________________ From: Bentley, Andrew Charles Sent: Monday, April 13, 2026 10:44 AM To: Gali Beiner ; Robert Waller Cc: NHCOLL-new Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] Desktop thermal printers? Hi all I think the rub (pun intended) with accelerated aging tests is that they can over-express real-world scenarios. A thermal transfer printer label (or any label for that matter) inserted into a glass jar, is going to be subject to limited abrasion and, as such, any accelerated aging test that uses physical abrasion as its main mechanism of aging is not going to be an accurate representation of real word effects in my opinion. Maybe placing a jar of alcohol with specimen and label in the equivalent of a rock tumbler would more closely approximate a real-world scenario. Andy A : A : A : }<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<)))_?> V V V 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 ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3093-1258 http://ichthyology.biodiversity.ku.edu A : A : A : }<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<)))_?> V V V ________________________________ From: Nhcoll-l on behalf of Gali Beiner Sent: Sunday, April 12, 2026 1:06 AM To: Robert Waller Cc: NHCOLL-new Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] Desktop thermal printers? Hi Rob and all, I'm not familiar with task groups in SPNHC, so somebody who already works with one will have to explain to me how that works, but generally speaking - the main problem here is formulating the right kind of question to answer in a scientific research. In fact, it crosses my mind that if anybody here has a contact within the Image Permanence Institute, I'd be happy to get in touch (IPI, according to its own vision, is "dedicated to supporting the preservation of cultural heritage collections in libraries, archives, and museums around the world"). Possibly the study question should be about finding the most permanent printer-ink-substrate combo (for ethanol?) in each category (laser, inkjet, thermal transfer), and then comparing categories. This would involve thinking about the best ways to test permanence for labels in fluids - for example, in my own published paper I presented a form of accelerated aging as a testing method. What would be the best way for testing, other than waiting 50-100 years? Maybe discussing this with people at the Image Permanence Institute could help. Gali On Fri, Apr 10, 2026 at 5:18?PM Robert Waller > wrote: Hi Gali, Your suggestion "to understand the "recipe" as much as possible" seems a very good idea. If you or someone else decides to initiate a task group within SPNHC to take that on, I suggest you reach out to archives and paper conservators through their discussion groups as they may already have useful information available. Perhaps the subject could be suggested as a good research project for a conservation student. That is, a compilation of information combined with some experimentation for validation. Rob ________________________________ From: Nhcoll-l > on behalf of Gali Beiner > Sent: Thursday, April 09, 2026 4:17 PM To: Ian Engelbrecht > Cc: NHCOLL-new > Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] Desktop thermal printers? Redesigning is already happening: new tech pops in, for example the thermal transfer printers are new compared to inkjets, and new substrates are also being developed. One way to deal with inevitable change is to understand the "recipe" as much as possible and seek out the "cleaner" products - as in the case of "OBA free, acid free, lignin free" etc paper or understanding which types of toners are likely to be more permanent. Understanding the technology as much as possible and testing what we can may help narrow down choices and set clearer standards. The other way is to remain out of it and use handwritten labels, but it seems that all of us regard this option mostly as a ship that has sailed: too hard to get the workforce to do it. Gali [https://docs.google.com/a/mail.huji.ac.il/uc?id=0B5B3I3QnN7dsSzNkbGlLNDNGWG8&export=download]Gali Beiner (ACR) Conservator, Palaeontology Lab National Natural History Collections The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Berman Building, Edmond J. Safra campus, Givat Ram Jerusalem 91904, Israel Fax. 972-2-6585785 gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il https://nnhc.huji.ac.il/?lang=en ?????? ??? ??, 9 ????? 2026, 21:49, ??? Ian Engelbrecht ?>: Plus the fact that things change over time. HP printer - toner - paper combination might work now, but will it still 30 years from now when they?ve redesigned one or three of those components? Ian On Thu, 09 Apr 2026 at 18:20, Gali Beiner > wrote: Doug is pointing out the heart of the problem - the variety of printing combinations which makes comparisons difficult. In fact, the variations in the way printer-ink-subsrate (paper or other) combinations work is the main reason why manufacturers recommend using their own brand for all three parts of the combo. In other words, the manufacturers say HP printers are supposed to yield better, more permanent results with original HP toners and HP specialized paper. The same goes for Canon, Epson or any other brand. Testing according to conservation parameters can work with that - or at least look very carefully into what, exactly is chosen for use (eg paper - OBA free, lignin free etc etc). The way things stand now - with endless possible variations and combinations - basically means it is up to us to try and set the criteria of choice and monitor whether that works. Not easy, but possibly we can try. Gali [https://docs.google.com/a/mail.huji.ac.il/uc?id=0B5B3I3QnN7dsSzNkbGlLNDNGWG8&export=download]Gali Beiner (ACR) Conservator, Palaeontology Lab National Natural History Collections The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Berman Building, Edmond J. Safra campus, Givat Ram Jerusalem 91904, Israel Fax. 972-2-6585785 gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il https://nnhc.huji.ac.il/?lang=en ?????? ??? ??, 9 ????? 2026, 18:46, ??? Douglas Yanega ?>: On 4/8/26 11:38 PM, Gali Beiner wrote: Other than that, I think that maybe we could use this forum to up the level of testing a bit - after all we have a pool of collection professionals here, all with the same problem to solve re:labels for wet collections (mainly alcohol but also other). Why shouldn't we gather ourselves into a group of say 5 to 10 people in different collections and agree on some sort of protocol for different labels in each collection (or maybe sets of different labels to be tested in all collections, we could consider the details) - and have this followed both in the short and long terms? That would be more interesting than any individual test. Dear readers in this forum, how does this sound to you? Compilation of different people's experiences have been done here and elsewhere with some regularity, and one thing that is a universal impediment to generating a coherent picture is the variability of the medium that is being printed on. Comparisons of different printers are nearly meaningless if the "tests" are on different paper stock. The most dramatic example I can offer is one from personal experience: back in 1990, we obtained a Laserjet, a fairly new technology at that time, and printed thousands of labels for both dry and ethanol specimens. The first several months everything worked flawlessly, and to this day, almost 40 years on, those original labels are perfectly fine, even the ones stored in ethanol. Then one day we ran out of the existing stock of paper, bought a new ream, and loaded it into the printer without changing anything else. The lettering on those labels chipped, flaked, and rubbed off the dry labels, and when we tried to put them into ethanol, the letters floated off. No alteration of settings was involved, and nothing we did made the labels viable. That is, until we checked the packaging on the original ream; we found it was not the exact same thing that we had switched to, so we bought something IDENTICAL, and the resulting labels were just fine again. The problem had literally nothing to do with the printer, and everything to do with the paper. Again, any "test" that does not control for the medium will not be a fair and objective test of the merits of a printer. We presently use an HP Laser printer, and yes, we have had to try different types of paper to find paper stocks that work well with this printer. Not all do. Even worse, when we use "replacement" toner cartridges (not the official HP brand), sometimes but not always, the printing is slightly flaky and easily abraded. That means there are at least THREE parameters that need to be controlled: the printer, the medium, and the toner. Variation in any one of those three can lead to variation in the quality of the results. This makes objective assessment and testing very difficult, and ultimately it's just a litany of anecdotes. Peace, -- Doug Yanega Dept. of Entomology Entomology Research Museum Univ. of California, Riverside, CA 92521-0314 phone: 951-827-4315 FaceBook: Doug Yanega (disclaimer: opinions are mine, not UCR's) https://faculty.ucr.edu/~heraty/yanega.html "There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness is the true method" - Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chap. 82 _______________________________________________ Nhcoll-l mailing list Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l _______________________________________________ NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. _______________________________________________ Nhcoll-l mailing list Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l _______________________________________________ NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. -- [https://docs.google.com/a/mail.huji.ac.il/uc?id=0B5B3I3QnN7dsSzNkbGlLNDNGWG8&export=download]Gali Beiner (ACR) Conservator, Palaeontology Lab National Natural History Collections The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Berman Building, Edmond J. Safra campus, Givat Ram Jerusalem 91904, Israel Fax. 972-2-6585785 gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il https://nnhc.huji.ac.il/?lang=en -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From gnelson at floridamuseum.ufl.edu Mon Apr 13 14:45:40 2026 From: gnelson at floridamuseum.ufl.edu (Nelson,Gil) Date: Mon, 13 Apr 2026 18:45:40 +0000 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] iDigBio Webinar Tomorrow 14 April 2026, 3-5 p.m. ET Message-ID: iDigBio is pleased to announce this week?s edition of our Sustaining Collections Digitization webinar series, highlighting new advances and emerging opportunities in 3D digitization for biodiversity collections. As 3D modeling technologies continue to evolve, these approaches are opening new possibilities for how collections are documented, analyzed, and shared. Register here: https://www.idigbio.org/content/webinar-series-importance-sustaining-biodiversity-specimen-collections-digitization-absence For past recordings and upcoming events, visit the series Wiki page: https://www.idigbio.org/wiki/index.php/Sustaining_Collections_Digitization_Beyond_NSF_Funding:_A_Webinar_Series April 14, 2026: New advances and opportunities in 3D Digitization in the field and in the collection (3:00-5:00pm ET) Speakers: Genevieve Rios (Yale Peabody Museum) Duncan Irschick (University of Massachusetts - Amherst) Alex Adkinson (Florida State University) Mark Smith (Macroscopic Solutions) Abstract: Techniques for 3D modeling are advancing rapidly, and the biodiversity collections community will benefit from keeping abreast of the latest advances and thinking strategically about the new opportunities that 3D modeling offers. Here, we will present experimentation with recently developed methods (e.g., Neural Radiance Fields and 3D Gaussian Splatting), advances in robotics and macrophotography that provide scaling opportunities for model generation, and new analyses made possible with 3D modeling. These approaches have the potential to dramatically reduce digitization time while increasing fidelity and throughput across a wide range of specimen types. We will also discuss practical considerations for adoption, including infrastructure requirements, workflow integration, and sustainability. Gil Gil Nelson PhD, Director Integrated Digitized Biocollections (iDigBio) Immediate Past President, Natural Science Collections Alliance (NSCA) Florida Museum of Natural History University of Florida gnelson at floridamuseum.ufl.edu [FM_logo_horizontal_CMYK] -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Outlook-FM_logo_ho.png Type: image/png Size: 10269 bytes Desc: Outlook-FM_logo_ho.png URL: From ellwoodlibby at gmail.com Mon Apr 13 14:42:17 2026 From: ellwoodlibby at gmail.com (Libby Ellwood) Date: Mon, 13 Apr 2026 14:42:17 -0400 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Digital Data 2026 Message-ID: *Reminder:* The deadline for Abstract Submissions for the Digital Data Conference is quickly approaching! This *FREE virtual event* will take place *June 2-4, 2026* using the Zoom Events platform. *New featured sessions added*: Be sure to check out the conference webpage for newly added sessions related to AI and Sustainability topics! *Registration is required to submit an abstract.* Abstract submission links will be included in the ticket confirmation email. *Important Dates* April 1st: Abstract submissions & registration opens May 1st: Abstract submission deadline May 15th: Final agenda published June 2-4: Conference *Abstract Submissions* *Registration is required to submit an abstract. Abstract submission links will be included in the ticket confirmation email. Deadline: May 1st* *Oral presentation:* Presenters will have the option to present live or submit a prerecorded presentation. Presentations can be up to 12 minutes, 5 additional minutes will be given after the presentation for Q&A. All presentations will be recorded and shared publicly, unless otherwise stated. *Extended sessions: *This includes: workshop, discussion sessions, symposia, etc. Can be between 30 and 75 minutes. The structure should be determined by the organizers and panelists. These sessions may begin with a presentation or introduction followed by discussion or may be completely devoted to open discussion. No prerecording is required. *Poster presentation:* Presenters are required to submit a recorded presentation (5 minutes) with their poster. Prerecorded presentations and posters will be posted on the conference event page. *Exhibitor:* This year using Zoom Events we will be offering a virtual Expo where participants can virtually engage with booths. If you are interested in promoting a tool, institution, lab, company, or product, this is a great option! *Posters and Exhibitors will both be featured within the virtual Expo space. There will be times during the conference where participants will have the opportunity to engage with exhibitors attending live or submit questions for asynchronous engagement.* *Visit **https://idigb.io/h* to explore conference details, stay up to date on announcements and get the latest updates. If you have any *questions*, please feel free to reach out to Conference Organizer, Jill Goodwin at* jgoodwin at floridamuseum.ufl.edu *. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From d.neumann at leibniz-lib.de Mon Apr 13 17:33:51 2026 From: d.neumann at leibniz-lib.de (Dirk Neumann) Date: Mon, 13 Apr 2026 23:33:51 +0200 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] [EXTERN] Re: Desktop thermal printers? In-Reply-To: References: <69D73D74020000B3000E1580@gwia0.itz.uni-halle.de> <9be072e8-2c72-4e94-a755-bf387ea19307@gmail.com> Message-ID: <114dc970-161d-415a-b9c3-b7e94a9b7686@leibniz-lib.de> Hi all, before we introduced our gill tags for a major field survey, I tagged small fish (2cm) with approx. 1cm gill tags, but them in PE-bottles with formalin, and put them into a washing machine running the full cold wash programme (no heat, but 'bumpy road' conditions. Think that matches Andy's idea of a rock tumbler quite well. The HP 600 ink jet labels on 100 g/m2 transparent paper preformed best (as already said in this thread: ink jet printing boils the ink and shoots it into the paper). Gill tags also stayed in place (second level of testing). We had perfect performance even on very bumpy off-road tracks in central Africa. Just an idea ... With best wishes Dirk Am 13.04.2026 um 17:20 schrieb Robert Waller: Hi Andy, You are right that accelerated aging tests can be misleading. I am not sure that is what would be wanted. Just having casually read the messages though, I thought that some guidance on specification of papers and inks might be useful. For example, where print simply floated off the paper when immersed, I might guess that could be a result of using a clay coated paper. That is just a guess as I do not have expertise in either printers or papers. It just seemed that we might clarify, even simplify, our understandings by communicating with the people who have expertise in that. IPI would seem a good place to start. Perhaps I should have explained that to start. Best, Rob ________________________________ From: Bentley, Andrew Charles Sent: Monday, April 13, 2026 10:44 AM To: Gali Beiner ; Robert Waller Cc: NHCOLL-new Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] Desktop thermal printers? Hi all I think the rub (pun intended) with accelerated aging tests is that they can over-express real-world scenarios. A thermal transfer printer label (or any label for that matter) inserted into a glass jar, is going to be subject to limited abrasion and, as such, any accelerated aging test that uses physical abrasion as its main mechanism of aging is not going to be an accurate representation of real word effects in my opinion. Maybe placing a jar of alcohol with specimen and label in the equivalent of a rock tumbler would more closely approximate a real-world scenario. Andy A : A : A : }<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<)))_?> V V V 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 ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3093-1258 http://ichthyology.biodiversity.ku.edu A : A : A : }<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<)))_?> V V V ________________________________ From: Nhcoll-l on behalf of Gali Beiner Sent: Sunday, April 12, 2026 1:06 AM To: Robert Waller Cc: NHCOLL-new Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] Desktop thermal printers? Hi Rob and all, I'm not familiar with task groups in SPNHC, so somebody who already works with one will have to explain to me how that works, but generally speaking - the main problem here is formulating the right kind of question to answer in a scientific research. In fact, it crosses my mind that if anybody here has a contact within the Image Permanence Institute, I'd be happy to get in touch (IPI, according to its own vision, is "dedicated to supporting the preservation of cultural heritage collections in libraries, archives, and museums around the world"). Possibly the study question should be about finding the most permanent printer-ink-substrate combo (for ethanol?) in each category (laser, inkjet, thermal transfer), and then comparing categories. This would involve thinking about the best ways to test permanence for labels in fluids - for example, in my own published paper I presented a form of accelerated aging as a testing method. What would be the best way for testing, other than waiting 50-100 years? Maybe discussing this with people at the Image Permanence Institute could help. Gali On Fri, Apr 10, 2026 at 5:18?PM Robert Waller > wrote: Hi Gali, Your suggestion "to understand the "recipe" as much as possible" seems a very good idea. If you or someone else decides to initiate a task group within SPNHC to take that on, I suggest you reach out to archives and paper conservators through their discussion groups as they may already have useful information available. Perhaps the subject could be suggested as a good research project for a conservation student. That is, a compilation of information combined with some experimentation for validation. Rob ________________________________ From: Nhcoll-l > on behalf of Gali Beiner > Sent: Thursday, April 09, 2026 4:17 PM To: Ian Engelbrecht > Cc: NHCOLL-new > Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] Desktop thermal printers? Redesigning is already happening: new tech pops in, for example the thermal transfer printers are new compared to inkjets, and new substrates are also being developed. One way to deal with inevitable change is to understand the "recipe" as much as possible and seek out the "cleaner" products - as in the case of "OBA free, acid free, lignin free" etc paper or understanding which types of toners are likely to be more permanent. Understanding the technology as much as possible and testing what we can may help narrow down choices and set clearer standards. The other way is to remain out of it and use handwritten labels, but it seems that all of us regard this option mostly as a ship that has sailed: too hard to get the workforce to do it. Gali [https://docs.google.com/a/mail.huji.ac.il/uc?id=0B5B3I3QnN7dsSzNkbGlLNDNGWG8&export=download]Gali Beiner (ACR) Conservator, Palaeontology Lab National Natural History Collections The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Berman Building, Edmond J. Safra campus, Givat Ram Jerusalem 91904, Israel Fax. 972-2-6585785 gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il https://nnhc.huji.ac.il/?lang=en ?????? ??? ??, 9 ????? 2026, 21:49, ??? Ian Engelbrecht ?>: Plus the fact that things change over time. HP printer - toner - paper combination might work now, but will it still 30 years from now when they?ve redesigned one or three of those components? Ian On Thu, 09 Apr 2026 at 18:20, Gali Beiner > wrote: Doug is pointing out the heart of the problem - the variety of printing combinations which makes comparisons difficult. In fact, the variations in the way printer-ink-subsrate (paper or other) combinations work is the main reason why manufacturers recommend using their own brand for all three parts of the combo. In other words, the manufacturers say HP printers are supposed to yield better, more permanent results with original HP toners and HP specialized paper. The same goes for Canon, Epson or any other brand. Testing according to conservation parameters can work with that - or at least look very carefully into what, exactly is chosen for use (eg paper - OBA free, lignin free etc etc). The way things stand now - with endless possible variations and combinations - basically means it is up to us to try and set the criteria of choice and monitor whether that works. Not easy, but possibly we can try. Gali [https://docs.google.com/a/mail.huji.ac.il/uc?id=0B5B3I3QnN7dsSzNkbGlLNDNGWG8&export=download]Gali Beiner (ACR) Conservator, Palaeontology Lab National Natural History Collections The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Berman Building, Edmond J. Safra campus, Givat Ram Jerusalem 91904, Israel Fax. 972-2-6585785 gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il https://nnhc.huji.ac.il/?lang=en ?????? ??? ??, 9 ????? 2026, 18:46, ??? Douglas Yanega ?>: On 4/8/26 11:38 PM, Gali Beiner wrote: Other than that, I think that maybe we could use this forum to up the level of testing a bit - after all we have a pool of collection professionals here, all with the same problem to solve re:labels for wet collections (mainly alcohol but also other). Why shouldn't we gather ourselves into a group of say 5 to 10 people in different collections and agree on some sort of protocol for different labels in each collection (or maybe sets of different labels to be tested in all collections, we could consider the details) - and have this followed both in the short and long terms? That would be more interesting than any individual test. Dear readers in this forum, how does this sound to you? Compilation of different people's experiences have been done here and elsewhere with some regularity, and one thing that is a universal impediment to generating a coherent picture is the variability of the medium that is being printed on. Comparisons of different printers are nearly meaningless if the "tests" are on different paper stock. The most dramatic example I can offer is one from personal experience: back in 1990, we obtained a Laserjet, a fairly new technology at that time, and printed thousands of labels for both dry and ethanol specimens. The first several months everything worked flawlessly, and to this day, almost 40 years on, those original labels are perfectly fine, even the ones stored in ethanol. Then one day we ran out of the existing stock of paper, bought a new ream, and loaded it into the printer without changing anything else. The lettering on those labels chipped, flaked, and rubbed off the dry labels, and when we tried to put them into ethanol, the letters floated off. No alteration of settings was involved, and nothing we did made the labels viable. That is, until we checked the packaging on the original ream; we found it was not the exact same thing that we had switched to, so we bought something IDENTICAL, and the resulting labels were just fine again. The problem had literally nothing to do with the printer, and everything to do with the paper. Again, any "test" that does not control for the medium will not be a fair and objective test of the merits of a printer. We presently use an HP Laser printer, and yes, we have had to try different types of paper to find paper stocks that work well with this printer. Not all do. Even worse, when we use "replacement" toner cartridges (not the official HP brand), sometimes but not always, the printing is slightly flaky and easily abraded. That means there are at least THREE parameters that need to be controlled: the printer, the medium, and the toner. Variation in any one of those three can lead to variation in the quality of the results. This makes objective assessment and testing very difficult, and ultimately it's just a litany of anecdotes. Peace, -- Doug Yanega Dept. of Entomology Entomology Research Museum Univ. of California, Riverside, CA 92521-0314 phone: 951-827-4315 FaceBook: Doug Yanega (disclaimer: opinions are mine, not UCR's) https://faculty.ucr.edu/~heraty/yanega.html "There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness is the true method" - Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chap. 82 _______________________________________________ Nhcoll-l mailing list Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l _______________________________________________ NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. _______________________________________________ Nhcoll-l mailing list Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l _______________________________________________ NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. -- [https://docs.google.com/a/mail.huji.ac.il/uc?id=0B5B3I3QnN7dsSzNkbGlLNDNGWG8&export=download]Gali Beiner (ACR) Conservator, Palaeontology Lab National Natural History Collections The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Berman Building, Edmond J. Safra campus, Givat Ram Jerusalem 91904, Israel Fax. 972-2-6585785 gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il https://nnhc.huji.ac.il/?lang=en _______________________________________________ Nhcoll-l mailing list Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l _______________________________________________ NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. -- **** Dirk Neumann Collection Manager, Hamburg Postal address: Museum of Nature Hamburg Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change Dirk Neumann Martin-Luther-King-Platz 3 20146 Hamburg +49 40 238 317 ? 628 d.neumann at leibniz-lib.de www.leibniz-lib.de -- Stiftung Leibniz-Institut zur Analyse des Biodiversit?tswandels Postanschrift: Adenauerallee 127, 53113 Bonn, Germany Stiftung des ?ffentlichen Rechts; Generaldirektion: Prof. Dr. Bernhard Misof (Generaldirektor), Adrian Gr?ter (Kaufm. Gesch?ftsf?hrer) Sitz der Stiftung: Adenauerallee 160 in Bonn Vorsitzender des Stiftungsrates: Dr. Michael Wappelhorst -- Stiftung Leibniz-Institut zur Analyse des Biodiversit?tswandels Postanschrift: Adenauerallee 127, 53113 Bonn, Germany Stiftung des ?ffentlichen Rechts; Generaldirektion: Prof. Dr. Bernhard Misof (Generaldirektor), Adrian Gr?ter (Kaufm. Gesch?ftsf?hrer) Sitz der Stiftung: Adenauerallee 160 in Bonn Vorsitzender des Stiftungsrates: Dr. Michael H. Wappelhorst -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il Tue Apr 14 00:24:07 2026 From: gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il (Gali Beiner) Date: Tue, 14 Apr 2026 07:24:07 +0300 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] [EXTERN] Re: Desktop thermal printers? In-Reply-To: <114dc970-161d-415a-b9c3-b7e94a9b7686@leibniz-lib.de> References: <69D73D74020000B3000E1580@gwia0.itz.uni-halle.de> <9be072e8-2c72-4e94-a755-bf387ea19307@gmail.com> <114dc970-161d-415a-b9c3-b7e94a9b7686@leibniz-lib.de> Message-ID: Just adding my own angle - the tests described in my publication involved tubes being shaked for hours in a laboratory shaker. Actually sounds to me less rough, motion-wise, than a washing machine... I did add glass spheres (no sharp angles) to the mix, though. However, the comments re: problems of accelerated aging are, of course, valid. They are valid also for accelerated aging tests in fields other than fluid collection labels. One way I dealt with that was shortening test times from 1 month (as pee the "classic" Oddy Test) to 48 hours. In any case, I consider all of the comments here very valuable to shsping future testing. I have sent an email to a person at the IPI (thanks for the contact, Rob! Fabian, I'll follow yours, too!). If they reply, I'd be happy to gather a think-tank team to discuss the subject with them. Gali Gali Beiner (ACR) Conservator, Palaeontology Lab National Natural History Collections The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Berman Building, Edmond J. Safra campus, Givat Ram Jerusalem 91904, Israel Fax. 972-2-6585785 *gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il * *https://nnhc.huji.ac.il/?lang=en * ?????? ??? ??, 14 ????? 2026, 00:39, ??? Dirk Neumann ?< d.neumann at leibniz-lib.de>: > Hi all, > > before we introduced our gill tags for a major field survey, I tagged > small fish (2cm) with approx. 1cm gill tags, but them in PE-bottles with > formalin, and put them into a washing machine running the full cold wash > programme (no heat, but 'bumpy road' conditions. > > Think that matches Andy's idea of a rock tumbler quite well. > > The HP 600 ink jet labels on 100 g/m2 transparent paper preformed best (as > already said in this thread: ink jet printing boils the ink and shoots it > into the paper). Gill tags also stayed in place (second level of testing). > > We had perfect performance even on very bumpy off-road tracks in central > Africa. > > Just an idea ... > > With best wishes > Dirk > > > Am 13.04.2026 um 17:20 schrieb Robert Waller: > > Hi Andy, > You are right that accelerated aging tests can be misleading. I am not > sure that is what would be wanted. Just having casually read the messages > though, I thought that some guidance on specification of papers and inks > might be useful. For example, where print simply floated off the paper when > immersed, I might guess that could be a result of using a clay coated > paper. That is just a guess as I do not have expertise in either printers > or papers. It just seemed that we might clarify, even simplify, our > understandings by communicating with the people who have expertise in that. > IPI would seem a good place to start. > Perhaps I should have explained that to start. > Best, > Rob > > ------------------------------ > *From:* Bentley, Andrew Charles > *Sent:* Monday, April 13, 2026 10:44 AM > *To:* Gali Beiner > ; Robert Waller > > *Cc:* NHCOLL-new > *Subject:* Re: [Nhcoll-l] Desktop thermal printers? > > Hi all > > I think the rub (pun intended) with accelerated aging tests is that they > can over-express real-world scenarios. A thermal transfer printer label > (or any label for that matter) inserted into a glass jar, is going to be > subject to limited abrasion and, as such, any accelerated aging test that > uses physical abrasion as its main mechanism of aging is not going to be an > accurate representation of real word effects in my opinion. Maybe placing > a jar of alcohol with specimen and label in the equivalent of a rock > tumbler would more closely approximate a real-world scenario. > > Andy > > A : A : A : > }<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<)))_?> > V V V > Andy Bentley > Ichthyology Collection Manager > University of Kansas > Biodiversity Institute > > > Dyche > Hall > > *1345 > Jayhawk Boulevard > * > *Lawrence, KS, 66045-7561 > * > *USA > * > > Tel: *(785) 864-3863* <%28785%29%20864-3863> > Fax: *(785) 864-5335* <%28785%29%20864-5335> > Email: *abentley at ku.edu* > > ORCID: *https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3093-1258* > > > *http://ichthyology.biodiversity.ku.edu* > > > A : A : A : > }<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<)))_?> > V V V > > > ------------------------------ > *From:* Nhcoll-l > on behalf of Gali Beiner > > *Sent:* Sunday, April 12, 2026 1:06 AM > *To:* Robert Waller > *Cc:* NHCOLL-new > *Subject:* Re: [Nhcoll-l] Desktop thermal printers? > > Hi Rob and all, > > I'm not familiar with task groups in SPNHC, so somebody who already works > with one will have to explain to me how that works, but generally speaking > - the main problem here is formulating the right kind of question to answer > in a scientific research. In fact, it crosses my mind that if anybody here > has a contact within the Image Permanence Institute, I'd be happy to get in > touch (IPI, according to its own vision, is "dedicated to supporting the > preservation of cultural heritage collections in libraries, archives, and > museums around the world"). > > Possibly the study question should be about finding the most permanent > printer-ink-substrate combo (for ethanol?) in each category (laser, inkjet, > thermal transfer), and then comparing categories. This would involve > thinking about *the best ways to test permanence for labels in fluids* - > for example, in my own published paper I presented a form of accelerated > aging as a testing method. What would be the best way for testing, other > than waiting 50-100 years? Maybe discussing this with people at the Image > Permanence Institute could help. > > Gali > > > > On Fri, Apr 10, 2026 at 5:18?PM Robert Waller > wrote: > > Hi Gali, > Your suggestion "to understand the "recipe" as much as possible" seems a > very good idea. > If you or someone else decides to initiate a task group within SPNHC to > take that on, I suggest you reach out to archives and paper conservators > through their discussion groups as they may already have useful information > available. Perhaps the subject could be suggested as a good research > project for a conservation student. That is, a compilation of information > combined with some experimentation for validation. > Rob > > ------------------------------ > *From:* Nhcoll-l on behalf of Gali > Beiner > *Sent:* Thursday, April 09, 2026 4:17 PM > *To:* Ian Engelbrecht > *Cc:* NHCOLL-new > *Subject:* Re: [Nhcoll-l] Desktop thermal printers? > > Redesigning is already happening: new tech pops in, for example the > thermal transfer printers are new compared to inkjets, and new substrates > are also being developed. > > One way to deal with inevitable change is to understand the "recipe" as > much as possible and seek out the "cleaner" products - as in the case of > "OBA free, acid free, lignin free" etc paper or understanding which types > of toners are likely to be more permanent. Understanding the technology as > much as possible and testing what we can may help narrow down choices and > set clearer standards. The other way is to remain out of it and use > handwritten labels, but it seems that all of us regard this option mostly > as a ship that has sailed: too hard to get the workforce to do it. > > Gali > > Gali Beiner (ACR) > Conservator, Palaeontology Lab > National Natural History Collections > The Hebrew University of Jerusalem > Berman Building, Edmond J. Safra campus, Givat Ram > Jerusalem 91904, Israel > Fax. 972-2-6585785 > *gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il* > *https://nnhc.huji.ac.il/?lang=en* > > ?????? ??? ??, 9 ????? 2026, 21:49, ??? Ian Engelbrecht ?< > ianicus.za at gmail.com>: > > Plus the fact that things change over time. HP printer - toner - paper > combination might work now, but will it still 30 years from now when > they?ve redesigned one or three of those components? > > Ian > > On Thu, 09 Apr 2026 at 18:20, Gali Beiner > wrote: > > Doug is pointing out the heart of the problem - the variety of printing > combinations which makes comparisons difficult. > > In fact, the variations in the way printer-ink-subsrate (paper or other) > combinations work is the main reason why manufacturers recommend using > their own brand for all three parts of the combo. In other words, the > manufacturers say HP printers are supposed to yield better, more permanent > results with original HP toners and HP specialized paper. The same goes for > Canon, Epson or any other brand. Testing according to conservation > parameters can work with that - or at least look very carefully into what, > exactly is chosen for use (eg paper - OBA free, lignin free etc etc). > > The way things stand now - with endless possible variations and > combinations - basically means it is up to us to try and set the criteria > of choice and monitor whether that works. Not easy, but possibly we can > try. > > Gali > > > > Gali Beiner (ACR) > Conservator, Palaeontology Lab > National Natural History Collections > The Hebrew University of Jerusalem > Berman Building, Edmond J. Safra campus, Givat Ram > Jerusalem 91904, Israel > Fax. 972-2-6585785 > *gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il* > *https://nnhc.huji.ac.il/?lang=en* > > ?????? ??? ??, 9 ????? 2026, 18:46, ??? Douglas Yanega ? >: > > On 4/8/26 11:38 PM, Gali Beiner wrote: > > Other than that, I think that maybe we could use this forum to up the > level of testing a bit - after all we have a pool of collection > professionals here, all with the same problem to solve re:labels for wet > collections (mainly alcohol but also other). Why shouldn't we gather > ourselves into a group of say 5 to 10 people in different collections and > agree on some sort of protocol for different labels in each collection (or > maybe sets of different labels to be tested in all collections, we could > consider the details) - and have this followed both in the short and long > terms? That would be more interesting than any individual test. Dear > readers in this forum, how does this sound to you? > > Compilation of different people's experiences have been done here and > elsewhere with some regularity, and one thing that is a universal > impediment to generating a coherent picture is the variability of the > medium that is being printed on. Comparisons of different printers are > nearly meaningless if the "tests" are on different paper stock. > > The most dramatic example I can offer is one from personal experience: > back in 1990, we obtained a Laserjet, a fairly new technology at that time, > and printed thousands of labels for both dry and ethanol specimens. The > first several months everything worked flawlessly, and to this day, almost > 40 years on, those original labels are perfectly fine, even the ones stored > in ethanol. Then one day we ran out of the existing stock of paper, bought > a new ream, and loaded it into the printer without changing anything else. > The lettering on those labels chipped, flaked, and rubbed off the dry > labels, and when we tried to put them into ethanol, the letters floated > off. No alteration of settings was involved, and nothing we did made the > labels viable. That is, until we checked the packaging on the original > ream; we found it was not the exact same thing that we had switched to, so > we bought something IDENTICAL, and the resulting labels were just fine > again. The problem had literally nothing to do with the printer, and > everything to do with the paper. > > Again, any "test" that does not control for the medium will not be a fair > and objective test of the merits of a printer. > > We presently use an HP Laser printer, and yes, we have had to try > different types of paper to find paper stocks that work well with this > printer. Not all do. Even worse, when we use "replacement" toner cartridges > (not the official HP brand), sometimes *but not always*, the printing is > slightly flaky and easily abraded. That means there are at least THREE > parameters that need to be controlled: the printer, the medium, and the > toner. Variation in any one of those three can lead to variation in the > quality of the results. This makes objective assessment and testing *very* difficult, > and ultimately it's just a litany of anecdotes. > > Peace, > > -- > Doug Yanega Dept. of Entomology Entomology Research Museum > Univ. of California, Riverside, CA 92521-0314 phone: 951-827-4315 > FaceBook: Doug Yanega (disclaimer: opinions are mine, not UCR's) > https://faculty.ucr.edu/~heraty/yanega.html > "There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness > is the true method" - Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chap. 82 > > _______________________________________________ > Nhcoll-l mailing list > Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu > https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l > > _______________________________________________ > NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of > Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose > mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of > natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to > society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. > Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. > > _______________________________________________ > Nhcoll-l mailing list > Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu > https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l > > _______________________________________________ > NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of > Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose > mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of > natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to > society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. > Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. > > > > -- > Gali Beiner (ACR) > Conservator, Palaeontology Lab > National Natural History Collections > The Hebrew University of Jerusalem > Berman Building, Edmond J. Safra campus, Givat Ram > Jerusalem 91904, Israel > Fax. 972-2-6585785 > *gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il* > *https://nnhc.huji.ac.il/?lang=en* > > _______________________________________________ > Nhcoll-l mailing listNhcoll-l at mailman.yale.eduhttps://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l > > _______________________________________________ > NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of > Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose > mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of > natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to > society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. > Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. > > > -- > > ****** > > > > *Dirk Neumann* > > Collection Manager, Hamburg > > > > Postal address: > > *Museum of Nature Hamburg* > Leibniz Institute for the Analysis > > of Biodiversity Change > > Dirk Neumann > > Martin-Luther-King-Platz 3 > > > 20146 > > Hamburg > > +49 40 238 317 ? 628 > > *d.neumann at leibniz-lib.de * > > > > > > www.leibniz-lib.de > > > > > > -- > Stiftung Leibniz-Institut zur Analyse des Biodiversit?tswandels > Postanschrift: Adenauerallee 127, 53113 Bonn, Germany > > > Stiftung des ?ffentlichen Rechts; > Generaldirektion: Prof. Dr. Bernhard Misof (Generaldirektor), Adrian > Gr?ter (Kaufm. Gesch?ftsf?hrer) > Sitz der Stiftung: Adenauerallee 160 > > in Bonn > Vorsitzender des Stiftungsrates: Dr. Michael Wappelhorst > > > -- > Stiftung Leibniz-Institut zur Analyse des Biodiversit?tswandels > Postanschrift: Adenauerallee 127, 53113 Bonn, Germany > > > Stiftung des ?ffentlichen Rechts; > Generaldirektion: Prof. Dr. Bernhard Misof (Generaldirektor), Adrian > Gr?ter (Kaufm. Gesch?ftsf?hrer) > Sitz der Stiftung: Adenauerallee 160 > > in Bonn > Vorsitzender des Stiftungsrates: Dr. Michael H. Wappelhorst > _______________________________________________ > Nhcoll-l mailing list > Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu > https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l > > _______________________________________________ > NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of > Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose > mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of > natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to > society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. > Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From btronrud at manitobamuseum.ca Tue Apr 14 10:57:10 2026 From: btronrud at manitobamuseum.ca (Brigit Tronrud) Date: Tue, 14 Apr 2026 14:57:10 +0000 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Assistant Conservator Position at the Manitoba Museum Message-ID: Hello all, There is currently a job opening for a part-time permanent Assistant Conservator at the Manitoba Museum (Winnipeg, Canada). More details about responsibilities and qualifications can be found here: https://manitobamuseum.ca/assistant-conservator/ The application deadline is 22 April, 2026. The role covers both Human and Natural History collections. If you or someone you know may be interested in applying for this role or have any questions, please contact: Manager of Volunteer & Employee Relations Manitoba Museum 190 Rupert Avenue Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada R3B 0N2 HR at ManitobaMuseum.ca Please feel free to pass this listing along within your networks. Best wishes, Brigit Tronrud, PhD (she/her) Collections Management Specialist, Natural History Manitoba Museum / 190 Rupert Avenue / Winnipeg MB R3B 0N2 T 204-988-0620 / E btronrud at manitobamuseum.ca *I am best reached by email! ManitobaMuseum.ca / @ManitobaMuseum / #MyMBMuseum The Manitoba Museum acknowledges that we are on Treaty No. 1 land, the ancestral lands of the Anishinaabeg, Ininiwak, N?hiyawak, and Michif. These lands, water, and waterways are the unceded territories of the Dakota, and the homeland of the Red River M?tis. The Museum is committed to reflecting the continued legacies of all of the original peoples of this province, including the Ithiniwak, Denesu?ine, Anisininew, Inuit, and Nakota. We acknowledge the harms of the past, are committed to improving relationships in the spirit of truth and reconciliation, and appreciate the opportunity to live and learn on these traditional lands in mutual respect. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From kendrickorion at gmail.com Tue Apr 14 11:54:14 2026 From: kendrickorion at gmail.com (Kendrick Fowler) Date: Tue, 14 Apr 2026 11:54:14 -0400 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] [EXTERN] Re: Desktop thermal printers? In-Reply-To: References: <69D73D74020000B3000E1580@gwia0.itz.uni-halle.de> <9be072e8-2c72-4e94-a755-bf387ea19307@gmail.com> <114dc970-161d-415a-b9c3-b7e94a9b7686@leibniz-lib.de> Message-ID: Along with running labels through a tumbler or shaker of some kind, I think that exposing labels to light and heat (along the lines of Andy's window ledge test) could be useful and interesting for accelerated aging experiments. For what it's worth, I have been running a not-very-scientific test similar to Andy's with labels made using my lab's inkjet printer, albeit for much less time; the vials have been sitting in my window for ~5 years. So far, the labels have remained perfectly readable, and the text printed by the inkjet appears to have held up equally as well as text handwritten on the labels using a black Pigma Micron pen (though both the inkjet printed and the handwritten text appear to have faded slightly). The labels were printed on Enduro Xerographic 100% cotton paper using an Epson ET-4750 EcoTank printer filled with Epson T5021 black ink, and the Micron pen was Sakura stock # XSDK005-49. Kendrick *Kendrick Fowler*, *Entomology Lab Manager* Hawthorne Valley Farmscape Ecology Program | hvfarmscape.org +1 (518) 672-7994 (office) | +1 (267) 377-7567 (cell) *Follow us** on Facebook or subscribe to our **Progress of the Seasons Journal for weekly **photoessays on **Columbia County's natural **wonders**.* On Tue, Apr 14, 2026 at 12:24?AM Gali Beiner wrote: > Just adding my own angle - the tests described in my publication involved > tubes being shaked for hours in a laboratory shaker. Actually sounds to me > less rough, motion-wise, than a washing machine... I did add glass spheres > (no sharp angles) to the mix, though. > > However, the comments re: problems of accelerated aging are, of course, > valid. They are valid also for accelerated aging tests in fields other than > fluid collection labels. One way I dealt with that was shortening test > times from 1 month (as pee the "classic" Oddy Test) to 48 hours. > > In any case, I consider all of the comments here very valuable to shsping > future testing. I have sent an email to a person at the IPI (thanks for the > contact, Rob! Fabian, I'll follow yours, too!). If they reply, I'd be happy > to gather a think-tank team to discuss the subject with them. > > Gali > > Gali Beiner (ACR) > Conservator, Palaeontology Lab > National Natural History Collections > The Hebrew University of Jerusalem > Berman Building, Edmond J. Safra campus, Givat Ram > Jerusalem 91904, Israel > Fax. 972-2-6585785 > *gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il * > > *https://nnhc.huji.ac.il/?lang=en * > > ?????? ??? ??, 14 ????? 2026, 00:39, ??? Dirk Neumann ?< > d.neumann at leibniz-lib.de>: > >> Hi all, >> >> before we introduced our gill tags for a major field survey, I tagged >> small fish (2cm) with approx. 1cm gill tags, but them in PE-bottles with >> formalin, and put them into a washing machine running the full cold wash >> programme (no heat, but 'bumpy road' conditions. >> >> Think that matches Andy's idea of a rock tumbler quite well. >> >> The HP 600 ink jet labels on 100 g/m2 transparent paper preformed best >> (as already said in this thread: ink jet printing boils the ink and shoots >> it into the paper). Gill tags also stayed in place (second level of >> testing). >> >> We had perfect performance even on very bumpy off-road tracks in central >> Africa. >> >> Just an idea ... >> >> With best wishes >> Dirk >> >> >> Am 13.04.2026 um 17:20 schrieb Robert Waller: >> >> Hi Andy, >> You are right that accelerated aging tests can be misleading. I am not >> sure that is what would be wanted. Just having casually read the messages >> though, I thought that some guidance on specification of papers and inks >> might be useful. For example, where print simply floated off the paper when >> immersed, I might guess that could be a result of using a clay coated >> paper. That is just a guess as I do not have expertise in either printers >> or papers. It just seemed that we might clarify, even simplify, our >> understandings by communicating with the people who have expertise in that. >> IPI would seem a good place to start. >> Perhaps I should have explained that to start. >> Best, >> Rob >> >> ------------------------------ >> *From:* Bentley, Andrew Charles >> *Sent:* Monday, April 13, 2026 10:44 AM >> *To:* Gali Beiner >> ; Robert Waller >> >> *Cc:* NHCOLL-new >> *Subject:* Re: [Nhcoll-l] Desktop thermal printers? >> >> Hi all >> >> I think the rub (pun intended) with accelerated aging tests is that they >> can over-express real-world scenarios. A thermal transfer printer label >> (or any label for that matter) inserted into a glass jar, is going to be >> subject to limited abrasion and, as such, any accelerated aging test that >> uses physical abrasion as its main mechanism of aging is not going to be an >> accurate representation of real word effects in my opinion. Maybe placing >> a jar of alcohol with specimen and label in the equivalent of a rock >> tumbler would more closely approximate a real-world scenario. >> >> Andy >> >> A : A : A : >> }<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<)))_?> >> V V V >> Andy Bentley >> Ichthyology Collection Manager >> University of Kansas >> Biodiversity Institute >> >> >> Dyche >> Hall >> >> *1345 >> Jayhawk Boulevard >> * >> *Lawrence, KS, 66045-7561 >> * >> *USA >> * >> >> Tel: *(785) 864-3863* <%28785%29%20864-3863> >> Fax: *(785) 864-5335* <%28785%29%20864-5335> >> Email: *abentley at ku.edu* >> >> ORCID: *https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3093-1258* >> >> >> *http://ichthyology.biodiversity.ku.edu* >> >> >> A : A : A : >> }<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<)))_?> >> V V V >> >> >> ------------------------------ >> *From:* Nhcoll-l >> on behalf of Gali Beiner >> >> *Sent:* Sunday, April 12, 2026 1:06 AM >> *To:* Robert Waller >> *Cc:* NHCOLL-new >> *Subject:* Re: [Nhcoll-l] Desktop thermal printers? >> >> Hi Rob and all, >> >> I'm not familiar with task groups in SPNHC, so somebody who already works >> with one will have to explain to me how that works, but generally speaking >> - the main problem here is formulating the right kind of question to answer >> in a scientific research. In fact, it crosses my mind that if anybody here >> has a contact within the Image Permanence Institute, I'd be happy to get in >> touch (IPI, according to its own vision, is "dedicated to supporting the >> preservation of cultural heritage collections in libraries, archives, and >> museums around the world"). >> >> Possibly the study question should be about finding the most permanent >> printer-ink-substrate combo (for ethanol?) in each category (laser, inkjet, >> thermal transfer), and then comparing categories. This would involve >> thinking about *the best ways to test permanence for labels in fluids* - >> for example, in my own published paper I presented a form of accelerated >> aging as a testing method. What would be the best way for testing, other >> than waiting 50-100 years? Maybe discussing this with people at the Image >> Permanence Institute could help. >> >> Gali >> >> >> >> On Fri, Apr 10, 2026 at 5:18?PM Robert Waller >> wrote: >> >> Hi Gali, >> Your suggestion "to understand the "recipe" as much as possible" seems a >> very good idea. >> If you or someone else decides to initiate a task group within SPNHC to >> take that on, I suggest you reach out to archives and paper conservators >> through their discussion groups as they may already have useful information >> available. Perhaps the subject could be suggested as a good research >> project for a conservation student. That is, a compilation of information >> combined with some experimentation for validation. >> Rob >> >> ------------------------------ >> *From:* Nhcoll-l on behalf of Gali >> Beiner >> *Sent:* Thursday, April 09, 2026 4:17 PM >> *To:* Ian Engelbrecht >> *Cc:* NHCOLL-new >> *Subject:* Re: [Nhcoll-l] Desktop thermal printers? >> >> Redesigning is already happening: new tech pops in, for example the >> thermal transfer printers are new compared to inkjets, and new substrates >> are also being developed. >> >> One way to deal with inevitable change is to understand the "recipe" as >> much as possible and seek out the "cleaner" products - as in the case of >> "OBA free, acid free, lignin free" etc paper or understanding which types >> of toners are likely to be more permanent. Understanding the technology as >> much as possible and testing what we can may help narrow down choices and >> set clearer standards. The other way is to remain out of it and use >> handwritten labels, but it seems that all of us regard this option mostly >> as a ship that has sailed: too hard to get the workforce to do it. >> >> Gali >> >> Gali Beiner (ACR) >> Conservator, Palaeontology Lab >> National Natural History Collections >> The Hebrew University of Jerusalem >> Berman Building, Edmond J. Safra campus, Givat Ram >> Jerusalem 91904, Israel >> Fax. 972-2-6585785 >> *gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il* >> *https://nnhc.huji.ac.il/?lang=en* >> >> ?????? ??? ??, 9 ????? 2026, 21:49, ??? Ian Engelbrecht ?< >> ianicus.za at gmail.com>: >> >> Plus the fact that things change over time. HP printer - toner - paper >> combination might work now, but will it still 30 years from now when >> they?ve redesigned one or three of those components? >> >> Ian >> >> On Thu, 09 Apr 2026 at 18:20, Gali Beiner >> wrote: >> >> Doug is pointing out the heart of the problem - the variety of printing >> combinations which makes comparisons difficult. >> >> In fact, the variations in the way printer-ink-subsrate (paper or other) >> combinations work is the main reason why manufacturers recommend using >> their own brand for all three parts of the combo. In other words, the >> manufacturers say HP printers are supposed to yield better, more permanent >> results with original HP toners and HP specialized paper. The same goes for >> Canon, Epson or any other brand. Testing according to conservation >> parameters can work with that - or at least look very carefully into what, >> exactly is chosen for use (eg paper - OBA free, lignin free etc etc). >> >> The way things stand now - with endless possible variations and >> combinations - basically means it is up to us to try and set the criteria >> of choice and monitor whether that works. Not easy, but possibly we can >> try. >> >> Gali >> >> >> >> Gali Beiner (ACR) >> Conservator, Palaeontology Lab >> National Natural History Collections >> The Hebrew University of Jerusalem >> Berman Building, Edmond J. Safra campus, Givat Ram >> Jerusalem 91904, Israel >> Fax. 972-2-6585785 >> *gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il* >> *https://nnhc.huji.ac.il/?lang=en* >> >> ?????? ??? ??, 9 ????? 2026, 18:46, ??? Douglas Yanega ?< >> dyanega at gmail.com>: >> >> On 4/8/26 11:38 PM, Gali Beiner wrote: >> >> Other than that, I think that maybe we could use this forum to up the >> level of testing a bit - after all we have a pool of collection >> professionals here, all with the same problem to solve re:labels for wet >> collections (mainly alcohol but also other). Why shouldn't we gather >> ourselves into a group of say 5 to 10 people in different collections and >> agree on some sort of protocol for different labels in each collection (or >> maybe sets of different labels to be tested in all collections, we could >> consider the details) - and have this followed both in the short and long >> terms? That would be more interesting than any individual test. Dear >> readers in this forum, how does this sound to you? >> >> Compilation of different people's experiences have been done here and >> elsewhere with some regularity, and one thing that is a universal >> impediment to generating a coherent picture is the variability of the >> medium that is being printed on. Comparisons of different printers are >> nearly meaningless if the "tests" are on different paper stock. >> >> The most dramatic example I can offer is one from personal experience: >> back in 1990, we obtained a Laserjet, a fairly new technology at that time, >> and printed thousands of labels for both dry and ethanol specimens. The >> first several months everything worked flawlessly, and to this day, almost >> 40 years on, those original labels are perfectly fine, even the ones stored >> in ethanol. Then one day we ran out of the existing stock of paper, bought >> a new ream, and loaded it into the printer without changing anything else. >> The lettering on those labels chipped, flaked, and rubbed off the dry >> labels, and when we tried to put them into ethanol, the letters floated >> off. No alteration of settings was involved, and nothing we did made the >> labels viable. That is, until we checked the packaging on the original >> ream; we found it was not the exact same thing that we had switched to, so >> we bought something IDENTICAL, and the resulting labels were just fine >> again. The problem had literally nothing to do with the printer, and >> everything to do with the paper. >> >> Again, any "test" that does not control for the medium will not be a fair >> and objective test of the merits of a printer. >> >> We presently use an HP Laser printer, and yes, we have had to try >> different types of paper to find paper stocks that work well with this >> printer. Not all do. Even worse, when we use "replacement" toner cartridges >> (not the official HP brand), sometimes *but not always*, the printing is >> slightly flaky and easily abraded. That means there are at least THREE >> parameters that need to be controlled: the printer, the medium, and the >> toner. Variation in any one of those three can lead to variation in the >> quality of the results. This makes objective assessment and testing >> *very* difficult, and ultimately it's just a litany of anecdotes. >> >> Peace, >> >> -- >> Doug Yanega Dept. of Entomology Entomology Research Museum >> Univ. of California, Riverside, CA 92521-0314 phone: 951-827-4315 >> FaceBook: Doug Yanega (disclaimer: opinions are mine, not UCR's) >> https://faculty.ucr.edu/~heraty/yanega.html >> "There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness >> is the true method" - Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chap. 82 >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Nhcoll-l mailing list >> Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu >> https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l >> >> _______________________________________________ >> NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of >> Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose >> mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of >> natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to >> society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. >> Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Nhcoll-l mailing list >> Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu >> https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l >> >> _______________________________________________ >> NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of >> Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose >> mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of >> natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to >> society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. >> Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. >> >> >> >> -- >> Gali Beiner (ACR) >> Conservator, Palaeontology Lab >> National Natural History Collections >> The Hebrew University of Jerusalem >> Berman Building, Edmond J. Safra campus, Givat Ram >> Jerusalem 91904, Israel >> Fax. 972-2-6585785 >> *gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il* >> *https://nnhc.huji.ac.il/?lang=en* >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Nhcoll-l mailing listNhcoll-l at mailman.yale.eduhttps://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l >> >> _______________________________________________ >> NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of >> Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose >> mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of >> natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to >> society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. >> Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. >> >> >> -- >> >> ****** >> >> >> >> *Dirk Neumann* >> >> Collection Manager, Hamburg >> >> >> >> Postal address: >> >> *Museum of Nature Hamburg* >> Leibniz Institute for the Analysis >> >> of Biodiversity Change >> >> Dirk Neumann >> >> Martin-Luther-King-Platz 3 >> >> >> 20146 >> >> Hamburg >> >> +49 40 238 317 ? 628 >> >> *d.neumann at leibniz-lib.de * >> >> >> >> >> >> www.leibniz-lib.de >> >> >> >> >> >> -- >> Stiftung Leibniz-Institut zur Analyse des Biodiversit?tswandels >> Postanschrift: Adenauerallee 127, 53113 Bonn, Germany >> >> >> Stiftung des ?ffentlichen Rechts; >> Generaldirektion: Prof. Dr. Bernhard Misof (Generaldirektor), Adrian >> Gr?ter (Kaufm. Gesch?ftsf?hrer) >> Sitz der Stiftung: Adenauerallee 160 >> >> in Bonn >> Vorsitzender des Stiftungsrates: Dr. Michael Wappelhorst >> >> >> -- >> Stiftung Leibniz-Institut zur Analyse des Biodiversit?tswandels >> Postanschrift: Adenauerallee 127, 53113 Bonn, Germany >> >> >> Stiftung des ?ffentlichen Rechts; >> Generaldirektion: Prof. Dr. Bernhard Misof (Generaldirektor), Adrian >> Gr?ter (Kaufm. Gesch?ftsf?hrer) >> Sitz der Stiftung: Adenauerallee 160 >> >> in Bonn >> Vorsitzender des Stiftungsrates: Dr. Michael H. Wappelhorst >> _______________________________________________ >> Nhcoll-l mailing list >> Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu >> https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l >> >> _______________________________________________ >> NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of >> Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose >> mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of >> natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to >> society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. >> Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. >> > _______________________________________________ > Nhcoll-l mailing list > Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu > https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l > > _______________________________________________ > NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of > Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose > mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of > natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to > society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. > Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From katrina.derieg at mso.umt.edu Tue Apr 14 12:17:53 2026 From: katrina.derieg at mso.umt.edu (Derieg, Katrina) Date: Tue, 14 Apr 2026 16:17:53 +0000 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Partnerships between zoos and collections Message-ID: Dear NHC community, I am trying to establish a partnership with our local zoo to receive animals and accession them into our collection. They asked for some examples of zoos collaborating with natural history collections. If any of you receive zoo animals at your institution, could you send me any helpful documentation of such a partnership? This could be news articles, primary literature, MOUs, or anything like that. Just want something to demonstrate that this is not novel and there are many successful collaborations. Thanks in advance for your help. -Katrina KATRINA DERIEG (she/her) Curator | Museum Collections and Outreach Coordinator Phillip L. Wright Zoological Museum (UMZM) https://www.umt.edu/zoological-museum/ Shipping: Health Science 104 | 32 Campus Drive | 406-243-4743 Office: Health Science 211 katrina.derieg at umontana.edu | umzm at mso.umt.edu University of Montana Search the UMZM collections on Arctos: Birds | Mammals | Eggs & Nests | Parasites -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From joshkphilly at gmail.com Tue Apr 14 12:34:15 2026 From: joshkphilly at gmail.com (Joshua Kulak) Date: Tue, 14 Apr 2026 12:34:15 -0400 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Partnerships between zoos and collections In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Dear Katrina, Currently the leading group on this specific subject is the Zoo-Museum Research Coordination Network , whose launching paper can be read here. I would definitely mine that bibliography as a good place to start for an MOU. ZooMu also has an excellent google group which I strongly recommend signing up for, and they have hosted some fascinating webinars. In the UK, the CryoArks project is another great example to point to. Outside of the zoo-museum context specifically, Brockington et al. (2026) is a phenomenal paper about cross collaboration between herbaria and botanical gardens, and I've given a couple talks on this issue regarding insects. It's a research area with a great deal of potential! Best of luck, Josh Kulak F&M '26, B.A. Biological Foundations of Behavior: Animal Behavior Contributor, Imagining Insects , on display through Summer 2026 Alum: Bashaw Lab , Lacy Lab , Reckoning With Lancaster Recipient: 2026 Thompson Animal Behavior Award, 2025 Solomon Wank Human Rights Award, 2025 Altick Prize Volunteer: Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, North Museum of Nature and Science On Tue, Apr 14, 2026 at 12:18?PM Derieg, Katrina wrote: > Dear NHC community, > I am trying to establish a partnership with our local zoo to receive > animals and accession them into our collection. They asked for some > examples of zoos collaborating with natural history collections. If any of > you receive zoo animals at your institution, could you send me any helpful > documentation of such a partnership? This could be news articles, primary > literature, MOUs, or anything like that. Just want something to demonstrate > that this is not novel and there are many successful collaborations. > > Thanks in advance for your help. > -Katrina > > *KATRINA DERIEG **(she/her)* > > *Curator | Museum Collections and Outreach Coordinator* > > *Phillip L. Wright Zoological Museum (UMZM)* > https://www.umt.edu/zoological-museum/ > > *Shipping: Health Science 104 | 32 Campus Drive | 406-243-4743* > *Office: Health Science 211* > > *katrina.derieg at umontana.edu | > umzm at mso.umt.edu * > > *University of Montana* > > *Search the UMZM collections on Arctos: **Birds* > * | * > *Mammals* > * | **Eggs > & Nests* * | > **Parasites* > > > _______________________________________________ > Nhcoll-l mailing list > Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu > https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l > > _______________________________________________ > NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of > Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose > mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of > natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to > society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. > Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From ianicus.za at gmail.com Tue Apr 14 14:56:14 2026 From: ianicus.za at gmail.com (Ian Engelbrecht) Date: Tue, 14 Apr 2026 20:56:14 +0200 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] [EXTERN] Re: Desktop thermal printers? In-Reply-To: References: <69D73D74020000B3000E1580@gwia0.itz.uni-halle.de> <9be072e8-2c72-4e94-a755-bf387ea19307@gmail.com> <114dc970-161d-415a-b9c3-b7e94a9b7686@leibniz-lib.de> Message-ID: We have a similar experiment here. I printed labels on several different archival papers, including Teslin, 'goatskin', and others, all with an Epson EcoTank Mono 1100, and distributed copies to wet collections around the country. They're all sitting in jars on windowsills now (or at least I hope they are). Ian On Tue, Apr 14, 2026 at 6:00?PM Kendrick Fowler wrote: > Along with running labels through a tumbler or shaker of some kind, I > think that exposing labels to light and heat (along the lines of Andy's > window ledge test) could be useful and interesting for accelerated aging > experiments. > > For what it's worth, I have been running a not-very-scientific test > similar to Andy's with labels made using my lab's inkjet printer, albeit > for much less time; the vials have been sitting in my window for ~5 years. > So far, the labels have remained perfectly readable, and the text printed > by the inkjet appears to have held up equally as well as text handwritten > on the labels using a black Pigma Micron pen (though both the inkjet > printed and the handwritten text appear to have faded slightly). The labels > were printed on Enduro Xerographic 100% cotton paper using an Epson ET-4750 > EcoTank printer filled with Epson T5021 black ink, and the Micron pen was > Sakura stock # XSDK005-49. > > Kendrick > > > *Kendrick Fowler*, *Entomology Lab Manager* > Hawthorne Valley Farmscape Ecology Program | hvfarmscape.org > +1 (518) 672-7994 (office) | +1 (267) 377-7567 (cell) > > *Follow us** on Facebook > or > subscribe to our **Progress of the Seasons Journal > for weekly **photoessays > on **Columbia County's natural **wonders**.* > > > On Tue, Apr 14, 2026 at 12:24?AM Gali Beiner > wrote: > >> Just adding my own angle - the tests described in my publication involved >> tubes being shaked for hours in a laboratory shaker. Actually sounds to me >> less rough, motion-wise, than a washing machine... I did add glass spheres >> (no sharp angles) to the mix, though. >> >> However, the comments re: problems of accelerated aging are, of course, >> valid. They are valid also for accelerated aging tests in fields other than >> fluid collection labels. One way I dealt with that was shortening test >> times from 1 month (as pee the "classic" Oddy Test) to 48 hours. >> >> In any case, I consider all of the comments here very valuable to shsping >> future testing. I have sent an email to a person at the IPI (thanks for the >> contact, Rob! Fabian, I'll follow yours, too!). If they reply, I'd be happy >> to gather a think-tank team to discuss the subject with them. >> >> Gali >> >> Gali Beiner (ACR) >> Conservator, Palaeontology Lab >> National Natural History Collections >> The Hebrew University of Jerusalem >> Berman Building, Edmond J. Safra campus, Givat Ram >> Jerusalem 91904, Israel >> Fax. 972-2-6585785 >> *gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il * >> >> *https://nnhc.huji.ac.il/?lang=en * >> >> ?????? ??? ??, 14 ????? 2026, 00:39, ??? Dirk Neumann ?< >> d.neumann at leibniz-lib.de>: >> >>> Hi all, >>> >>> before we introduced our gill tags for a major field survey, I tagged >>> small fish (2cm) with approx. 1cm gill tags, but them in PE-bottles with >>> formalin, and put them into a washing machine running the full cold wash >>> programme (no heat, but 'bumpy road' conditions. >>> >>> Think that matches Andy's idea of a rock tumbler quite well. >>> >>> The HP 600 ink jet labels on 100 g/m2 transparent paper preformed best >>> (as already said in this thread: ink jet printing boils the ink and shoots >>> it into the paper). Gill tags also stayed in place (second level of >>> testing). >>> >>> We had perfect performance even on very bumpy off-road tracks in central >>> Africa. >>> >>> Just an idea ... >>> >>> With best wishes >>> Dirk >>> >>> >>> Am 13.04.2026 um 17:20 schrieb Robert Waller: >>> >>> Hi Andy, >>> You are right that accelerated aging tests can be misleading. I am not >>> sure that is what would be wanted. Just having casually read the messages >>> though, I thought that some guidance on specification of papers and inks >>> might be useful. For example, where print simply floated off the paper when >>> immersed, I might guess that could be a result of using a clay coated >>> paper. That is just a guess as I do not have expertise in either printers >>> or papers. It just seemed that we might clarify, even simplify, our >>> understandings by communicating with the people who have expertise in that. >>> IPI would seem a good place to start. >>> Perhaps I should have explained that to start. >>> Best, >>> Rob >>> >>> ------------------------------ >>> *From:* Bentley, Andrew Charles >>> *Sent:* Monday, April 13, 2026 10:44 AM >>> *To:* Gali Beiner >>> ; Robert Waller >>> >>> *Cc:* NHCOLL-new >>> *Subject:* Re: [Nhcoll-l] Desktop thermal printers? >>> >>> Hi all >>> >>> I think the rub (pun intended) with accelerated aging tests is that they >>> can over-express real-world scenarios. A thermal transfer printer label >>> (or any label for that matter) inserted into a glass jar, is going to be >>> subject to limited abrasion and, as such, any accelerated aging test that >>> uses physical abrasion as its main mechanism of aging is not going to be an >>> accurate representation of real word effects in my opinion. Maybe placing >>> a jar of alcohol with specimen and label in the equivalent of a rock >>> tumbler would more closely approximate a real-world scenario. >>> >>> Andy >>> >>> A : A : A : >>> }<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<)))_?> >>> V V V >>> Andy Bentley >>> Ichthyology Collection Manager >>> University of Kansas >>> Biodiversity Institute >>> >>> >>> Dyche >>> Hall >>> >>> *1345 >>> Jayhawk Boulevard >>> * >>> *Lawrence, KS, 66045-7561 >>> * >>> *USA >>> * >>> >>> Tel: *(785) 864-3863* <%28785%29%20864-3863> >>> Fax: *(785) 864-5335* <%28785%29%20864-5335> >>> Email: *abentley at ku.edu* >>> >>> ORCID: *https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3093-1258* >>> >>> >>> *http://ichthyology.biodiversity.ku.edu* >>> >>> >>> A : A : A : >>> }<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<)))_?> >>> V V V >>> >>> >>> ------------------------------ >>> *From:* Nhcoll-l >>> on behalf of Gali Beiner >>> >>> *Sent:* Sunday, April 12, 2026 1:06 AM >>> *To:* Robert Waller >>> *Cc:* NHCOLL-new >>> *Subject:* Re: [Nhcoll-l] Desktop thermal printers? >>> >>> Hi Rob and all, >>> >>> I'm not familiar with task groups in SPNHC, so somebody who already >>> works with one will have to explain to me how that works, but >>> generally speaking - the main problem here is formulating the right kind of >>> question to answer in a scientific research. In fact, it crosses my mind >>> that if anybody here has a contact within the Image Permanence Institute, >>> I'd be happy to get in touch (IPI, according to its own vision, is >>> "dedicated to supporting the preservation of cultural heritage collections >>> in libraries, archives, and museums around the world"). >>> >>> Possibly the study question should be about finding the most permanent >>> printer-ink-substrate combo (for ethanol?) in each category (laser, inkjet, >>> thermal transfer), and then comparing categories. This would involve >>> thinking about *the best ways to test permanence for labels in fluids* - >>> for example, in my own published paper I presented a form of accelerated >>> aging as a testing method. What would be the best way for testing, other >>> than waiting 50-100 years? Maybe discussing this with people at the Image >>> Permanence Institute could help. >>> >>> Gali >>> >>> >>> >>> On Fri, Apr 10, 2026 at 5:18?PM Robert Waller >>> wrote: >>> >>> Hi Gali, >>> Your suggestion "to understand the "recipe" as much as possible" seems a >>> very good idea. >>> If you or someone else decides to initiate a task group within SPNHC to >>> take that on, I suggest you reach out to archives and paper conservators >>> through their discussion groups as they may already have useful information >>> available. Perhaps the subject could be suggested as a good research >>> project for a conservation student. That is, a compilation of information >>> combined with some experimentation for validation. >>> Rob >>> >>> ------------------------------ >>> *From:* Nhcoll-l on behalf of Gali >>> Beiner >>> *Sent:* Thursday, April 09, 2026 4:17 PM >>> *To:* Ian Engelbrecht >>> *Cc:* NHCOLL-new >>> *Subject:* Re: [Nhcoll-l] Desktop thermal printers? >>> >>> Redesigning is already happening: new tech pops in, for example the >>> thermal transfer printers are new compared to inkjets, and new substrates >>> are also being developed. >>> >>> One way to deal with inevitable change is to understand the "recipe" as >>> much as possible and seek out the "cleaner" products - as in the case of >>> "OBA free, acid free, lignin free" etc paper or understanding which types >>> of toners are likely to be more permanent. Understanding the technology as >>> much as possible and testing what we can may help narrow down choices and >>> set clearer standards. The other way is to remain out of it and use >>> handwritten labels, but it seems that all of us regard this option mostly >>> as a ship that has sailed: too hard to get the workforce to do it. >>> >>> Gali >>> >>> Gali Beiner (ACR) >>> Conservator, Palaeontology Lab >>> National Natural History Collections >>> The Hebrew University of Jerusalem >>> Berman Building, Edmond J. Safra campus, Givat Ram >>> Jerusalem 91904, Israel >>> Fax. 972-2-6585785 >>> *gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il* >>> *https://nnhc.huji.ac.il/?lang=en* >>> >>> ?????? ??? ??, 9 ????? 2026, 21:49, ??? Ian Engelbrecht ?< >>> ianicus.za at gmail.com>: >>> >>> Plus the fact that things change over time. HP printer - toner - paper >>> combination might work now, but will it still 30 years from now when >>> they?ve redesigned one or three of those components? >>> >>> Ian >>> >>> On Thu, 09 Apr 2026 at 18:20, Gali Beiner >>> wrote: >>> >>> Doug is pointing out the heart of the problem - the variety of printing >>> combinations which makes comparisons difficult. >>> >>> In fact, the variations in the way printer-ink-subsrate (paper or other) >>> combinations work is the main reason why manufacturers recommend using >>> their own brand for all three parts of the combo. In other words, the >>> manufacturers say HP printers are supposed to yield better, more permanent >>> results with original HP toners and HP specialized paper. The same goes for >>> Canon, Epson or any other brand. Testing according to conservation >>> parameters can work with that - or at least look very carefully into what, >>> exactly is chosen for use (eg paper - OBA free, lignin free etc etc). >>> >>> The way things stand now - with endless possible variations and >>> combinations - basically means it is up to us to try and set the criteria >>> of choice and monitor whether that works. Not easy, but possibly we can >>> try. >>> >>> Gali >>> >>> >>> >>> Gali Beiner (ACR) >>> Conservator, Palaeontology Lab >>> National Natural History Collections >>> The Hebrew University of Jerusalem >>> Berman Building, Edmond J. Safra campus, Givat Ram >>> Jerusalem 91904, Israel >>> Fax. 972-2-6585785 >>> *gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il* >>> *https://nnhc.huji.ac.il/?lang=en* >>> >>> ?????? ??? ??, 9 ????? 2026, 18:46, ??? Douglas Yanega ?< >>> dyanega at gmail.com>: >>> >>> On 4/8/26 11:38 PM, Gali Beiner wrote: >>> >>> Other than that, I think that maybe we could use this forum to up the >>> level of testing a bit - after all we have a pool of collection >>> professionals here, all with the same problem to solve re:labels for wet >>> collections (mainly alcohol but also other). Why shouldn't we gather >>> ourselves into a group of say 5 to 10 people in different collections and >>> agree on some sort of protocol for different labels in each collection (or >>> maybe sets of different labels to be tested in all collections, we could >>> consider the details) - and have this followed both in the short and long >>> terms? That would be more interesting than any individual test. Dear >>> readers in this forum, how does this sound to you? >>> >>> Compilation of different people's experiences have been done here and >>> elsewhere with some regularity, and one thing that is a universal >>> impediment to generating a coherent picture is the variability of the >>> medium that is being printed on. Comparisons of different printers are >>> nearly meaningless if the "tests" are on different paper stock. >>> >>> The most dramatic example I can offer is one from personal experience: >>> back in 1990, we obtained a Laserjet, a fairly new technology at that time, >>> and printed thousands of labels for both dry and ethanol specimens. The >>> first several months everything worked flawlessly, and to this day, almost >>> 40 years on, those original labels are perfectly fine, even the ones stored >>> in ethanol. Then one day we ran out of the existing stock of paper, bought >>> a new ream, and loaded it into the printer without changing anything else. >>> The lettering on those labels chipped, flaked, and rubbed off the dry >>> labels, and when we tried to put them into ethanol, the letters floated >>> off. No alteration of settings was involved, and nothing we did made the >>> labels viable. That is, until we checked the packaging on the original >>> ream; we found it was not the exact same thing that we had switched to, so >>> we bought something IDENTICAL, and the resulting labels were just fine >>> again. The problem had literally nothing to do with the printer, and >>> everything to do with the paper. >>> >>> Again, any "test" that does not control for the medium will not be a >>> fair and objective test of the merits of a printer. >>> >>> We presently use an HP Laser printer, and yes, we have had to try >>> different types of paper to find paper stocks that work well with this >>> printer. Not all do. Even worse, when we use "replacement" toner cartridges >>> (not the official HP brand), sometimes *but not always*, the printing >>> is slightly flaky and easily abraded. That means there are at least THREE >>> parameters that need to be controlled: the printer, the medium, and the >>> toner. Variation in any one of those three can lead to variation in the >>> quality of the results. This makes objective assessment and testing >>> *very* difficult, and ultimately it's just a litany of anecdotes. >>> >>> Peace, >>> >>> -- >>> Doug Yanega Dept. of Entomology Entomology Research Museum >>> Univ. of California, Riverside, CA 92521-0314 phone: 951-827-4315 >>> FaceBook: Doug Yanega (disclaimer: opinions are mine, not UCR's) >>> https://faculty.ucr.edu/~heraty/yanega.html >>> "There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness >>> is the true method" - Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chap. 82 >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> Nhcoll-l mailing list >>> Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu >>> https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of >>> Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose >>> mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of >>> natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to >>> society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. >>> Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> Nhcoll-l mailing list >>> Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu >>> https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of >>> Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose >>> mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of >>> natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to >>> society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. >>> Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. >>> >>> >>> >>> -- >>> Gali Beiner (ACR) >>> Conservator, Palaeontology Lab >>> National Natural History Collections >>> The Hebrew University of Jerusalem >>> Berman Building, Edmond J. Safra campus, Givat Ram >>> Jerusalem 91904, Israel >>> Fax. 972-2-6585785 >>> *gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il* >>> *https://nnhc.huji.ac.il/?lang=en* >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> Nhcoll-l mailing listNhcoll-l at mailman.yale.eduhttps://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of >>> Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose >>> mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of >>> natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to >>> society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. >>> Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. >>> >>> >>> -- >>> >>> ****** >>> >>> >>> >>> *Dirk Neumann* >>> >>> Collection Manager, Hamburg >>> >>> >>> >>> Postal address: >>> >>> *Museum of Nature Hamburg* >>> Leibniz Institute for the Analysis >>> >>> of Biodiversity Change >>> >>> Dirk Neumann >>> >>> Martin-Luther-King-Platz 3 >>> >>> >>> 20146 >>> >>> Hamburg >>> >>> +49 40 238 317 ? 628 >>> >>> *d.neumann at leibniz-lib.de * >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> www.leibniz-lib.de >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> -- >>> Stiftung Leibniz-Institut zur Analyse des Biodiversit?tswandels >>> Postanschrift: Adenauerallee 127, 53113 Bonn, Germany >>> >>> >>> Stiftung des ?ffentlichen Rechts; >>> Generaldirektion: Prof. Dr. Bernhard Misof (Generaldirektor), Adrian >>> Gr?ter (Kaufm. Gesch?ftsf?hrer) >>> Sitz der Stiftung: Adenauerallee 160 >>> >>> in Bonn >>> Vorsitzender des Stiftungsrates: Dr. Michael Wappelhorst >>> >>> >>> -- >>> Stiftung Leibniz-Institut zur Analyse des Biodiversit?tswandels >>> Postanschrift: Adenauerallee 127, 53113 Bonn, Germany >>> >>> >>> Stiftung des ?ffentlichen Rechts; >>> Generaldirektion: Prof. Dr. Bernhard Misof (Generaldirektor), Adrian >>> Gr?ter (Kaufm. Gesch?ftsf?hrer) >>> Sitz der Stiftung: Adenauerallee 160 >>> >>> in Bonn >>> Vorsitzender des Stiftungsrates: Dr. Michael H. Wappelhorst >>> _______________________________________________ >>> Nhcoll-l mailing list >>> Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu >>> https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of >>> Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose >>> mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of >>> natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to >>> society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. >>> Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. >>> >> _______________________________________________ >> Nhcoll-l mailing list >> Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu >> https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l >> >> _______________________________________________ >> NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of >> Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose >> mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of >> natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to >> society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. >> Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. >> > _______________________________________________ > Nhcoll-l mailing list > Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu > https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l > > _______________________________________________ > NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of > Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose > mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of > natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to > society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. > Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From ianicus.za at gmail.com Tue Apr 14 14:58:46 2026 From: ianicus.za at gmail.com (Ian Engelbrecht) Date: Tue, 14 Apr 2026 20:58:46 +0200 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] [EXTERN] Re: Desktop thermal printers? In-Reply-To: References: <69D73D74020000B3000E1580@gwia0.itz.uni-halle.de> <9be072e8-2c72-4e94-a755-bf387ea19307@gmail.com> <114dc970-161d-415a-b9c3-b7e94a9b7686@leibniz-lib.de> Message-ID: Also, just continuing the aging acceleration discussion, what would be tremendously helpful would be a way to accelerate whatever process is going on which causes the *laser *printed letters to separate from the paper/substrate they're attached to. That might be a good student project in itself - working out what happens over time that causes that separation so we can understand and mitigate or avoid that process. Ian On Tue, Apr 14, 2026 at 8:56?PM Ian Engelbrecht wrote: > We have a similar experiment here. I printed labels on several different > archival papers, including Teslin, 'goatskin', and others, all with an > Epson EcoTank Mono 1100, and distributed copies to wet collections around > the country. They're all sitting in jars on windowsills now (or at least I > hope they are). > > Ian > > On Tue, Apr 14, 2026 at 6:00?PM Kendrick Fowler > wrote: > >> Along with running labels through a tumbler or shaker of some kind, I >> think that exposing labels to light and heat (along the lines of Andy's >> window ledge test) could be useful and interesting for accelerated aging >> experiments. >> >> For what it's worth, I have been running a not-very-scientific test >> similar to Andy's with labels made using my lab's inkjet printer, albeit >> for much less time; the vials have been sitting in my window for ~5 years. >> So far, the labels have remained perfectly readable, and the text printed >> by the inkjet appears to have held up equally as well as text handwritten >> on the labels using a black Pigma Micron pen (though both the inkjet >> printed and the handwritten text appear to have faded slightly). The labels >> were printed on Enduro Xerographic 100% cotton paper using an Epson ET-4750 >> EcoTank printer filled with Epson T5021 black ink, and the Micron pen was >> Sakura stock # XSDK005-49. >> >> Kendrick >> >> >> *Kendrick Fowler*, *Entomology Lab Manager* >> Hawthorne Valley Farmscape Ecology Program | hvfarmscape.org >> +1 (518) 672-7994 (office) | +1 (267) 377-7567 (cell) >> >> *Follow us** on Facebook >> or >> subscribe to our **Progress of the Seasons Journal >> for weekly **photoessays >> on **Columbia County's natural **wonders**.* >> >> >> On Tue, Apr 14, 2026 at 12:24?AM Gali Beiner >> wrote: >> >>> Just adding my own angle - the tests described in my publication >>> involved tubes being shaked for hours in a laboratory shaker. Actually >>> sounds to me less rough, motion-wise, than a washing machine... I did add >>> glass spheres (no sharp angles) to the mix, though. >>> >>> However, the comments re: problems of accelerated aging are, of course, >>> valid. They are valid also for accelerated aging tests in fields other than >>> fluid collection labels. One way I dealt with that was shortening test >>> times from 1 month (as pee the "classic" Oddy Test) to 48 hours. >>> >>> In any case, I consider all of the comments here very valuable to >>> shsping future testing. I have sent an email to a person at the IPI (thanks >>> for the contact, Rob! Fabian, I'll follow yours, too!). If they reply, I'd >>> be happy to gather a think-tank team to discuss the subject with them. >>> >>> Gali >>> >>> Gali Beiner (ACR) >>> Conservator, Palaeontology Lab >>> National Natural History Collections >>> The Hebrew University of Jerusalem >>> Berman Building, Edmond J. Safra campus, Givat Ram >>> Jerusalem 91904, Israel >>> Fax. 972-2-6585785 >>> *gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il * >>> >>> *https://nnhc.huji.ac.il/?lang=en * >>> >>> ?????? ??? ??, 14 ????? 2026, 00:39, ??? Dirk Neumann ?< >>> d.neumann at leibniz-lib.de>: >>> >>>> Hi all, >>>> >>>> before we introduced our gill tags for a major field survey, I tagged >>>> small fish (2cm) with approx. 1cm gill tags, but them in PE-bottles with >>>> formalin, and put them into a washing machine running the full cold wash >>>> programme (no heat, but 'bumpy road' conditions. >>>> >>>> Think that matches Andy's idea of a rock tumbler quite well. >>>> >>>> The HP 600 ink jet labels on 100 g/m2 transparent paper preformed best >>>> (as already said in this thread: ink jet printing boils the ink and shoots >>>> it into the paper). Gill tags also stayed in place (second level of >>>> testing). >>>> >>>> We had perfect performance even on very bumpy off-road tracks in >>>> central Africa. >>>> >>>> Just an idea ... >>>> >>>> With best wishes >>>> Dirk >>>> >>>> >>>> Am 13.04.2026 um 17:20 schrieb Robert Waller: >>>> >>>> Hi Andy, >>>> You are right that accelerated aging tests can be misleading. I am not >>>> sure that is what would be wanted. Just having casually read the messages >>>> though, I thought that some guidance on specification of papers and inks >>>> might be useful. For example, where print simply floated off the paper when >>>> immersed, I might guess that could be a result of using a clay coated >>>> paper. That is just a guess as I do not have expertise in either printers >>>> or papers. It just seemed that we might clarify, even simplify, our >>>> understandings by communicating with the people who have expertise in that. >>>> IPI would seem a good place to start. >>>> Perhaps I should have explained that to start. >>>> Best, >>>> Rob >>>> >>>> ------------------------------ >>>> *From:* Bentley, Andrew Charles >>>> *Sent:* Monday, April 13, 2026 10:44 AM >>>> *To:* Gali Beiner >>>> ; Robert Waller >>>> >>>> *Cc:* NHCOLL-new >>>> >>>> *Subject:* Re: [Nhcoll-l] Desktop thermal printers? >>>> >>>> Hi all >>>> >>>> I think the rub (pun intended) with accelerated aging tests is that >>>> they can over-express real-world scenarios. A thermal transfer printer >>>> label (or any label for that matter) inserted into a glass jar, is going to >>>> be subject to limited abrasion and, as such, any accelerated aging test >>>> that uses physical abrasion as its main mechanism of aging is not going to >>>> be an accurate representation of real word effects in my opinion. Maybe >>>> placing a jar of alcohol with specimen and label in the equivalent of a >>>> rock tumbler would more closely approximate a real-world scenario. >>>> >>>> Andy >>>> >>>> A : A : A : >>>> }<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<)))_?> >>>> V V V >>>> Andy Bentley >>>> Ichthyology Collection Manager >>>> University of Kansas >>>> Biodiversity Institute >>>> >>>> >>>> Dyche >>>> Hall >>>> >>>> *1345 >>>> Jayhawk Boulevard >>>> * >>>> *Lawrence, KS, 66045-7561 >>>> * >>>> *USA >>>> * >>>> >>>> Tel: *(785) 864-3863* <%28785%29%20864-3863> >>>> Fax: *(785) 864-5335* <%28785%29%20864-5335> >>>> Email: *abentley at ku.edu* >>>> >>>> ORCID: *https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3093-1258* >>>> >>>> >>>> *http://ichthyology.biodiversity.ku.edu* >>>> >>>> >>>> A : A : A : >>>> }<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<)))_?> >>>> V V V >>>> >>>> >>>> ------------------------------ >>>> *From:* Nhcoll-l >>>> on behalf of Gali Beiner >>>> >>>> *Sent:* Sunday, April 12, 2026 1:06 AM >>>> *To:* Robert Waller >>>> *Cc:* NHCOLL-new >>>> >>>> *Subject:* Re: [Nhcoll-l] Desktop thermal printers? >>>> >>>> Hi Rob and all, >>>> >>>> I'm not familiar with task groups in SPNHC, so somebody who already >>>> works with one will have to explain to me how that works, but >>>> generally speaking - the main problem here is formulating the right kind of >>>> question to answer in a scientific research. In fact, it crosses my mind >>>> that if anybody here has a contact within the Image Permanence Institute, >>>> I'd be happy to get in touch (IPI, according to its own vision, is >>>> "dedicated to supporting the preservation of cultural heritage collections >>>> in libraries, archives, and museums around the world"). >>>> >>>> Possibly the study question should be about finding the most permanent >>>> printer-ink-substrate combo (for ethanol?) in each category (laser, inkjet, >>>> thermal transfer), and then comparing categories. This would involve >>>> thinking about *the best ways to test permanence for labels in fluids* - >>>> for example, in my own published paper I presented a form of accelerated >>>> aging as a testing method. What would be the best way for testing, other >>>> than waiting 50-100 years? Maybe discussing this with people at the Image >>>> Permanence Institute could help. >>>> >>>> Gali >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> On Fri, Apr 10, 2026 at 5:18?PM Robert Waller >>>> wrote: >>>> >>>> Hi Gali, >>>> Your suggestion "to understand the "recipe" as much as possible" seems >>>> a very good idea. >>>> If you or someone else decides to initiate a task group within SPNHC to >>>> take that on, I suggest you reach out to archives and paper conservators >>>> through their discussion groups as they may already have useful information >>>> available. Perhaps the subject could be suggested as a good research >>>> project for a conservation student. That is, a compilation of information >>>> combined with some experimentation for validation. >>>> Rob >>>> >>>> ------------------------------ >>>> *From:* Nhcoll-l on behalf of Gali >>>> Beiner >>>> *Sent:* Thursday, April 09, 2026 4:17 PM >>>> *To:* Ian Engelbrecht >>>> *Cc:* NHCOLL-new >>>> *Subject:* Re: [Nhcoll-l] Desktop thermal printers? >>>> >>>> Redesigning is already happening: new tech pops in, for example the >>>> thermal transfer printers are new compared to inkjets, and new substrates >>>> are also being developed. >>>> >>>> One way to deal with inevitable change is to understand the "recipe" as >>>> much as possible and seek out the "cleaner" products - as in the case of >>>> "OBA free, acid free, lignin free" etc paper or understanding which types >>>> of toners are likely to be more permanent. Understanding the technology as >>>> much as possible and testing what we can may help narrow down choices and >>>> set clearer standards. The other way is to remain out of it and use >>>> handwritten labels, but it seems that all of us regard this option mostly >>>> as a ship that has sailed: too hard to get the workforce to do it. >>>> >>>> Gali >>>> >>>> Gali Beiner (ACR) >>>> Conservator, Palaeontology Lab >>>> National Natural History Collections >>>> The Hebrew University of Jerusalem >>>> Berman Building, Edmond J. Safra campus, Givat Ram >>>> Jerusalem 91904, Israel >>>> Fax. 972-2-6585785 >>>> *gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il* >>>> *https://nnhc.huji.ac.il/?lang=en* >>>> >>>> ?????? ??? ??, 9 ????? 2026, 21:49, ??? Ian Engelbrecht ?< >>>> ianicus.za at gmail.com>: >>>> >>>> Plus the fact that things change over time. HP printer - toner - paper >>>> combination might work now, but will it still 30 years from now when >>>> they?ve redesigned one or three of those components? >>>> >>>> Ian >>>> >>>> On Thu, 09 Apr 2026 at 18:20, Gali Beiner >>>> wrote: >>>> >>>> Doug is pointing out the heart of the problem - the variety of printing >>>> combinations which makes comparisons difficult. >>>> >>>> In fact, the variations in the way printer-ink-subsrate (paper or >>>> other) combinations work is the main reason why manufacturers recommend >>>> using their own brand for all three parts of the combo. In other words, the >>>> manufacturers say HP printers are supposed to yield better, more permanent >>>> results with original HP toners and HP specialized paper. The same goes for >>>> Canon, Epson or any other brand. Testing according to conservation >>>> parameters can work with that - or at least look very carefully into what, >>>> exactly is chosen for use (eg paper - OBA free, lignin free etc etc). >>>> >>>> The way things stand now - with endless possible variations and >>>> combinations - basically means it is up to us to try and set the criteria >>>> of choice and monitor whether that works. Not easy, but possibly we can >>>> try. >>>> >>>> Gali >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> Gali Beiner (ACR) >>>> Conservator, Palaeontology Lab >>>> National Natural History Collections >>>> The Hebrew University of Jerusalem >>>> Berman Building, Edmond J. Safra campus, Givat Ram >>>> Jerusalem 91904, Israel >>>> Fax. 972-2-6585785 >>>> *gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il* >>>> *https://nnhc.huji.ac.il/?lang=en* >>>> >>>> ?????? ??? ??, 9 ????? 2026, 18:46, ??? Douglas Yanega ?< >>>> dyanega at gmail.com>: >>>> >>>> On 4/8/26 11:38 PM, Gali Beiner wrote: >>>> >>>> Other than that, I think that maybe we could use this forum to up the >>>> level of testing a bit - after all we have a pool of collection >>>> professionals here, all with the same problem to solve re:labels for wet >>>> collections (mainly alcohol but also other). Why shouldn't we gather >>>> ourselves into a group of say 5 to 10 people in different collections and >>>> agree on some sort of protocol for different labels in each collection (or >>>> maybe sets of different labels to be tested in all collections, we could >>>> consider the details) - and have this followed both in the short and long >>>> terms? That would be more interesting than any individual test. Dear >>>> readers in this forum, how does this sound to you? >>>> >>>> Compilation of different people's experiences have been done here and >>>> elsewhere with some regularity, and one thing that is a universal >>>> impediment to generating a coherent picture is the variability of the >>>> medium that is being printed on. Comparisons of different printers are >>>> nearly meaningless if the "tests" are on different paper stock. >>>> >>>> The most dramatic example I can offer is one from personal experience: >>>> back in 1990, we obtained a Laserjet, a fairly new technology at that time, >>>> and printed thousands of labels for both dry and ethanol specimens. The >>>> first several months everything worked flawlessly, and to this day, almost >>>> 40 years on, those original labels are perfectly fine, even the ones stored >>>> in ethanol. Then one day we ran out of the existing stock of paper, bought >>>> a new ream, and loaded it into the printer without changing anything else. >>>> The lettering on those labels chipped, flaked, and rubbed off the dry >>>> labels, and when we tried to put them into ethanol, the letters floated >>>> off. No alteration of settings was involved, and nothing we did made the >>>> labels viable. That is, until we checked the packaging on the original >>>> ream; we found it was not the exact same thing that we had switched to, so >>>> we bought something IDENTICAL, and the resulting labels were just fine >>>> again. The problem had literally nothing to do with the printer, and >>>> everything to do with the paper. >>>> >>>> Again, any "test" that does not control for the medium will not be a >>>> fair and objective test of the merits of a printer. >>>> >>>> We presently use an HP Laser printer, and yes, we have had to try >>>> different types of paper to find paper stocks that work well with this >>>> printer. Not all do. Even worse, when we use "replacement" toner cartridges >>>> (not the official HP brand), sometimes *but not always*, the printing >>>> is slightly flaky and easily abraded. That means there are at least THREE >>>> parameters that need to be controlled: the printer, the medium, and the >>>> toner. Variation in any one of those three can lead to variation in the >>>> quality of the results. This makes objective assessment and testing >>>> *very* difficult, and ultimately it's just a litany of anecdotes. >>>> >>>> Peace, >>>> >>>> -- >>>> Doug Yanega Dept. of Entomology Entomology Research Museum >>>> Univ. of California, Riverside, CA 92521-0314 phone: 951-827-4315 >>>> FaceBook: Doug Yanega (disclaimer: opinions are mine, not UCR's) >>>> https://faculty.ucr.edu/~heraty/yanega.html >>>> "There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness >>>> is the true method" - Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chap. 82 >>>> >>>> _______________________________________________ >>>> Nhcoll-l mailing list >>>> Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu >>>> https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l >>>> >>>> _______________________________________________ >>>> NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of >>>> Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose >>>> mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of >>>> natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to >>>> society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. >>>> Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. >>>> >>>> _______________________________________________ >>>> Nhcoll-l mailing list >>>> Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu >>>> https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l >>>> >>>> _______________________________________________ >>>> NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of >>>> Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose >>>> mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of >>>> natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to >>>> society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. >>>> Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> -- >>>> Gali Beiner (ACR) >>>> Conservator, Palaeontology Lab >>>> National Natural History Collections >>>> The Hebrew University of Jerusalem >>>> Berman Building, Edmond J. Safra campus, Givat Ram >>>> Jerusalem 91904, Israel >>>> Fax. 972-2-6585785 >>>> *gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il* >>>> *https://nnhc.huji.ac.il/?lang=en* >>>> >>>> _______________________________________________ >>>> Nhcoll-l mailing listNhcoll-l at mailman.yale.eduhttps://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l >>>> >>>> _______________________________________________ >>>> NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of >>>> Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose >>>> mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of >>>> natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to >>>> society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. >>>> Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. >>>> >>>> >>>> -- >>>> >>>> ****** >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> *Dirk Neumann* >>>> >>>> Collection Manager, Hamburg >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> Postal address: >>>> >>>> *Museum of Nature Hamburg* >>>> Leibniz Institute for the Analysis >>>> >>>> of Biodiversity Change >>>> >>>> Dirk Neumann >>>> >>>> Martin-Luther-King-Platz 3 >>>> >>>> >>>> 20146 >>>> >>>> Hamburg >>>> >>>> +49 40 238 317 ? 628 >>>> >>>> *d.neumann at leibniz-lib.de * >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> www.leibniz-lib.de >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> -- >>>> Stiftung Leibniz-Institut zur Analyse des Biodiversit?tswandels >>>> Postanschrift: Adenauerallee 127, 53113 Bonn, Germany >>>> >>>> >>>> Stiftung des ?ffentlichen Rechts; >>>> Generaldirektion: Prof. Dr. Bernhard Misof (Generaldirektor), Adrian >>>> Gr?ter (Kaufm. Gesch?ftsf?hrer) >>>> Sitz der Stiftung: Adenauerallee 160 >>>> >>>> in Bonn >>>> Vorsitzender des Stiftungsrates: Dr. Michael Wappelhorst >>>> >>>> >>>> -- >>>> Stiftung Leibniz-Institut zur Analyse des Biodiversit?tswandels >>>> Postanschrift: Adenauerallee 127, 53113 Bonn, Germany >>>> >>>> >>>> Stiftung des ?ffentlichen Rechts; >>>> Generaldirektion: Prof. Dr. Bernhard Misof (Generaldirektor), Adrian >>>> Gr?ter (Kaufm. Gesch?ftsf?hrer) >>>> Sitz der Stiftung: Adenauerallee 160 >>>> >>>> in Bonn >>>> Vorsitzender des Stiftungsrates: Dr. Michael H. Wappelhorst >>>> _______________________________________________ >>>> Nhcoll-l mailing list >>>> Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu >>>> https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l >>>> >>>> _______________________________________________ >>>> NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of >>>> Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose >>>> mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of >>>> natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to >>>> society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. >>>> Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. >>>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> Nhcoll-l mailing list >>> Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu >>> https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of >>> Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose >>> mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of >>> natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to >>> society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. >>> Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. >>> >> _______________________________________________ >> Nhcoll-l mailing list >> Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu >> https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l >> >> _______________________________________________ >> NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of >> Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose >> mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of >> natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to >> society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. >> Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. >> > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From abentley at ku.edu Tue Apr 14 15:30:43 2026 From: abentley at ku.edu (Bentley, Andrew Charles) Date: Tue, 14 Apr 2026 19:30:43 +0000 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] [EXTERN] Re: Desktop thermal printers? In-Reply-To: References: <69D73D74020000B3000E1580@gwia0.itz.uni-halle.de> <9be072e8-2c72-4e94-a755-bf387ea19307@gmail.com> <114dc970-161d-415a-b9c3-b7e94a9b7686@leibniz-lib.de> Message-ID: Yes, identifying the agents of deterioration is a key first step. Is it abrasion, immersion, light, temperature, chemical change, etc.? How do you control for these or simulate aging in a real-world scenario. Agree that this would be a great student project that maybe the SPNHC Faber grant could help with. I will shop it around to our museum studies students here at KU to see if anyone would be interested. Would also make a great SPNHC publication. Andy A : A : A : }<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<)))_?> V V V 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 ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3093-1258 http://ichthyology.biodiversity.ku.edu A : A : A : }<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<)))_?> V V V ________________________________ From: Nhcoll-l on behalf of Ian Engelbrecht Sent: Tuesday, April 14, 2026 1:58 PM To: Kendrick Fowler Cc: NHCOLL-new Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] [EXTERN] Re: Desktop thermal printers? Also, just continuing the aging acceleration discussion, what would be tremendously helpful would be a way to accelerate whatever process is going on which causes the laser printed letters to separate from the paper/substrate they're attached to. That might be a good student project in itself - working out what happens over time that causes that separation so we can understand and mitigate or avoid that process. Ian On Tue, Apr 14, 2026 at 8:56?PM Ian Engelbrecht > wrote: We have a similar experiment here. I printed labels on several different archival papers, including Teslin, 'goatskin', and others, all with an Epson EcoTank Mono 1100, and distributed copies to wet collections around the country. They're all sitting in jars on windowsills now (or at least I hope they are). Ian On Tue, Apr 14, 2026 at 6:00?PM Kendrick Fowler > wrote: Along with running labels through a tumbler or shaker of some kind, I think that exposing labels to light and heat (along the lines of Andy's window ledge test) could be useful and interesting for accelerated aging experiments. For what it's worth, I have been running a not-very-scientific test similar to Andy's with labels made using my lab's inkjet printer, albeit for much less time; the vials have been sitting in my window for ~5 years. So far, the labels have remained perfectly readable, and the text printed by the inkjet appears to have held up equally as well as text handwritten on the labels using a black Pigma Micron pen (though both the inkjet printed and the handwritten text appear to have faded slightly). The labels were printed on Enduro Xerographic 100% cotton paper using an Epson ET-4750 EcoTank printer filled with Epson T5021 black ink, and the Micron pen was Sakura stock # XSDK005-49. Kendrick Kendrick Fowler, Entomology Lab Manager Hawthorne Valley Farmscape Ecology Program | hvfarmscape.org +1 (518) 672-7994 (office) | +1 (267) 377-7567 (cell) Follow us on Facebook or subscribe to our Progress of the Seasons Journal for weekly photoessays on Columbia County's natural wonders. On Tue, Apr 14, 2026 at 12:24?AM Gali Beiner > wrote: Just adding my own angle - the tests described in my publication involved tubes being shaked for hours in a laboratory shaker. Actually sounds to me less rough, motion-wise, than a washing machine... I did add glass spheres (no sharp angles) to the mix, though. However, the comments re: problems of accelerated aging are, of course, valid. They are valid also for accelerated aging tests in fields other than fluid collection labels. One way I dealt with that was shortening test times from 1 month (as pee the "classic" Oddy Test) to 48 hours. In any case, I consider all of the comments here very valuable to shsping future testing. I have sent an email to a person at the IPI (thanks for the contact, Rob! Fabian, I'll follow yours, too!). If they reply, I'd be happy to gather a think-tank team to discuss the subject with them. Gali [https://docs.google.com/a/mail.huji.ac.il/uc?id=0B5B3I3QnN7dsSzNkbGlLNDNGWG8&export=download]Gali Beiner (ACR) Conservator, Palaeontology Lab National Natural History Collections The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Berman Building, Edmond J. Safra campus, Givat Ram Jerusalem 91904, Israel Fax. 972-2-6585785 gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il https://nnhc.huji.ac.il/?lang=en ?????? ??? ??, 14 ????? 2026, 00:39, ??? Dirk Neumann ?>: Hi all, before we introduced our gill tags for a major field survey, I tagged small fish (2cm) with approx. 1cm gill tags, but them in PE-bottles with formalin, and put them into a washing machine running the full cold wash programme (no heat, but 'bumpy road' conditions. Think that matches Andy's idea of a rock tumbler quite well. The HP 600 ink jet labels on 100 g/m2 transparent paper preformed best (as already said in this thread: ink jet printing boils the ink and shoots it into the paper). Gill tags also stayed in place (second level of testing). We had perfect performance even on very bumpy off-road tracks in central Africa. Just an idea ... With best wishes Dirk Am 13.04.2026 um 17:20 schrieb Robert Waller: Hi Andy, You are right that accelerated aging tests can be misleading. I am not sure that is what would be wanted. Just having casually read the messages though, I thought that some guidance on specification of papers and inks might be useful. For example, where print simply floated off the paper when immersed, I might guess that could be a result of using a clay coated paper. That is just a guess as I do not have expertise in either printers or papers. It just seemed that we might clarify, even simplify, our understandings by communicating with the people who have expertise in that. IPI would seem a good place to start. Perhaps I should have explained that to start. Best, Rob ________________________________ From: Bentley, Andrew Charles Sent: Monday, April 13, 2026 10:44 AM To: Gali Beiner ; Robert Waller Cc: NHCOLL-new Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] Desktop thermal printers? Hi all I think the rub (pun intended) with accelerated aging tests is that they can over-express real-world scenarios. A thermal transfer printer label (or any label for that matter) inserted into a glass jar, is going to be subject to limited abrasion and, as such, any accelerated aging test that uses physical abrasion as its main mechanism of aging is not going to be an accurate representation of real word effects in my opinion. Maybe placing a jar of alcohol with specimen and label in the equivalent of a rock tumbler would more closely approximate a real-world scenario. Andy A : A : A : }<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<)))_?> V V V 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 ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3093-1258 http://ichthyology.biodiversity.ku.edu A : A : A : }<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<)))_?> V V V ________________________________ From: Nhcoll-l on behalf of Gali Beiner Sent: Sunday, April 12, 2026 1:06 AM To: Robert Waller Cc: NHCOLL-new Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] Desktop thermal printers? Hi Rob and all, I'm not familiar with task groups in SPNHC, so somebody who already works with one will have to explain to me how that works, but generally speaking - the main problem here is formulating the right kind of question to answer in a scientific research. In fact, it crosses my mind that if anybody here has a contact within the Image Permanence Institute, I'd be happy to get in touch (IPI, according to its own vision, is "dedicated to supporting the preservation of cultural heritage collections in libraries, archives, and museums around the world"). Possibly the study question should be about finding the most permanent printer-ink-substrate combo (for ethanol?) in each category (laser, inkjet, thermal transfer), and then comparing categories. This would involve thinking about the best ways to test permanence for labels in fluids - for example, in my own published paper I presented a form of accelerated aging as a testing method. What would be the best way for testing, other than waiting 50-100 years? Maybe discussing this with people at the Image Permanence Institute could help. Gali On Fri, Apr 10, 2026 at 5:18?PM Robert Waller > wrote: Hi Gali, Your suggestion "to understand the "recipe" as much as possible" seems a very good idea. If you or someone else decides to initiate a task group within SPNHC to take that on, I suggest you reach out to archives and paper conservators through their discussion groups as they may already have useful information available. Perhaps the subject could be suggested as a good research project for a conservation student. That is, a compilation of information combined with some experimentation for validation. Rob ________________________________ From: Nhcoll-l > on behalf of Gali Beiner > Sent: Thursday, April 09, 2026 4:17 PM To: Ian Engelbrecht > Cc: NHCOLL-new > Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] Desktop thermal printers? Redesigning is already happening: new tech pops in, for example the thermal transfer printers are new compared to inkjets, and new substrates are also being developed. One way to deal with inevitable change is to understand the "recipe" as much as possible and seek out the "cleaner" products - as in the case of "OBA free, acid free, lignin free" etc paper or understanding which types of toners are likely to be more permanent. Understanding the technology as much as possible and testing what we can may help narrow down choices and set clearer standards. The other way is to remain out of it and use handwritten labels, but it seems that all of us regard this option mostly as a ship that has sailed: too hard to get the workforce to do it. Gali [https://docs.google.com/a/mail.huji.ac.il/uc?id=0B5B3I3QnN7dsSzNkbGlLNDNGWG8&export=download]Gali Beiner (ACR) Conservator, Palaeontology Lab National Natural History Collections The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Berman Building, Edmond J. Safra campus, Givat Ram Jerusalem 91904, Israel Fax. 972-2-6585785 gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il https://nnhc.huji.ac.il/?lang=en ?????? ??? ??, 9 ????? 2026, 21:49, ??? Ian Engelbrecht ?>: Plus the fact that things change over time. HP printer - toner - paper combination might work now, but will it still 30 years from now when they?ve redesigned one or three of those components? Ian On Thu, 09 Apr 2026 at 18:20, Gali Beiner > wrote: Doug is pointing out the heart of the problem - the variety of printing combinations which makes comparisons difficult. In fact, the variations in the way printer-ink-subsrate (paper or other) combinations work is the main reason why manufacturers recommend using their own brand for all three parts of the combo. In other words, the manufacturers say HP printers are supposed to yield better, more permanent results with original HP toners and HP specialized paper. The same goes for Canon, Epson or any other brand. Testing according to conservation parameters can work with that - or at least look very carefully into what, exactly is chosen for use (eg paper - OBA free, lignin free etc etc). The way things stand now - with endless possible variations and combinations - basically means it is up to us to try and set the criteria of choice and monitor whether that works. Not easy, but possibly we can try. Gali [https://docs.google.com/a/mail.huji.ac.il/uc?id=0B5B3I3QnN7dsSzNkbGlLNDNGWG8&export=download]Gali Beiner (ACR) Conservator, Palaeontology Lab National Natural History Collections The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Berman Building, Edmond J. Safra campus, Givat Ram Jerusalem 91904, Israel Fax. 972-2-6585785 gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il https://nnhc.huji.ac.il/?lang=en ?????? ??? ??, 9 ????? 2026, 18:46, ??? Douglas Yanega ?>: On 4/8/26 11:38 PM, Gali Beiner wrote: Other than that, I think that maybe we could use this forum to up the level of testing a bit - after all we have a pool of collection professionals here, all with the same problem to solve re:labels for wet collections (mainly alcohol but also other). Why shouldn't we gather ourselves into a group of say 5 to 10 people in different collections and agree on some sort of protocol for different labels in each collection (or maybe sets of different labels to be tested in all collections, we could consider the details) - and have this followed both in the short and long terms? That would be more interesting than any individual test. Dear readers in this forum, how does this sound to you? Compilation of different people's experiences have been done here and elsewhere with some regularity, and one thing that is a universal impediment to generating a coherent picture is the variability of the medium that is being printed on. Comparisons of different printers are nearly meaningless if the "tests" are on different paper stock. The most dramatic example I can offer is one from personal experience: back in 1990, we obtained a Laserjet, a fairly new technology at that time, and printed thousands of labels for both dry and ethanol specimens. The first several months everything worked flawlessly, and to this day, almost 40 years on, those original labels are perfectly fine, even the ones stored in ethanol. Then one day we ran out of the existing stock of paper, bought a new ream, and loaded it into the printer without changing anything else. The lettering on those labels chipped, flaked, and rubbed off the dry labels, and when we tried to put them into ethanol, the letters floated off. No alteration of settings was involved, and nothing we did made the labels viable. That is, until we checked the packaging on the original ream; we found it was not the exact same thing that we had switched to, so we bought something IDENTICAL, and the resulting labels were just fine again. The problem had literally nothing to do with the printer, and everything to do with the paper. Again, any "test" that does not control for the medium will not be a fair and objective test of the merits of a printer. We presently use an HP Laser printer, and yes, we have had to try different types of paper to find paper stocks that work well with this printer. Not all do. Even worse, when we use "replacement" toner cartridges (not the official HP brand), sometimes but not always, the printing is slightly flaky and easily abraded. That means there are at least THREE parameters that need to be controlled: the printer, the medium, and the toner. Variation in any one of those three can lead to variation in the quality of the results. This makes objective assessment and testing very difficult, and ultimately it's just a litany of anecdotes. Peace, -- Doug Yanega Dept. of Entomology Entomology Research Museum Univ. of California, Riverside, CA 92521-0314 phone: 951-827-4315 FaceBook: Doug Yanega (disclaimer: opinions are mine, not UCR's) https://faculty.ucr.edu/~heraty/yanega.html "There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness is the true method" - Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chap. 82 _______________________________________________ Nhcoll-l mailing list Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l _______________________________________________ NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. _______________________________________________ Nhcoll-l mailing list Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l _______________________________________________ NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. -- [https://docs.google.com/a/mail.huji.ac.il/uc?id=0B5B3I3QnN7dsSzNkbGlLNDNGWG8&export=download]Gali Beiner (ACR) Conservator, Palaeontology Lab National Natural History Collections The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Berman Building, Edmond J. Safra campus, Givat Ram Jerusalem 91904, Israel Fax. 972-2-6585785 gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il https://nnhc.huji.ac.il/?lang=en _______________________________________________ Nhcoll-l mailing list Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l _______________________________________________ NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. -- **** Dirk Neumann Collection Manager, Hamburg Postal address: Museum of Nature Hamburg Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change Dirk Neumann Martin-Luther-King-Platz 3 20146 Hamburg +49 40 238 317 ? 628 d.neumann at leibniz-lib.de www.leibniz-lib.de -- Stiftung Leibniz-Institut zur Analyse des Biodiversit?tswandels Postanschrift: Adenauerallee 127, 53113 Bonn, Germany Stiftung des ?ffentlichen Rechts; Generaldirektion: Prof. Dr. Bernhard Misof (Generaldirektor), Adrian Gr?ter (Kaufm. Gesch?ftsf?hrer) Sitz der Stiftung: Adenauerallee 160 in Bonn Vorsitzender des Stiftungsrates: Dr. Michael Wappelhorst -- Stiftung Leibniz-Institut zur Analyse des Biodiversit?tswandels Postanschrift: Adenauerallee 127, 53113 Bonn, Germany Stiftung des ?ffentlichen Rechts; Generaldirektion: Prof. Dr. Bernhard Misof (Generaldirektor), Adrian Gr?ter (Kaufm. Gesch?ftsf?hrer) Sitz der Stiftung: Adenauerallee 160 in Bonn Vorsitzender des Stiftungsrates: Dr. Michael H. Wappelhorst _______________________________________________ Nhcoll-l mailing list Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l _______________________________________________ NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. _______________________________________________ Nhcoll-l mailing list Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l _______________________________________________ NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. _______________________________________________ Nhcoll-l mailing list Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l _______________________________________________ NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il Wed Apr 15 04:22:09 2026 From: gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il (Gali Beiner) Date: Wed, 15 Apr 2026 11:22:09 +0300 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] [EXTERN] Re: Desktop thermal printers? In-Reply-To: References: <69D73D74020000B3000E1580@gwia0.itz.uni-halle.de> <9be072e8-2c72-4e94-a755-bf387ea19307@gmail.com> <114dc970-161d-415a-b9c3-b7e94a9b7686@leibniz-lib.de> Message-ID: All this sounds great! Having student(s) working on the subject will do much to forward research and maybe reach a point where some helpful guidelines can be given. The subject is pretty complex, so possibly either different students take up different aspects to be combined at a later stage, or a PhD student takes up in-depth research? One thing that crosses my mind after reading all the posts is that with such a number of individual "not exactly scientific but still very valuable test conditions" out there, maybe we could set up a digital followup space. Would you guys like me to ask the relevant SPNHC folks if they can offer such a "space" for people to note their ongoing experiment, along with the printer-ink-substrate combo they have involved and other points of interest, so everyone can report and make notes over time? I could construct a suitable format for making such things readable (a table or suchlike). If such a thing is made available, we pop the link in here and in other places once in a while to encourage more people to join with their info over time. Gali On Tue, Apr 14, 2026 at 10:30?PM Bentley, Andrew Charles wrote: > Yes, identifying the agents of deterioration is a key first step. Is it > abrasion, immersion, light, temperature, chemical change, etc.? How do you > control for these or simulate aging in a real-world scenario. > > Agree that this would be a great student project that maybe the SPNHC > Faber grant could help with. I will shop it around to our museum studies > students here at KU to see if anyone would be interested. Would also make > a great SPNHC publication. > > Andy > > A : A : A : > }<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<)))_?> > V V V > Andy Bentley > Ichthyology Collection Manager > University of Kansas > Biodiversity Institute > > Dyche Hall > *1345 Jayhawk Boulevard* > *Lawrence, KS, 66045-7561* > *USA* > > Tel: *(785) 864-3863* <%28785%29%20864-3863> > Fax: *(785) 864-5335* <%28785%29%20864-5335> > Email: *abentley at ku.edu* > > ORCID: *https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3093-1258* > > > *http://ichthyology.biodiversity.ku.edu* > > > A : A : A : > }<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<)))_?> > V V V > > > ------------------------------ > *From:* Nhcoll-l on behalf of Ian > Engelbrecht > *Sent:* Tuesday, April 14, 2026 1:58 PM > *To:* Kendrick Fowler > *Cc:* NHCOLL-new > *Subject:* Re: [Nhcoll-l] [EXTERN] Re: Desktop thermal printers? > > Also, just continuing the aging acceleration discussion, what would be > tremendously helpful would be a way to accelerate whatever process is going > on which causes the *laser *printed letters to separate from the > paper/substrate they're attached to. That might be a good student project > in itself - working out what happens over time that causes that separation > so we can understand and mitigate or avoid that process. > > Ian > > On Tue, Apr 14, 2026 at 8:56?PM Ian Engelbrecht > wrote: > > We have a similar experiment here. I printed labels on several different > archival papers, including Teslin, 'goatskin', and others, all with an > Epson EcoTank Mono 1100, and distributed copies to wet collections around > the country. They're all sitting in jars on windowsills now (or at least I > hope they are). > > Ian > > On Tue, Apr 14, 2026 at 6:00?PM Kendrick Fowler > wrote: > > Along with running labels through a tumbler or shaker of some kind, I > think that exposing labels to light and heat (along the lines of Andy's > window ledge test) could be useful and interesting for accelerated aging > experiments. > > For what it's worth, I have been running a not-very-scientific test > similar to Andy's with labels made using my lab's inkjet printer, albeit > for much less time; the vials have been sitting in my window for ~5 years. > So far, the labels have remained perfectly readable, and the text printed > by the inkjet appears to have held up equally as well as text handwritten > on the labels using a black Pigma Micron pen (though both the inkjet > printed and the handwritten text appear to have faded slightly). The labels > were printed on Enduro Xerographic 100% cotton paper using an Epson ET-4750 > EcoTank printer filled with Epson T5021 black ink, and the Micron pen was > Sakura stock # XSDK005-49. > > Kendrick > > > *Kendrick Fowler*, *Entomology Lab Manager* > Hawthorne Valley Farmscape Ecology Program | hvfarmscape.org > +1 (518) 672-7994 (office) | +1 (267) 377-7567 (cell) > > *Follow us** on Facebook > or > subscribe to our **Progress of the Seasons Journal > for weekly **photoessays > on **Columbia County's natural **wonders**.* > > > On Tue, Apr 14, 2026 at 12:24?AM Gali Beiner > wrote: > > Just adding my own angle - the tests described in my publication involved > tubes being shaked for hours in a laboratory shaker. Actually sounds to me > less rough, motion-wise, than a washing machine... I did add glass spheres > (no sharp angles) to the mix, though. > > However, the comments re: problems of accelerated aging are, of course, > valid. They are valid also for accelerated aging tests in fields other than > fluid collection labels. One way I dealt with that was shortening test > times from 1 month (as pee the "classic" Oddy Test) to 48 hours. > > In any case, I consider all of the comments here very valuable to shsping > future testing. I have sent an email to a person at the IPI (thanks for the > contact, Rob! Fabian, I'll follow yours, too!). If they reply, I'd be happy > to gather a think-tank team to discuss the subject with them. > > Gali > > Gali Beiner (ACR) > Conservator, Palaeontology Lab > National Natural History Collections > The Hebrew University of Jerusalem > Berman Building, Edmond J. Safra campus, Givat Ram > Jerusalem 91904, Israel > Fax. 972-2-6585785 > *gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il * > > *https://nnhc.huji.ac.il/?lang=en * > > ?????? ??? ??, 14 ????? 2026, 00:39, ??? Dirk Neumann ?< > d.neumann at leibniz-lib.de>: > > Hi all, > > before we introduced our gill tags for a major field survey, I tagged > small fish (2cm) with approx. 1cm gill tags, but them in PE-bottles with > formalin, and put them into a washing machine running the full cold wash > programme (no heat, but 'bumpy road' conditions. > > Think that matches Andy's idea of a rock tumbler quite well. > > The HP 600 ink jet labels on 100 g/m2 transparent paper preformed best (as > already said in this thread: ink jet printing boils the ink and shoots it > into the paper). Gill tags also stayed in place (second level of testing). > > We had perfect performance even on very bumpy off-road tracks in central > Africa. > > Just an idea ... > > With best wishes > Dirk > > > Am 13.04.2026 um 17:20 schrieb Robert Waller: > > Hi Andy, > You are right that accelerated aging tests can be misleading. I am not > sure that is what would be wanted. Just having casually read the messages > though, I thought that some guidance on specification of papers and inks > might be useful. For example, where print simply floated off the paper when > immersed, I might guess that could be a result of using a clay coated > paper. That is just a guess as I do not have expertise in either printers > or papers. It just seemed that we might clarify, even simplify, our > understandings by communicating with the people who have expertise in that. > IPI would seem a good place to start. > Perhaps I should have explained that to start. > Best, > Rob > > ------------------------------ > *From:* Bentley, Andrew Charles > *Sent:* Monday, April 13, 2026 10:44 AM > *To:* Gali Beiner > ; Robert Waller > > *Cc:* NHCOLL-new > *Subject:* Re: [Nhcoll-l] Desktop thermal printers? > > Hi all > > I think the rub (pun intended) with accelerated aging tests is that they > can over-express real-world scenarios. A thermal transfer printer label > (or any label for that matter) inserted into a glass jar, is going to be > subject to limited abrasion and, as such, any accelerated aging test that > uses physical abrasion as its main mechanism of aging is not going to be an > accurate representation of real word effects in my opinion. Maybe placing > a jar of alcohol with specimen and label in the equivalent of a rock > tumbler would more closely approximate a real-world scenario. > > Andy > > A : A : A : > }<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<)))_?> > V V V > Andy Bentley > Ichthyology Collection Manager > University of Kansas > Biodiversity Institute > > > Dyche > Hall > > *1345 > Jayhawk Boulevard > * > *Lawrence, KS, 66045-7561 > * > *USA > * > > Tel: *(785) 864-3863* <%28785%29%20864-3863> > Fax: *(785) 864-5335* <%28785%29%20864-5335> > Email: *abentley at ku.edu* > > ORCID: *https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3093-1258* > > > *http://ichthyology.biodiversity.ku.edu* > > > A : A : A : > }<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<)))_?> > V V V > > > ------------------------------ > *From:* Nhcoll-l > on behalf of Gali Beiner > > *Sent:* Sunday, April 12, 2026 1:06 AM > *To:* Robert Waller > *Cc:* NHCOLL-new > *Subject:* Re: [Nhcoll-l] Desktop thermal printers? > > Hi Rob and all, > > I'm not familiar with task groups in SPNHC, so somebody who already works > with one will have to explain to me how that works, but generally speaking > - the main problem here is formulating the right kind of question to answer > in a scientific research. In fact, it crosses my mind that if anybody here > has a contact within the Image Permanence Institute, I'd be happy to get in > touch (IPI, according to its own vision, is "dedicated to supporting the > preservation of cultural heritage collections in libraries, archives, and > museums around the world"). > > Possibly the study question should be about finding the most permanent > printer-ink-substrate combo (for ethanol?) in each category (laser, inkjet, > thermal transfer), and then comparing categories. This would involve > thinking about *the best ways to test permanence for labels in fluids* - > for example, in my own published paper I presented a form of accelerated > aging as a testing method. What would be the best way for testing, other > than waiting 50-100 years? Maybe discussing this with people at the Image > Permanence Institute could help. > > Gali > > > > On Fri, Apr 10, 2026 at 5:18?PM Robert Waller > wrote: > > Hi Gali, > Your suggestion "to understand the "recipe" as much as possible" seems a > very good idea. > If you or someone else decides to initiate a task group within SPNHC to > take that on, I suggest you reach out to archives and paper conservators > through their discussion groups as they may already have useful information > available. Perhaps the subject could be suggested as a good research > project for a conservation student. That is, a compilation of information > combined with some experimentation for validation. > Rob > > ------------------------------ > *From:* Nhcoll-l on behalf of Gali > Beiner > *Sent:* Thursday, April 09, 2026 4:17 PM > *To:* Ian Engelbrecht > *Cc:* NHCOLL-new > *Subject:* Re: [Nhcoll-l] Desktop thermal printers? > > Redesigning is already happening: new tech pops in, for example the > thermal transfer printers are new compared to inkjets, and new substrates > are also being developed. > > One way to deal with inevitable change is to understand the "recipe" as > much as possible and seek out the "cleaner" products - as in the case of > "OBA free, acid free, lignin free" etc paper or understanding which types > of toners are likely to be more permanent. Understanding the technology as > much as possible and testing what we can may help narrow down choices and > set clearer standards. The other way is to remain out of it and use > handwritten labels, but it seems that all of us regard this option mostly > as a ship that has sailed: too hard to get the workforce to do it. > > Gali > > Gali Beiner (ACR) > Conservator, Palaeontology Lab > National Natural History Collections > The Hebrew University of Jerusalem > Berman Building, Edmond J. Safra campus, Givat Ram > Jerusalem 91904, Israel > Fax. 972-2-6585785 > *gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il* > *https://nnhc.huji.ac.il/?lang=en* > > ?????? ??? ??, 9 ????? 2026, 21:49, ??? Ian Engelbrecht ?< > ianicus.za at gmail.com>: > > Plus the fact that things change over time. HP printer - toner - paper > combination might work now, but will it still 30 years from now when > they?ve redesigned one or three of those components? > > Ian > > On Thu, 09 Apr 2026 at 18:20, Gali Beiner > wrote: > > Doug is pointing out the heart of the problem - the variety of printing > combinations which makes comparisons difficult. > > In fact, the variations in the way printer-ink-subsrate (paper or other) > combinations work is the main reason why manufacturers recommend using > their own brand for all three parts of the combo. In other words, the > manufacturers say HP printers are supposed to yield better, more permanent > results with original HP toners and HP specialized paper. The same goes for > Canon, Epson or any other brand. Testing according to conservation > parameters can work with that - or at least look very carefully into what, > exactly is chosen for use (eg paper - OBA free, lignin free etc etc). > > The way things stand now - with endless possible variations and > combinations - basically means it is up to us to try and set the criteria > of choice and monitor whether that works. Not easy, but possibly we can > try. > > Gali > > > > Gali Beiner (ACR) > Conservator, Palaeontology Lab > National Natural History Collections > The Hebrew University of Jerusalem > Berman Building, Edmond J. Safra campus, Givat Ram > Jerusalem 91904, Israel > Fax. 972-2-6585785 > *gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il* > *https://nnhc.huji.ac.il/?lang=en* > > ?????? ??? ??, 9 ????? 2026, 18:46, ??? Douglas Yanega ? >: > > On 4/8/26 11:38 PM, Gali Beiner wrote: > > Other than that, I think that maybe we could use this forum to up the > level of testing a bit - after all we have a pool of collection > professionals here, all with the same problem to solve re:labels for wet > collections (mainly alcohol but also other). Why shouldn't we gather > ourselves into a group of say 5 to 10 people in different collections and > agree on some sort of protocol for different labels in each collection (or > maybe sets of different labels to be tested in all collections, we could > consider the details) - and have this followed both in the short and long > terms? That would be more interesting than any individual test. Dear > readers in this forum, how does this sound to you? > > Compilation of different people's experiences have been done here and > elsewhere with some regularity, and one thing that is a universal > impediment to generating a coherent picture is the variability of the > medium that is being printed on. Comparisons of different printers are > nearly meaningless if the "tests" are on different paper stock. > > The most dramatic example I can offer is one from personal experience: > back in 1990, we obtained a Laserjet, a fairly new technology at that time, > and printed thousands of labels for both dry and ethanol specimens. The > first several months everything worked flawlessly, and to this day, almost > 40 years on, those original labels are perfectly fine, even the ones stored > in ethanol. Then one day we ran out of the existing stock of paper, bought > a new ream, and loaded it into the printer without changing anything else. > The lettering on those labels chipped, flaked, and rubbed off the dry > labels, and when we tried to put them into ethanol, the letters floated > off. No alteration of settings was involved, and nothing we did made the > labels viable. That is, until we checked the packaging on the original > ream; we found it was not the exact same thing that we had switched to, so > we bought something IDENTICAL, and the resulting labels were just fine > again. The problem had literally nothing to do with the printer, and > everything to do with the paper. > > Again, any "test" that does not control for the medium will not be a fair > and objective test of the merits of a printer. > > We presently use an HP Laser printer, and yes, we have had to try > different types of paper to find paper stocks that work well with this > printer. Not all do. Even worse, when we use "replacement" toner cartridges > (not the official HP brand), sometimes *but not always*, the printing is > slightly flaky and easily abraded. That means there are at least THREE > parameters that need to be controlled: the printer, the medium, and the > toner. Variation in any one of those three can lead to variation in the > quality of the results. This makes objective assessment and testing *very* difficult, > and ultimately it's just a litany of anecdotes. > > Peace, > > -- > Doug Yanega Dept. of Entomology Entomology Research Museum > Univ. of California, Riverside, CA 92521-0314 phone: 951-827-4315 > FaceBook: Doug Yanega (disclaimer: opinions are mine, not UCR's) > https://faculty.ucr.edu/~heraty/yanega.html > "There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness > is the true method" - Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chap. 82 > > _______________________________________________ > Nhcoll-l mailing list > Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu > https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l > > _______________________________________________ > NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of > Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose > mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of > natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to > society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. > Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. > > _______________________________________________ > Nhcoll-l mailing list > Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu > https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l > > _______________________________________________ > NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of > Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose > mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of > natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to > society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. > Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. > > > > -- > Gali Beiner (ACR) > Conservator, Palaeontology Lab > National Natural History Collections > The Hebrew University of Jerusalem > Berman Building, Edmond J. Safra campus, Givat Ram > Jerusalem 91904, Israel > Fax. 972-2-6585785 > *gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il* > *https://nnhc.huji.ac.il/?lang=en* > > _______________________________________________ > Nhcoll-l mailing listNhcoll-l at mailman.yale.eduhttps://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l > > _______________________________________________ > NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of > Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose > mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of > natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to > society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. > Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. > > > -- > > ****** > > > > *Dirk Neumann* > > Collection Manager, Hamburg > > > > Postal address: > > *Museum of Nature Hamburg* > Leibniz Institute for the Analysis > > of Biodiversity Change > > Dirk Neumann > > Martin-Luther-King-Platz 3 > > > 20146 > > Hamburg > > +49 40 238 317 ? 628 > > *d.neumann at leibniz-lib.de * > > > > > > www.leibniz-lib.de > > > > > > -- > Stiftung Leibniz-Institut zur Analyse des Biodiversit?tswandels > Postanschrift: Adenauerallee 127, 53113 Bonn, Germany > > > Stiftung des ?ffentlichen Rechts; > Generaldirektion: Prof. Dr. Bernhard Misof (Generaldirektor), Adrian > Gr?ter (Kaufm. Gesch?ftsf?hrer) > Sitz der Stiftung: Adenauerallee 160 > > in Bonn > Vorsitzender des Stiftungsrates: Dr. Michael Wappelhorst > > > -- > Stiftung Leibniz-Institut zur Analyse des Biodiversit?tswandels > Postanschrift: Adenauerallee 127, 53113 Bonn, Germany > > > Stiftung des ?ffentlichen Rechts; > Generaldirektion: Prof. Dr. Bernhard Misof (Generaldirektor), Adrian > Gr?ter (Kaufm. Gesch?ftsf?hrer) > Sitz der Stiftung: Adenauerallee 160 > > in Bonn > Vorsitzender des Stiftungsrates: Dr. Michael H. Wappelhorst > _______________________________________________ > Nhcoll-l mailing list > Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu > https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l > > _______________________________________________ > NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of > Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose > mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of > natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to > society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. > Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. > > _______________________________________________ > Nhcoll-l mailing list > Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu > https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l > > _______________________________________________ > NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of > Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose > mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of > natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to > society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. > Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. > > _______________________________________________ > Nhcoll-l mailing list > Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu > https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l > > _______________________________________________ > NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of > Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose > mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of > natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to > society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. > Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. > > _______________________________________________ > Nhcoll-l mailing list > Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu > https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l > > _______________________________________________ > NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of > Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose > mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of > natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to > society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. > Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. > -- Gali Beiner (ACR) Conservator, Palaeontology Lab National Natural History Collections The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Berman Building, Edmond J. Safra campus, Givat Ram Jerusalem 91904, Israel Fax. 972-2-6585785 *gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il * *https://nnhc.huji.ac.il/?lang=en * -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From ianicus.za at gmail.com Wed Apr 15 04:32:33 2026 From: ianicus.za at gmail.com (Ian Engelbrecht) Date: Wed, 15 Apr 2026 10:32:33 +0200 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] [EXTERN] Re: Desktop thermal printers? In-Reply-To: References: <69D73D74020000B3000E1580@gwia0.itz.uni-halle.de> <9be072e8-2c72-4e94-a755-bf387ea19307@gmail.com> <114dc970-161d-415a-b9c3-b7e94a9b7686@leibniz-lib.de> Message-ID: Supported On Wed, Apr 15, 2026 at 10:22?AM Gali Beiner wrote: > All this sounds great! Having student(s) working on the subject will do > much to forward research and maybe reach a point where some helpful > guidelines can be given. The subject is pretty complex, so possibly either > different students take up different aspects to be combined at a later > stage, or a PhD student takes up in-depth research? > > One thing that crosses my mind after reading all the posts is that with > such a number of individual "not exactly scientific but still very valuable > test conditions" out there, maybe we could set up a digital followup space. > Would you guys like me to ask the relevant SPNHC folks if they can offer > such a "space" for people to note their ongoing experiment, along with the > printer-ink-substrate combo they have involved and other points of > interest, so everyone can report and make notes over time? I could > construct a suitable format for making such things readable (a table or > suchlike). If such a thing is made available, we pop the link in here and > in other places once in a while to encourage more people to join with their > info over time. > > Gali > > > On Tue, Apr 14, 2026 at 10:30?PM Bentley, Andrew Charles > wrote: > >> Yes, identifying the agents of deterioration is a key first step. Is it >> abrasion, immersion, light, temperature, chemical change, etc.? How do you >> control for these or simulate aging in a real-world scenario. >> >> Agree that this would be a great student project that maybe the SPNHC >> Faber grant could help with. I will shop it around to our museum studies >> students here at KU to see if anyone would be interested. Would also make >> a great SPNHC publication. >> >> Andy >> >> A : A : A : >> }<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<)))_?> >> V V V >> Andy Bentley >> Ichthyology Collection Manager >> University of Kansas >> Biodiversity Institute >> >> Dyche Hall >> *1345 Jayhawk Boulevard* >> *Lawrence, KS, 66045-7561* >> *USA* >> >> Tel: *(785) 864-3863* <%28785%29%20864-3863> >> Fax: *(785) 864-5335* <%28785%29%20864-5335> >> Email: *abentley at ku.edu* >> >> ORCID: *https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3093-1258* >> >> >> *http://ichthyology.biodiversity.ku.edu* >> >> >> A : A : A : >> }<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<)))_?> >> V V V >> >> >> ------------------------------ >> *From:* Nhcoll-l on behalf of Ian >> Engelbrecht >> *Sent:* Tuesday, April 14, 2026 1:58 PM >> *To:* Kendrick Fowler >> *Cc:* NHCOLL-new >> *Subject:* Re: [Nhcoll-l] [EXTERN] Re: Desktop thermal printers? >> >> Also, just continuing the aging acceleration discussion, what would be >> tremendously helpful would be a way to accelerate whatever process is going >> on which causes the *laser *printed letters to separate from the >> paper/substrate they're attached to. That might be a good student project >> in itself - working out what happens over time that causes that separation >> so we can understand and mitigate or avoid that process. >> >> Ian >> >> On Tue, Apr 14, 2026 at 8:56?PM Ian Engelbrecht >> wrote: >> >> We have a similar experiment here. I printed labels on several different >> archival papers, including Teslin, 'goatskin', and others, all with an >> Epson EcoTank Mono 1100, and distributed copies to wet collections around >> the country. They're all sitting in jars on windowsills now (or at least I >> hope they are). >> >> Ian >> >> On Tue, Apr 14, 2026 at 6:00?PM Kendrick Fowler >> wrote: >> >> Along with running labels through a tumbler or shaker of some kind, I >> think that exposing labels to light and heat (along the lines of Andy's >> window ledge test) could be useful and interesting for accelerated aging >> experiments. >> >> For what it's worth, I have been running a not-very-scientific test >> similar to Andy's with labels made using my lab's inkjet printer, albeit >> for much less time; the vials have been sitting in my window for ~5 years. >> So far, the labels have remained perfectly readable, and the text printed >> by the inkjet appears to have held up equally as well as text handwritten >> on the labels using a black Pigma Micron pen (though both the inkjet >> printed and the handwritten text appear to have faded slightly). The labels >> were printed on Enduro Xerographic 100% cotton paper using an Epson ET-4750 >> EcoTank printer filled with Epson T5021 black ink, and the Micron pen was >> Sakura stock # XSDK005-49. >> >> Kendrick >> >> >> *Kendrick Fowler*, *Entomology Lab Manager* >> Hawthorne Valley Farmscape Ecology Program | hvfarmscape.org >> +1 (518) 672-7994 (office) | +1 (267) 377-7567 (cell) >> >> *Follow us** on Facebook >> or >> subscribe to our **Progress of the Seasons Journal >> for weekly **photoessays >> on **Columbia County's natural **wonders**.* >> >> >> On Tue, Apr 14, 2026 at 12:24?AM Gali Beiner >> wrote: >> >> Just adding my own angle - the tests described in my publication involved >> tubes being shaked for hours in a laboratory shaker. Actually sounds to me >> less rough, motion-wise, than a washing machine... I did add glass spheres >> (no sharp angles) to the mix, though. >> >> However, the comments re: problems of accelerated aging are, of course, >> valid. They are valid also for accelerated aging tests in fields other than >> fluid collection labels. One way I dealt with that was shortening test >> times from 1 month (as pee the "classic" Oddy Test) to 48 hours. >> >> In any case, I consider all of the comments here very valuable to shsping >> future testing. I have sent an email to a person at the IPI (thanks for the >> contact, Rob! Fabian, I'll follow yours, too!). If they reply, I'd be happy >> to gather a think-tank team to discuss the subject with them. >> >> Gali >> >> Gali Beiner (ACR) >> Conservator, Palaeontology Lab >> National Natural History Collections >> The Hebrew University of Jerusalem >> Berman Building, Edmond J. Safra campus, Givat Ram >> Jerusalem 91904, Israel >> Fax. 972-2-6585785 >> *gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il * >> >> *https://nnhc.huji.ac.il/?lang=en * >> >> ?????? ??? ??, 14 ????? 2026, 00:39, ??? Dirk Neumann ?< >> d.neumann at leibniz-lib.de>: >> >> Hi all, >> >> before we introduced our gill tags for a major field survey, I tagged >> small fish (2cm) with approx. 1cm gill tags, but them in PE-bottles with >> formalin, and put them into a washing machine running the full cold wash >> programme (no heat, but 'bumpy road' conditions. >> >> Think that matches Andy's idea of a rock tumbler quite well. >> >> The HP 600 ink jet labels on 100 g/m2 transparent paper preformed best >> (as already said in this thread: ink jet printing boils the ink and shoots >> it into the paper). Gill tags also stayed in place (second level of >> testing). >> >> We had perfect performance even on very bumpy off-road tracks in central >> Africa. >> >> Just an idea ... >> >> With best wishes >> Dirk >> >> >> Am 13.04.2026 um 17:20 schrieb Robert Waller: >> >> Hi Andy, >> You are right that accelerated aging tests can be misleading. I am not >> sure that is what would be wanted. Just having casually read the messages >> though, I thought that some guidance on specification of papers and inks >> might be useful. For example, where print simply floated off the paper when >> immersed, I might guess that could be a result of using a clay coated >> paper. That is just a guess as I do not have expertise in either printers >> or papers. It just seemed that we might clarify, even simplify, our >> understandings by communicating with the people who have expertise in that. >> IPI would seem a good place to start. >> Perhaps I should have explained that to start. >> Best, >> Rob >> >> ------------------------------ >> *From:* Bentley, Andrew Charles >> *Sent:* Monday, April 13, 2026 10:44 AM >> *To:* Gali Beiner >> ; Robert Waller >> >> *Cc:* NHCOLL-new >> *Subject:* Re: [Nhcoll-l] Desktop thermal printers? >> >> Hi all >> >> I think the rub (pun intended) with accelerated aging tests is that they >> can over-express real-world scenarios. A thermal transfer printer label >> (or any label for that matter) inserted into a glass jar, is going to be >> subject to limited abrasion and, as such, any accelerated aging test that >> uses physical abrasion as its main mechanism of aging is not going to be an >> accurate representation of real word effects in my opinion. Maybe placing >> a jar of alcohol with specimen and label in the equivalent of a rock >> tumbler would more closely approximate a real-world scenario. >> >> Andy >> >> A : A : A : >> }<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<)))_?> >> V V V >> Andy Bentley >> Ichthyology Collection Manager >> University of Kansas >> Biodiversity Institute >> >> >> Dyche >> Hall >> >> *1345 >> Jayhawk Boulevard >> * >> *Lawrence, KS, 66045-7561 >> * >> *USA >> * >> >> Tel: *(785) 864-3863* <%28785%29%20864-3863> >> Fax: *(785) 864-5335* <%28785%29%20864-5335> >> Email: *abentley at ku.edu* >> >> ORCID: *https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3093-1258* >> >> >> *http://ichthyology.biodiversity.ku.edu* >> >> >> A : A : A : >> }<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<)))_?> >> V V V >> >> >> ------------------------------ >> *From:* Nhcoll-l >> on behalf of Gali Beiner >> >> *Sent:* Sunday, April 12, 2026 1:06 AM >> *To:* Robert Waller >> *Cc:* NHCOLL-new >> *Subject:* Re: [Nhcoll-l] Desktop thermal printers? >> >> Hi Rob and all, >> >> I'm not familiar with task groups in SPNHC, so somebody who already works >> with one will have to explain to me how that works, but generally speaking >> - the main problem here is formulating the right kind of question to answer >> in a scientific research. In fact, it crosses my mind that if anybody here >> has a contact within the Image Permanence Institute, I'd be happy to get in >> touch (IPI, according to its own vision, is "dedicated to supporting the >> preservation of cultural heritage collections in libraries, archives, and >> museums around the world"). >> >> Possibly the study question should be about finding the most permanent >> printer-ink-substrate combo (for ethanol?) in each category (laser, inkjet, >> thermal transfer), and then comparing categories. This would involve >> thinking about *the best ways to test permanence for labels in fluids* - >> for example, in my own published paper I presented a form of accelerated >> aging as a testing method. What would be the best way for testing, other >> than waiting 50-100 years? Maybe discussing this with people at the Image >> Permanence Institute could help. >> >> Gali >> >> >> >> On Fri, Apr 10, 2026 at 5:18?PM Robert Waller >> wrote: >> >> Hi Gali, >> Your suggestion "to understand the "recipe" as much as possible" seems a >> very good idea. >> If you or someone else decides to initiate a task group within SPNHC to >> take that on, I suggest you reach out to archives and paper conservators >> through their discussion groups as they may already have useful information >> available. Perhaps the subject could be suggested as a good research >> project for a conservation student. That is, a compilation of information >> combined with some experimentation for validation. >> Rob >> >> ------------------------------ >> *From:* Nhcoll-l on behalf of Gali >> Beiner >> *Sent:* Thursday, April 09, 2026 4:17 PM >> *To:* Ian Engelbrecht >> *Cc:* NHCOLL-new >> *Subject:* Re: [Nhcoll-l] Desktop thermal printers? >> >> Redesigning is already happening: new tech pops in, for example the >> thermal transfer printers are new compared to inkjets, and new substrates >> are also being developed. >> >> One way to deal with inevitable change is to understand the "recipe" as >> much as possible and seek out the "cleaner" products - as in the case of >> "OBA free, acid free, lignin free" etc paper or understanding which types >> of toners are likely to be more permanent. Understanding the technology as >> much as possible and testing what we can may help narrow down choices and >> set clearer standards. The other way is to remain out of it and use >> handwritten labels, but it seems that all of us regard this option mostly >> as a ship that has sailed: too hard to get the workforce to do it. >> >> Gali >> >> Gali Beiner (ACR) >> Conservator, Palaeontology Lab >> National Natural History Collections >> The Hebrew University of Jerusalem >> Berman Building, Edmond J. Safra campus, Givat Ram >> Jerusalem 91904, Israel >> Fax. 972-2-6585785 >> *gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il* >> *https://nnhc.huji.ac.il/?lang=en* >> >> ?????? ??? ??, 9 ????? 2026, 21:49, ??? Ian Engelbrecht ?< >> ianicus.za at gmail.com>: >> >> Plus the fact that things change over time. HP printer - toner - paper >> combination might work now, but will it still 30 years from now when >> they?ve redesigned one or three of those components? >> >> Ian >> >> On Thu, 09 Apr 2026 at 18:20, Gali Beiner >> wrote: >> >> Doug is pointing out the heart of the problem - the variety of printing >> combinations which makes comparisons difficult. >> >> In fact, the variations in the way printer-ink-subsrate (paper or other) >> combinations work is the main reason why manufacturers recommend using >> their own brand for all three parts of the combo. In other words, the >> manufacturers say HP printers are supposed to yield better, more permanent >> results with original HP toners and HP specialized paper. The same goes for >> Canon, Epson or any other brand. Testing according to conservation >> parameters can work with that - or at least look very carefully into what, >> exactly is chosen for use (eg paper - OBA free, lignin free etc etc). >> >> The way things stand now - with endless possible variations and >> combinations - basically means it is up to us to try and set the criteria >> of choice and monitor whether that works. Not easy, but possibly we can >> try. >> >> Gali >> >> >> >> Gali Beiner (ACR) >> Conservator, Palaeontology Lab >> National Natural History Collections >> The Hebrew University of Jerusalem >> Berman Building, Edmond J. Safra campus, Givat Ram >> Jerusalem 91904, Israel >> Fax. 972-2-6585785 >> *gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il* >> *https://nnhc.huji.ac.il/?lang=en* >> >> ?????? ??? ??, 9 ????? 2026, 18:46, ??? Douglas Yanega ?< >> dyanega at gmail.com>: >> >> On 4/8/26 11:38 PM, Gali Beiner wrote: >> >> Other than that, I think that maybe we could use this forum to up the >> level of testing a bit - after all we have a pool of collection >> professionals here, all with the same problem to solve re:labels for wet >> collections (mainly alcohol but also other). Why shouldn't we gather >> ourselves into a group of say 5 to 10 people in different collections and >> agree on some sort of protocol for different labels in each collection (or >> maybe sets of different labels to be tested in all collections, we could >> consider the details) - and have this followed both in the short and long >> terms? That would be more interesting than any individual test. Dear >> readers in this forum, how does this sound to you? >> >> Compilation of different people's experiences have been done here and >> elsewhere with some regularity, and one thing that is a universal >> impediment to generating a coherent picture is the variability of the >> medium that is being printed on. Comparisons of different printers are >> nearly meaningless if the "tests" are on different paper stock. >> >> The most dramatic example I can offer is one from personal experience: >> back in 1990, we obtained a Laserjet, a fairly new technology at that time, >> and printed thousands of labels for both dry and ethanol specimens. The >> first several months everything worked flawlessly, and to this day, almost >> 40 years on, those original labels are perfectly fine, even the ones stored >> in ethanol. Then one day we ran out of the existing stock of paper, bought >> a new ream, and loaded it into the printer without changing anything else. >> The lettering on those labels chipped, flaked, and rubbed off the dry >> labels, and when we tried to put them into ethanol, the letters floated >> off. No alteration of settings was involved, and nothing we did made the >> labels viable. That is, until we checked the packaging on the original >> ream; we found it was not the exact same thing that we had switched to, so >> we bought something IDENTICAL, and the resulting labels were just fine >> again. The problem had literally nothing to do with the printer, and >> everything to do with the paper. >> >> Again, any "test" that does not control for the medium will not be a fair >> and objective test of the merits of a printer. >> >> We presently use an HP Laser printer, and yes, we have had to try >> different types of paper to find paper stocks that work well with this >> printer. Not all do. Even worse, when we use "replacement" toner cartridges >> (not the official HP brand), sometimes *but not always*, the printing is >> slightly flaky and easily abraded. That means there are at least THREE >> parameters that need to be controlled: the printer, the medium, and the >> toner. Variation in any one of those three can lead to variation in the >> quality of the results. This makes objective assessment and testing >> *very* difficult, and ultimately it's just a litany of anecdotes. >> >> Peace, >> >> -- >> Doug Yanega Dept. of Entomology Entomology Research Museum >> Univ. of California, Riverside, CA 92521-0314 phone: 951-827-4315 >> FaceBook: Doug Yanega (disclaimer: opinions are mine, not UCR's) >> https://faculty.ucr.edu/~heraty/yanega.html >> "There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness >> is the true method" - Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chap. 82 >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Nhcoll-l mailing list >> Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu >> https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l >> >> _______________________________________________ >> NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of >> Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose >> mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of >> natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to >> society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. >> Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Nhcoll-l mailing list >> Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu >> https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l >> >> _______________________________________________ >> NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of >> Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose >> mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of >> natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to >> society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. >> Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. >> >> >> >> -- >> Gali Beiner (ACR) >> Conservator, Palaeontology Lab >> National Natural History Collections >> The Hebrew University of Jerusalem >> Berman Building, Edmond J. Safra campus, Givat Ram >> Jerusalem 91904, Israel >> Fax. 972-2-6585785 >> *gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il* >> *https://nnhc.huji.ac.il/?lang=en* >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Nhcoll-l mailing listNhcoll-l at mailman.yale.eduhttps://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l >> >> _______________________________________________ >> NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of >> Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose >> mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of >> natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to >> society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. >> Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. >> >> >> -- >> >> ****** >> >> >> >> *Dirk Neumann* >> >> Collection Manager, Hamburg >> >> >> >> Postal address: >> >> *Museum of Nature Hamburg* >> Leibniz Institute for the Analysis >> >> of Biodiversity Change >> >> Dirk Neumann >> >> Martin-Luther-King-Platz 3 >> >> >> 20146 >> >> Hamburg >> >> +49 40 238 317 ? 628 >> >> *d.neumann at leibniz-lib.de * >> >> >> >> >> >> www.leibniz-lib.de >> >> >> >> >> >> -- >> Stiftung Leibniz-Institut zur Analyse des Biodiversit?tswandels >> Postanschrift: Adenauerallee 127, 53113 Bonn, Germany >> >> >> Stiftung des ?ffentlichen Rechts; >> Generaldirektion: Prof. Dr. Bernhard Misof (Generaldirektor), Adrian >> Gr?ter (Kaufm. Gesch?ftsf?hrer) >> Sitz der Stiftung: Adenauerallee 160 >> >> in Bonn >> Vorsitzender des Stiftungsrates: Dr. Michael Wappelhorst >> >> >> -- >> Stiftung Leibniz-Institut zur Analyse des Biodiversit?tswandels >> Postanschrift: Adenauerallee 127, 53113 Bonn, Germany >> >> >> Stiftung des ?ffentlichen Rechts; >> Generaldirektion: Prof. Dr. Bernhard Misof (Generaldirektor), Adrian >> Gr?ter (Kaufm. Gesch?ftsf?hrer) >> Sitz der Stiftung: Adenauerallee 160 >> >> in Bonn >> Vorsitzender des Stiftungsrates: Dr. Michael H. Wappelhorst >> _______________________________________________ >> Nhcoll-l mailing list >> Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu >> https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l >> >> _______________________________________________ >> NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of >> Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose >> mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of >> natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to >> society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. >> Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Nhcoll-l mailing list >> Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu >> https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l >> >> _______________________________________________ >> NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of >> Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose >> mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of >> natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to >> society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. >> Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Nhcoll-l mailing list >> Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu >> https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l >> >> _______________________________________________ >> NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of >> Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose >> mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of >> natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to >> society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. >> Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Nhcoll-l mailing list >> Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu >> https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l >> >> _______________________________________________ >> NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of >> Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose >> mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of >> natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to >> society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. >> Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. >> > > > -- > Gali Beiner (ACR) > Conservator, Palaeontology Lab > National Natural History Collections > The Hebrew University of Jerusalem > Berman Building, Edmond J. Safra campus, Givat Ram > Jerusalem 91904, Israel > Fax. 972-2-6585785 > *gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il * > > *https://nnhc.huji.ac.il/?lang=en * > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From dlpaul at illinois.edu Wed Apr 15 11:22:27 2026 From: dlpaul at illinois.edu (Deborah Paul) Date: Wed, 15 Apr 2026 10:22:27 -0500 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Quick Note - Special Topics Today at TaxonWorks Community Consults Message-ID: Greetings Everyone, A quick note to share two special sessions ... today at our regular Community Consults sessions for our TaxonWorks adopters and developers. 1530 UTC (1030 AM Central) -- yes, starting in 10 minutes! Early Community Consults (open/hybrid) Special topic/discussion: *Building A Code-Base Together - Resources and Directions * 1830 UTC (130 PM Central) Late Community Consults? (open/hybrid) Special topic: *Running Your Own Server For TaxonWorks - What we've learned so far (1hr)* All are welcome to join the discussion via Zoom . In anticipation, Debbie, for the SFG and TaxonWorks -- - Deborah Paul, Biodiversity Informatics Community Liaison - Species File Group (INHS), University of Illinois -- Natural History Collections and Museomics NHCM Editor-in-Chiefhttps://nhcm.pensoft.net -- Biodiversity Information Standards (TDWG) Past Chair 2021-2022 -- Florida State University Courtesy Appointment -- Species File Group and Eventshttps://speciesfilegroup.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From rdees37 at yahoo.com Sun Apr 12 14:02:03 2026 From: rdees37 at yahoo.com (Robert Dees) Date: Sun, 12 Apr 2026 11:02:03 -0700 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Information on collector William Clarke MacIntyre References: <7B0E2D80-6805-45A8-A34C-8966DF1173CA.ref@yahoo.com> Message-ID: <7B0E2D80-6805-45A8-A34C-8966DF1173CA@yahoo.com> Hi, This is probably far past your interest, but there is a reference to William Clark McIntyre in an article by contemporary biological collector Walter J. Eyerdam in vol. 63, page 19, 1946 of Minutes of the Conchological Club of Southern California available at https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/180115#page/256/mode/1up ?At Guayaquil we stopped for three days where two excursions into the surrounding woods and marshes were made with Mr. William Clarke MacIntyre who came down from Banos in the Oriente of Ecuador to visit me.? page 19. -Bob Dees Cambria, CA -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From d.neumann at leibniz-lib.de Thu Apr 16 07:55:54 2026 From: d.neumann at leibniz-lib.de (Dirk Neumann) Date: Thu, 16 Apr 2026 13:55:54 +0200 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] [EXTERN] Re: Desktop thermal printers? In-Reply-To: References: <9be072e8-2c72-4e94-a755-bf387ea19307@gmail.com> <114dc970-161d-415a-b9c3-b7e94a9b7686@leibniz-lib.de> Message-ID: <3e98443a-d30c-4b9c-aa39-c74b8c70d824@leibniz-lib.de> Hi Ian and all, there is a lot of valuable information on the SPNHC Wiki on labels: https://spnhc.org/labeling-natural-history-collections/#Laser_Printing_.28and_Photocopiers.29 Key factors for the adhesion of laser toner letters is the coating of the paper, its roughness and the temperature during printing. Some early Xerox labels from the 1980ies and 1990ies in my former collection were still fine in 30 years later in terms of printing, but the coating of the paper started to fell apart (visible white/grey shading, followed by detachment of letters from 'discoloured' grey areas). Letter soup usually occurs if the toner has not been melted properly onto the paper (i.e. its fibres), the surface was too smooth, or a combination of both. Hope this helps Dirk Am 14.04.2026 um 20:58 schrieb Ian Engelbrecht: Also, just continuing the aging acceleration discussion, what would be tremendously helpful would be a way to accelerate whatever process is going on which causes the laser printed letters to separate from the paper/substrate they're attached to. That might be a good student project in itself - working out what happens over time that causes that separation so we can understand and mitigate or avoid that process. Ian On Tue, Apr 14, 2026 at 8:56?PM Ian Engelbrecht > wrote: We have a similar experiment here. I printed labels on several different archival papers, including Teslin, 'goatskin', and others, all with an Epson EcoTank Mono 1100, and distributed copies to wet collections around the country. They're all sitting in jars on windowsills now (or at least I hope they are). Ian On Tue, Apr 14, 2026 at 6:00?PM Kendrick Fowler > wrote: Along with running labels through a tumbler or shaker of some kind, I think that exposing labels to light and heat (along the lines of Andy's window ledge test) could be useful and interesting for accelerated aging experiments. For what it's worth, I have been running a not-very-scientific test similar to Andy's with labels made using my lab's inkjet printer, albeit for much less time; the vials have been sitting in my window for ~5 years. So far, the labels have remained perfectly readable, and the text printed by the inkjet appears to have held up equally as well as text handwritten on the labels using a black Pigma Micron pen (though both the inkjet printed and the handwritten text appear to have faded slightly). The labels were printed on Enduro Xerographic 100% cotton paper using an Epson ET-4750 EcoTank printer filled with Epson T5021 black ink, and the Micron pen was Sakura stock # XSDK005-49. Kendrick Kendrick Fowler, Entomology Lab Manager Hawthorne Valley Farmscape Ecology Program | hvfarmscape.org +1 (518) 672-7994 (office) | +1 (267) 377-7567 (cell) Follow us on Facebook or subscribe to our Progress of the Seasons Journal for weekly photoessays on Columbia County's natural wonders. On Tue, Apr 14, 2026 at 12:24?AM Gali Beiner > wrote: Just adding my own angle - the tests described in my publication involved tubes being shaked for hours in a laboratory shaker. Actually sounds to me less rough, motion-wise, than a washing machine... I did add glass spheres (no sharp angles) to the mix, though. However, the comments re: problems of accelerated aging are, of course, valid. They are valid also for accelerated aging tests in fields other than fluid collection labels. One way I dealt with that was shortening test times from 1 month (as pee the "classic" Oddy Test) to 48 hours. In any case, I consider all of the comments here very valuable to shsping future testing. I have sent an email to a person at the IPI (thanks for the contact, Rob! Fabian, I'll follow yours, too!). If they reply, I'd be happy to gather a think-tank team to discuss the subject with them. Gali [https://docs.google.com/a/mail.huji.ac.il/uc?id=0B5B3I3QnN7dsSzNkbGlLNDNGWG8&export=download]Gali Beiner (ACR) Conservator, Palaeontology Lab National Natural History Collections The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Berman Building, Edmond J. Safra campus, Givat Ram Jerusalem 91904, Israel Fax. 972-2-6585785 gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il https://nnhc.huji.ac.il/?lang=en ?????? ??? ??, 14 ????? 2026, 00:39, ??? Dirk Neumann ?>: Hi all, before we introduced our gill tags for a major field survey, I tagged small fish (2cm) with approx. 1cm gill tags, but them in PE-bottles with formalin, and put them into a washing machine running the full cold wash programme (no heat, but 'bumpy road' conditions. Think that matches Andy's idea of a rock tumbler quite well. The HP 600 ink jet labels on 100 g/m2 transparent paper preformed best (as already said in this thread: ink jet printing boils the ink and shoots it into the paper). Gill tags also stayed in place (second level of testing). We had perfect performance even on very bumpy off-road tracks in central Africa. Just an idea ... With best wishes Dirk Am 13.04.2026 um 17:20 schrieb Robert Waller: Hi Andy, You are right that accelerated aging tests can be misleading. I am not sure that is what would be wanted. Just having casually read the messages though, I thought that some guidance on specification of papers and inks might be useful. For example, where print simply floated off the paper when immersed, I might guess that could be a result of using a clay coated paper. That is just a guess as I do not have expertise in either printers or papers. It just seemed that we might clarify, even simplify, our understandings by communicating with the people who have expertise in that. IPI would seem a good place to start. Perhaps I should have explained that to start. Best, Rob ________________________________ From: Bentley, Andrew Charles Sent: Monday, April 13, 2026 10:44 AM To: Gali Beiner ; Robert Waller Cc: NHCOLL-new Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] Desktop thermal printers? Hi all I think the rub (pun intended) with accelerated aging tests is that they can over-express real-world scenarios. A thermal transfer printer label (or any label for that matter) inserted into a glass jar, is going to be subject to limited abrasion and, as such, any accelerated aging test that uses physical abrasion as its main mechanism of aging is not going to be an accurate representation of real word effects in my opinion. Maybe placing a jar of alcohol with specimen and label in the equivalent of a rock tumbler would more closely approximate a real-world scenario. Andy A : A : A : }<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<)))_?> V V V 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 ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3093-1258 http://ichthyology.biodiversity.ku.edu A : A : A : }<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<)))_?> V V V ________________________________ From: Nhcoll-l on behalf of Gali Beiner Sent: Sunday, April 12, 2026 1:06 AM To: Robert Waller Cc: NHCOLL-new Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] Desktop thermal printers? Hi Rob and all, I'm not familiar with task groups in SPNHC, so somebody who already works with one will have to explain to me how that works, but generally speaking - the main problem here is formulating the right kind of question to answer in a scientific research. In fact, it crosses my mind that if anybody here has a contact within the Image Permanence Institute, I'd be happy to get in touch (IPI, according to its own vision, is "dedicated to supporting the preservation of cultural heritage collections in libraries, archives, and museums around the world"). Possibly the study question should be about finding the most permanent printer-ink-substrate combo (for ethanol?) in each category (laser, inkjet, thermal transfer), and then comparing categories. This would involve thinking about the best ways to test permanence for labels in fluids - for example, in my own published paper I presented a form of accelerated aging as a testing method. What would be the best way for testing, other than waiting 50-100 years? Maybe discussing this with people at the Image Permanence Institute could help. Gali On Fri, Apr 10, 2026 at 5:18?PM Robert Waller > wrote: Hi Gali, Your suggestion "to understand the "recipe" as much as possible" seems a very good idea. If you or someone else decides to initiate a task group within SPNHC to take that on, I suggest you reach out to archives and paper conservators through their discussion groups as they may already have useful information available. Perhaps the subject could be suggested as a good research project for a conservation student. That is, a compilation of information combined with some experimentation for validation. Rob ________________________________ From: Nhcoll-l > on behalf of Gali Beiner > Sent: Thursday, April 09, 2026 4:17 PM To: Ian Engelbrecht > Cc: NHCOLL-new > Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] Desktop thermal printers? Redesigning is already happening: new tech pops in, for example the thermal transfer printers are new compared to inkjets, and new substrates are also being developed. One way to deal with inevitable change is to understand the "recipe" as much as possible and seek out the "cleaner" products - as in the case of "OBA free, acid free, lignin free" etc paper or understanding which types of toners are likely to be more permanent. Understanding the technology as much as possible and testing what we can may help narrow down choices and set clearer standards. The other way is to remain out of it and use handwritten labels, but it seems that all of us regard this option mostly as a ship that has sailed: too hard to get the workforce to do it. Gali [https://docs.google.com/a/mail.huji.ac.il/uc?id=0B5B3I3QnN7dsSzNkbGlLNDNGWG8&export=download]Gali Beiner (ACR) Conservator, Palaeontology Lab National Natural History Collections The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Berman Building, Edmond J. Safra campus, Givat Ram Jerusalem 91904, Israel Fax. 972-2-6585785 gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il https://nnhc.huji.ac.il/?lang=en ?????? ??? ??, 9 ????? 2026, 21:49, ??? Ian Engelbrecht ?>: Plus the fact that things change over time. HP printer - toner - paper combination might work now, but will it still 30 years from now when they?ve redesigned one or three of those components? Ian On Thu, 09 Apr 2026 at 18:20, Gali Beiner > wrote: Doug is pointing out the heart of the problem - the variety of printing combinations which makes comparisons difficult. In fact, the variations in the way printer-ink-subsrate (paper or other) combinations work is the main reason why manufacturers recommend using their own brand for all three parts of the combo. In other words, the manufacturers say HP printers are supposed to yield better, more permanent results with original HP toners and HP specialized paper. The same goes for Canon, Epson or any other brand. Testing according to conservation parameters can work with that - or at least look very carefully into what, exactly is chosen for use (eg paper - OBA free, lignin free etc etc). The way things stand now - with endless possible variations and combinations - basically means it is up to us to try and set the criteria of choice and monitor whether that works. Not easy, but possibly we can try. Gali [https://docs.google.com/a/mail.huji.ac.il/uc?id=0B5B3I3QnN7dsSzNkbGlLNDNGWG8&export=download]Gali Beiner (ACR) Conservator, Palaeontology Lab National Natural History Collections The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Berman Building, Edmond J. Safra campus, Givat Ram Jerusalem 91904, Israel Fax. 972-2-6585785 gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il https://nnhc.huji.ac.il/?lang=en ?????? ??? ??, 9 ????? 2026, 18:46, ??? Douglas Yanega ?>: On 4/8/26 11:38 PM, Gali Beiner wrote: Other than that, I think that maybe we could use this forum to up the level of testing a bit - after all we have a pool of collection professionals here, all with the same problem to solve re:labels for wet collections (mainly alcohol but also other). Why shouldn't we gather ourselves into a group of say 5 to 10 people in different collections and agree on some sort of protocol for different labels in each collection (or maybe sets of different labels to be tested in all collections, we could consider the details) - and have this followed both in the short and long terms? That would be more interesting than any individual test. Dear readers in this forum, how does this sound to you? Compilation of different people's experiences have been done here and elsewhere with some regularity, and one thing that is a universal impediment to generating a coherent picture is the variability of the medium that is being printed on. Comparisons of different printers are nearly meaningless if the "tests" are on different paper stock. The most dramatic example I can offer is one from personal experience: back in 1990, we obtained a Laserjet, a fairly new technology at that time, and printed thousands of labels for both dry and ethanol specimens. The first several months everything worked flawlessly, and to this day, almost 40 years on, those original labels are perfectly fine, even the ones stored in ethanol. Then one day we ran out of the existing stock of paper, bought a new ream, and loaded it into the printer without changing anything else. The lettering on those labels chipped, flaked, and rubbed off the dry labels, and when we tried to put them into ethanol, the letters floated off. No alteration of settings was involved, and nothing we did made the labels viable. That is, until we checked the packaging on the original ream; we found it was not the exact same thing that we had switched to, so we bought something IDENTICAL, and the resulting labels were just fine again. The problem had literally nothing to do with the printer, and everything to do with the paper. Again, any "test" that does not control for the medium will not be a fair and objective test of the merits of a printer. We presently use an HP Laser printer, and yes, we have had to try different types of paper to find paper stocks that work well with this printer. Not all do. Even worse, when we use "replacement" toner cartridges (not the official HP brand), sometimes but not always, the printing is slightly flaky and easily abraded. That means there are at least THREE parameters that need to be controlled: the printer, the medium, and the toner. Variation in any one of those three can lead to variation in the quality of the results. This makes objective assessment and testing very difficult, and ultimately it's just a litany of anecdotes. Peace, -- Doug Yanega Dept. of Entomology Entomology Research Museum Univ. of California, Riverside, CA 92521-0314 phone: 951-827-4315 FaceBook: Doug Yanega (disclaimer: opinions are mine, not UCR's) https://faculty.ucr.edu/~heraty/yanega.html "There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness is the true method" - Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chap. 82 _______________________________________________ Nhcoll-l mailing list Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l _______________________________________________ NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. _______________________________________________ Nhcoll-l mailing list Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l _______________________________________________ NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. -- [https://docs.google.com/a/mail.huji.ac.il/uc?id=0B5B3I3QnN7dsSzNkbGlLNDNGWG8&export=download]Gali Beiner (ACR) Conservator, Palaeontology Lab National Natural History Collections The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Berman Building, Edmond J. Safra campus, Givat Ram Jerusalem 91904, Israel Fax. 972-2-6585785 gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il https://nnhc.huji.ac.il/?lang=en _______________________________________________ Nhcoll-l mailing list Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l _______________________________________________ NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. -- **** Dirk Neumann Collection Manager, Hamburg Postal address: Museum of Nature Hamburg Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change Dirk Neumann Martin-Luther-King-Platz 3 20146 Hamburg +49 40 238 317 ? 628 d.neumann at leibniz-lib.de www.leibniz-lib.de -- Stiftung Leibniz-Institut zur Analyse des Biodiversit?tswandels Postanschrift: Adenauerallee 127, 53113 Bonn, Germany Stiftung des ?ffentlichen Rechts; Generaldirektion: Prof. Dr. Bernhard Misof (Generaldirektor), Adrian Gr?ter (Kaufm. Gesch?ftsf?hrer) Sitz der Stiftung: Adenauerallee 160 in Bonn Vorsitzender des Stiftungsrates: Dr. Michael Wappelhorst -- Stiftung Leibniz-Institut zur Analyse des Biodiversit?tswandels Postanschrift: Adenauerallee 127, 53113 Bonn, Germany Stiftung des ?ffentlichen Rechts; Generaldirektion: Prof. Dr. Bernhard Misof (Generaldirektor), Adrian Gr?ter (Kaufm. Gesch?ftsf?hrer) Sitz der Stiftung: Adenauerallee 160 in Bonn Vorsitzender des Stiftungsrates: Dr. Michael H. Wappelhorst _______________________________________________ Nhcoll-l mailing list Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l _______________________________________________ NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. _______________________________________________ Nhcoll-l mailing list Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l _______________________________________________ NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. _______________________________________________ Nhcoll-l mailing list Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l _______________________________________________ NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. _______________________________________________ Nhcoll-l mailing list Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l _______________________________________________ NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. -- **** Dirk Neumann Collection Manager, Hamburg Postal address: Museum of Nature Hamburg Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change Dirk Neumann Martin-Luther-King-Platz 3 20146 Hamburg +49 40 238 317 ? 628 d.neumann at leibniz-lib.de www.leibniz-lib.de -- Stiftung Leibniz-Institut zur Analyse des Biodiversit?tswandels Postanschrift: Adenauerallee 127, 53113 Bonn, Germany Stiftung des ?ffentlichen Rechts; Generaldirektion: Prof. Dr. Bernhard Misof (Generaldirektor), Adrian Gr?ter (Kaufm. Gesch?ftsf?hrer) Sitz der Stiftung: Adenauerallee 160 in Bonn Vorsitzender des Stiftungsrates: Dr. Michael Wappelhorst -- Stiftung Leibniz-Institut zur Analyse des Biodiversit?tswandels Postanschrift: Adenauerallee 127, 53113 Bonn, Germany Stiftung des ?ffentlichen Rechts; Generaldirektion: Prof. Dr. Bernhard Misof (Generaldirektor), Adrian Gr?ter (Kaufm. Gesch?ftsf?hrer) Sitz der Stiftung: Adenauerallee 160 in Bonn Vorsitzender des Stiftungsrates: Dr. Michael H. Wappelhorst -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il Thu Apr 16 08:17:28 2026 From: gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il (Gali Beiner) Date: Thu, 16 Apr 2026 15:17:28 +0300 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] [EXTERN] Re: Desktop thermal printers? In-Reply-To: <3e98443a-d30c-4b9c-aa39-c74b8c70d824@leibniz-lib.de> References: <9be072e8-2c72-4e94-a755-bf387ea19307@gmail.com> <114dc970-161d-415a-b9c3-b7e94a9b7686@leibniz-lib.de> <3e98443a-d30c-4b9c-aa39-c74b8c70d824@leibniz-lib.de> Message-ID: I'll add to Dirk's post that to me, the fact that the "alphabet soup" phenomenon has been spotted in various places (including our own collections at NNHC-HUJI) in labels produced by different printers makes laser printers a problematic choice. Laser printers are based firstly on electric charges (the paper is negatively charged to attract the image from the photoreceptor drum), and then on heating (to melt the powder from the toner and fuse the resultant ink into the paper fibers). This, combined with the paper quality and coating issue, means that there could be several problematic points along the process of printing. Choice of paper is actually the easiest point to resolve. Gali On Thu, Apr 16, 2026 at 3:01?PM Dirk Neumann wrote: > Hi Ian and all, > > there is a lot of valuable information on the SPNHC Wiki on labels: > > https://spnhc.org/labeling-natural-history-collections/#Laser_Printing_.28and_Photocopiers.29 > > Key factors for the adhesion of laser toner letters is the coating of the > paper, its roughness and the temperature during printing. > > Some early Xerox labels from the 1980ies and 1990ies in my former > collection were still fine in 30 years later in terms of printing, but the > coating of the paper started to fell apart (visible white/grey shading, > followed by detachment of letters from 'discoloured' grey areas). > > Letter soup usually occurs if the toner has not been melted properly onto > the paper (i.e. its fibres), the surface was too smooth, or a combination > of both. > > Hope this helps > Dirk > > > Am 14.04.2026 um 20:58 schrieb Ian Engelbrecht: > > Also, just continuing the aging acceleration discussion, what would be > tremendously helpful would be a way to accelerate whatever process is going > on which causes the *laser *printed letters to separate from the > paper/substrate they're attached to. That might be a good student project > in itself - working out what happens over time that causes that separation > so we can understand and mitigate or avoid that process. > > Ian > > On Tue, Apr 14, 2026 at 8:56?PM Ian Engelbrecht > wrote: > >> We have a similar experiment here. I printed labels on several different >> archival papers, including Teslin, 'goatskin', and others, all with an >> Epson EcoTank Mono 1100, and distributed copies to wet collections around >> the country. They're all sitting in jars on windowsills now (or at least I >> hope they are). >> >> Ian >> >> On Tue, Apr 14, 2026 at 6:00?PM Kendrick Fowler >> wrote: >> >>> Along with running labels through a tumbler or shaker of some kind, I >>> think that exposing labels to light and heat (along the lines of Andy's >>> window ledge test) could be useful and interesting for accelerated aging >>> experiments. >>> >>> For what it's worth, I have been running a not-very-scientific test >>> similar to Andy's with labels made using my lab's inkjet printer, albeit >>> for much less time; the vials have been sitting in my window for ~5 years. >>> So far, the labels have remained perfectly readable, and the text printed >>> by the inkjet appears to have held up equally as well as text handwritten >>> on the labels using a black Pigma Micron pen (though both the inkjet >>> printed and the handwritten text appear to have faded slightly). The labels >>> were printed on Enduro Xerographic 100% cotton paper using an Epson ET-4750 >>> EcoTank printer filled with Epson T5021 black ink, and the Micron pen was >>> Sakura stock # XSDK005-49. >>> >>> Kendrick >>> >>> >>> *Kendrick Fowler*, *Entomology Lab Manager* >>> Hawthorne Valley Farmscape Ecology Program | hvfarmscape.org >>> +1 (518) 672-7994 (office) | +1 (267) 377-7567 (cell) >>> >>> *Follow us** on Facebook >>> or >>> subscribe to our **Progress of the Seasons Journal >>> for weekly **photoessays >>> on **Columbia County's natural **wonders**.* >>> >>> >>> On Tue, Apr 14, 2026 at 12:24?AM Gali Beiner < >>> gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il> wrote: >>> >>>> Just adding my own angle - the tests described in my publication >>>> involved tubes being shaked for hours in a laboratory shaker. Actually >>>> sounds to me less rough, motion-wise, than a washing machine... I did add >>>> glass spheres (no sharp angles) to the mix, though. >>>> >>>> However, the comments re: problems of accelerated aging are, of course, >>>> valid. They are valid also for accelerated aging tests in fields other than >>>> fluid collection labels. One way I dealt with that was shortening test >>>> times from 1 month (as pee the "classic" Oddy Test) to 48 hours. >>>> >>>> In any case, I consider all of the comments here very valuable to >>>> shsping future testing. I have sent an email to a person at the IPI (thanks >>>> for the contact, Rob! Fabian, I'll follow yours, too!). If they reply, I'd >>>> be happy to gather a think-tank team to discuss the subject with them. >>>> >>>> Gali >>>> >>>> Gali Beiner (ACR) >>>> Conservator, Palaeontology Lab >>>> National Natural History Collections >>>> The Hebrew University of Jerusalem >>>> Berman Building, Edmond J. Safra campus, Givat Ram >>>> Jerusalem 91904, Israel >>>> Fax. 972-2-6585785 >>>> *gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il * >>>> >>>> *https://nnhc.huji.ac.il/?lang=en * >>>> >>>> ?????? ??? ??, 14 ????? 2026, 00:39, ??? Dirk Neumann ?< >>>> d.neumann at leibniz-lib.de>: >>>> >>>>> Hi all, >>>>> >>>>> before we introduced our gill tags for a major field survey, I tagged >>>>> small fish (2cm) with approx. 1cm gill tags, but them in PE-bottles with >>>>> formalin, and put them into a washing machine running the full cold wash >>>>> programme (no heat, but 'bumpy road' conditions. >>>>> >>>>> Think that matches Andy's idea of a rock tumbler quite well. >>>>> >>>>> The HP 600 ink jet labels on 100 g/m2 transparent paper preformed best >>>>> (as already said in this thread: ink jet printing boils the ink and shoots >>>>> it into the paper). Gill tags also stayed in place (second level of >>>>> testing). >>>>> >>>>> We had perfect performance even on very bumpy off-road tracks in >>>>> central Africa. >>>>> >>>>> Just an idea ... >>>>> >>>>> With best wishes >>>>> Dirk >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> Am 13.04.2026 um 17:20 schrieb Robert Waller: >>>>> >>>>> Hi Andy, >>>>> You are right that accelerated aging tests can be misleading. I am not >>>>> sure that is what would be wanted. Just having casually read the messages >>>>> though, I thought that some guidance on specification of papers and inks >>>>> might be useful. For example, where print simply floated off the paper when >>>>> immersed, I might guess that could be a result of using a clay coated >>>>> paper. That is just a guess as I do not have expertise in either printers >>>>> or papers. It just seemed that we might clarify, even simplify, our >>>>> understandings by communicating with the people who have expertise in that. >>>>> IPI would seem a good place to start. >>>>> Perhaps I should have explained that to start. >>>>> Best, >>>>> Rob >>>>> >>>>> ------------------------------ >>>>> *From:* Bentley, Andrew Charles >>>>> *Sent:* Monday, April 13, 2026 10:44 AM >>>>> *To:* Gali Beiner >>>>> ; Robert Waller >>>>> >>>>> *Cc:* NHCOLL-new >>>>> >>>>> *Subject:* Re: [Nhcoll-l] Desktop thermal printers? >>>>> >>>>> Hi all >>>>> >>>>> I think the rub (pun intended) with accelerated aging tests is that >>>>> they can over-express real-world scenarios. A thermal transfer printer >>>>> label (or any label for that matter) inserted into a glass jar, is going to >>>>> be subject to limited abrasion and, as such, any accelerated aging test >>>>> that uses physical abrasion as its main mechanism of aging is not going to >>>>> be an accurate representation of real word effects in my opinion. Maybe >>>>> placing a jar of alcohol with specimen and label in the equivalent of a >>>>> rock tumbler would more closely approximate a real-world scenario. >>>>> >>>>> Andy >>>>> >>>>> A : A : A : >>>>> }<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<)))_?> >>>>> V V V >>>>> Andy Bentley >>>>> Ichthyology Collection Manager >>>>> University of Kansas >>>>> Biodiversity Institute >>>>> >>>>> Dyche Hall >>>>> *1345 Jayhawk Boulevard >>>>> * >>>>> *Lawrence, KS, 66045-7561 >>>>> * >>>>> *USA >>>>> * >>>>> >>>>> Tel: *(785) 864-3863* <%28785%29%20864-3863> >>>>> Fax: *(785) 864-5335* <%28785%29%20864-5335> >>>>> Email: *abentley at ku.edu* >>>>> >>>>> ORCID: *https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3093-1258* >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> *http://ichthyology.biodiversity.ku.edu* >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> A : A : A : >>>>> }<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<)))_?> >>>>> V V V >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> ------------------------------ >>>>> *From:* Nhcoll-l >>>>> on behalf of Gali Beiner >>>>> >>>>> *Sent:* Sunday, April 12, 2026 1:06 AM >>>>> *To:* Robert Waller >>>>> *Cc:* NHCOLL-new >>>>> >>>>> *Subject:* Re: [Nhcoll-l] Desktop thermal printers? >>>>> >>>>> Hi Rob and all, >>>>> >>>>> I'm not familiar with task groups in SPNHC, so somebody who already >>>>> works with one will have to explain to me how that works, but >>>>> generally speaking - the main problem here is formulating the right kind of >>>>> question to answer in a scientific research. In fact, it crosses my mind >>>>> that if anybody here has a contact within the Image Permanence Institute, >>>>> I'd be happy to get in touch (IPI, according to its own vision, is >>>>> "dedicated to supporting the preservation of cultural heritage collections >>>>> in libraries, archives, and museums around the world"). >>>>> >>>>> Possibly the study question should be about finding the most permanent >>>>> printer-ink-substrate combo (for ethanol?) in each category (laser, inkjet, >>>>> thermal transfer), and then comparing categories. This would involve >>>>> thinking about *the best ways to test permanence for labels in fluids* - >>>>> for example, in my own published paper I presented a form of accelerated >>>>> aging as a testing method. What would be the best way for testing, other >>>>> than waiting 50-100 years? Maybe discussing this with people at the Image >>>>> Permanence Institute could help. >>>>> >>>>> Gali >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> On Fri, Apr 10, 2026 at 5:18?PM Robert Waller >>>>> wrote: >>>>> >>>>> Hi Gali, >>>>> Your suggestion "to understand the "recipe" as much as possible" seems >>>>> a very good idea. >>>>> If you or someone else decides to initiate a task group within SPNHC >>>>> to take that on, I suggest you reach out to archives and paper conservators >>>>> through their discussion groups as they may already have useful information >>>>> available. Perhaps the subject could be suggested as a good research >>>>> project for a conservation student. That is, a compilation of information >>>>> combined with some experimentation for validation. >>>>> Rob >>>>> >>>>> ------------------------------ >>>>> *From:* Nhcoll-l on behalf of >>>>> Gali Beiner >>>>> *Sent:* Thursday, April 09, 2026 4:17 PM >>>>> *To:* Ian Engelbrecht >>>>> *Cc:* NHCOLL-new >>>>> *Subject:* Re: [Nhcoll-l] Desktop thermal printers? >>>>> >>>>> Redesigning is already happening: new tech pops in, for example the >>>>> thermal transfer printers are new compared to inkjets, and new substrates >>>>> are also being developed. >>>>> >>>>> One way to deal with inevitable change is to understand the "recipe" >>>>> as much as possible and seek out the "cleaner" products - as in the case of >>>>> "OBA free, acid free, lignin free" etc paper or understanding which types >>>>> of toners are likely to be more permanent. Understanding the technology as >>>>> much as possible and testing what we can may help narrow down choices and >>>>> set clearer standards. The other way is to remain out of it and use >>>>> handwritten labels, but it seems that all of us regard this option mostly >>>>> as a ship that has sailed: too hard to get the workforce to do it. >>>>> >>>>> Gali >>>>> >>>>> Gali Beiner (ACR) >>>>> Conservator, Palaeontology Lab >>>>> National Natural History Collections >>>>> The Hebrew University of Jerusalem >>>>> Berman Building, Edmond J. Safra campus, Givat Ram >>>>> Jerusalem 91904, Israel >>>>> Fax. 972-2-6585785 >>>>> *gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il* >>>>> *https://nnhc.huji.ac.il/?lang=en* >>>>> >>>>> ?????? ??? ??, 9 ????? 2026, 21:49, ??? Ian Engelbrecht ?< >>>>> ianicus.za at gmail.com>: >>>>> >>>>> Plus the fact that things change over time. HP printer - toner - paper >>>>> combination might work now, but will it still 30 years from now when >>>>> they?ve redesigned one or three of those components? >>>>> >>>>> Ian >>>>> >>>>> On Thu, 09 Apr 2026 at 18:20, Gali Beiner >>>>> wrote: >>>>> >>>>> Doug is pointing out the heart of the problem - the variety of >>>>> printing combinations which makes comparisons difficult. >>>>> >>>>> In fact, the variations in the way printer-ink-subsrate (paper or >>>>> other) combinations work is the main reason why manufacturers recommend >>>>> using their own brand for all three parts of the combo. In other words, the >>>>> manufacturers say HP printers are supposed to yield better, more permanent >>>>> results with original HP toners and HP specialized paper. The same goes for >>>>> Canon, Epson or any other brand. Testing according to conservation >>>>> parameters can work with that - or at least look very carefully into what, >>>>> exactly is chosen for use (eg paper - OBA free, lignin free etc etc). >>>>> >>>>> The way things stand now - with endless possible variations and >>>>> combinations - basically means it is up to us to try and set the criteria >>>>> of choice and monitor whether that works. Not easy, but possibly we can >>>>> try. >>>>> >>>>> Gali >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> Gali Beiner (ACR) >>>>> Conservator, Palaeontology Lab >>>>> National Natural History Collections >>>>> The Hebrew University of Jerusalem >>>>> Berman Building, Edmond J. Safra campus, Givat Ram >>>>> Jerusalem 91904, Israel >>>>> Fax. 972-2-6585785 >>>>> *gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il* >>>>> *https://nnhc.huji.ac.il/?lang=en* >>>>> >>>>> ?????? ??? ??, 9 ????? 2026, 18:46, ??? Douglas Yanega ?< >>>>> dyanega at gmail.com>: >>>>> >>>>> On 4/8/26 11:38 PM, Gali Beiner wrote: >>>>> >>>>> Other than that, I think that maybe we could use this forum to up the >>>>> level of testing a bit - after all we have a pool of collection >>>>> professionals here, all with the same problem to solve re:labels for wet >>>>> collections (mainly alcohol but also other). Why shouldn't we gather >>>>> ourselves into a group of say 5 to 10 people in different collections and >>>>> agree on some sort of protocol for different labels in each collection (or >>>>> maybe sets of different labels to be tested in all collections, we could >>>>> consider the details) - and have this followed both in the short and long >>>>> terms? That would be more interesting than any individual test. Dear >>>>> readers in this forum, how does this sound to you? >>>>> >>>>> Compilation of different people's experiences have been done here and >>>>> elsewhere with some regularity, and one thing that is a universal >>>>> impediment to generating a coherent picture is the variability of the >>>>> medium that is being printed on. Comparisons of different printers are >>>>> nearly meaningless if the "tests" are on different paper stock. >>>>> >>>>> The most dramatic example I can offer is one from personal experience: >>>>> back in 1990, we obtained a Laserjet, a fairly new technology at that time, >>>>> and printed thousands of labels for both dry and ethanol specimens. The >>>>> first several months everything worked flawlessly, and to this day, almost >>>>> 40 years on, those original labels are perfectly fine, even the ones stored >>>>> in ethanol. Then one day we ran out of the existing stock of paper, bought >>>>> a new ream, and loaded it into the printer without changing anything else. >>>>> The lettering on those labels chipped, flaked, and rubbed off the dry >>>>> labels, and when we tried to put them into ethanol, the letters floated >>>>> off. No alteration of settings was involved, and nothing we did made the >>>>> labels viable. That is, until we checked the packaging on the original >>>>> ream; we found it was not the exact same thing that we had switched to, so >>>>> we bought something IDENTICAL, and the resulting labels were just fine >>>>> again. The problem had literally nothing to do with the printer, and >>>>> everything to do with the paper. >>>>> >>>>> Again, any "test" that does not control for the medium will not be a >>>>> fair and objective test of the merits of a printer. >>>>> >>>>> We presently use an HP Laser printer, and yes, we have had to try >>>>> different types of paper to find paper stocks that work well with this >>>>> printer. Not all do. Even worse, when we use "replacement" toner cartridges >>>>> (not the official HP brand), sometimes *but not always*, the printing >>>>> is slightly flaky and easily abraded. That means there are at least THREE >>>>> parameters that need to be controlled: the printer, the medium, and the >>>>> toner. Variation in any one of those three can lead to variation in the >>>>> quality of the results. This makes objective assessment and testing >>>>> *very* difficult, and ultimately it's just a litany of anecdotes. >>>>> >>>>> Peace, >>>>> >>>>> -- >>>>> Doug Yanega Dept. of Entomology Entomology Research Museum >>>>> Univ. of California, Riverside, CA 92521-0314 phone: 951-827-4315 >>>>> FaceBook: Doug Yanega (disclaimer: opinions are mine, not UCR's) >>>>> https://faculty.ucr.edu/~heraty/yanega.html >>>>> "There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness >>>>> is the true method" - Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chap. 82 >>>>> >>>>> _______________________________________________ >>>>> Nhcoll-l mailing list >>>>> Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu >>>>> https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l >>>>> >>>>> _______________________________________________ >>>>> NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of >>>>> Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose >>>>> mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of >>>>> natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to >>>>> society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. >>>>> Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. >>>>> >>>>> _______________________________________________ >>>>> Nhcoll-l mailing list >>>>> Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu >>>>> https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l >>>>> >>>>> _______________________________________________ >>>>> NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of >>>>> Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose >>>>> mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of >>>>> natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to >>>>> society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. >>>>> Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> -- >>>>> Gali Beiner (ACR) >>>>> Conservator, Palaeontology Lab >>>>> National Natural History Collections >>>>> The Hebrew University of Jerusalem >>>>> Berman Building, Edmond J. Safra campus, Givat Ram >>>>> Jerusalem 91904, Israel >>>>> Fax. 972-2-6585785 >>>>> *gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il* >>>>> *https://nnhc.huji.ac.il/?lang=en* >>>>> >>>>> _______________________________________________ >>>>> Nhcoll-l mailing listNhcoll-l at mailman.yale.eduhttps://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l >>>>> >>>>> _______________________________________________ >>>>> NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of >>>>> Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose >>>>> mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of >>>>> natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to >>>>> society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. >>>>> Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> -- >>>>> >>>>> ****** >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> *Dirk Neumann* >>>>> >>>>> Collection Manager, Hamburg >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> Postal address: >>>>> >>>>> *Museum of Nature Hamburg* >>>>> Leibniz Institute for the Analysis >>>>> >>>>> of Biodiversity Change >>>>> >>>>> Dirk Neumann >>>>> >>>>> Martin-Luther-King-Platz 3 >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> 20146 >>>>> >>>>> Hamburg >>>>> >>>>> +49 40 238 317 ? 628 >>>>> >>>>> *d.neumann at leibniz-lib.de * >>>>> >>>>> www.leibniz-lib.de >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> -- >>>>> Stiftung Leibniz-Institut zur Analyse des Biodiversit?tswandels >>>>> Postanschrift: Adenauerallee 127, 53113 Bonn, Germany >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> Stiftung des ?ffentlichen Rechts; >>>>> Generaldirektion: Prof. Dr. Bernhard Misof (Generaldirektor), Adrian >>>>> Gr?ter (Kaufm. Gesch?ftsf?hrer) >>>>> Sitz der Stiftung: Adenauerallee 160 >>>>> >>>>> in Bonn >>>>> Vorsitzender des Stiftungsrates: Dr. Michael Wappelhorst >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> -- >>>>> Stiftung Leibniz-Institut zur Analyse des Biodiversit?tswandels >>>>> Postanschrift: Adenauerallee 127, 53113 Bonn, Germany >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> Stiftung des ?ffentlichen Rechts; >>>>> Generaldirektion: Prof. Dr. Bernhard Misof (Generaldirektor), Adrian >>>>> Gr?ter (Kaufm. Gesch?ftsf?hrer) >>>>> Sitz der Stiftung: Adenauerallee 160 >>>>> >>>>> in Bonn >>>>> Vorsitzender des Stiftungsrates: Dr. Michael H. Wappelhorst >>>>> _______________________________________________ >>>>> Nhcoll-l mailing list >>>>> Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu >>>>> https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l >>>>> >>>>> _______________________________________________ >>>>> NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of >>>>> Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose >>>>> mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of >>>>> natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to >>>>> society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. >>>>> Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. >>>>> >>>> _______________________________________________ >>>> Nhcoll-l mailing list >>>> Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu >>>> https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l >>>> >>>> _______________________________________________ >>>> NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of >>>> Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose >>>> mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of >>>> natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to >>>> society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. >>>> Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. >>>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> Nhcoll-l mailing list >>> Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu >>> https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of >>> Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose >>> mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of >>> natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to >>> society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. >>> Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. >>> >> > _______________________________________________ > Nhcoll-l mailing listNhcoll-l at mailman.yale.eduhttps://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l > > _______________________________________________ > NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of > Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose > mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of > natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to > society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. > Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. > > > -- > > ****** > > > > *Dirk Neumann* > > Collection Manager, Hamburg > > > > Postal address: > > *Museum of Nature Hamburg* > Leibniz Institute for the Analysis > > of Biodiversity Change > > Dirk Neumann > > Martin-Luther-King-Platz 3 > > 20146 Hamburg > +49 40 238 317 ? 628 > > *d.neumann at leibniz-lib.de * > > www.leibniz-lib.de > > > > -- > Stiftung Leibniz-Institut zur Analyse des Biodiversit?tswandels > Postanschrift: Adenauerallee 127, 53113 Bonn, Germany > > Stiftung des ?ffentlichen Rechts; > Generaldirektion: Prof. Dr. Bernhard Misof (Generaldirektor), Adrian > Gr?ter (Kaufm. Gesch?ftsf?hrer) > Sitz der Stiftung: Adenauerallee 160 in Bonn > Vorsitzender des Stiftungsrates: Dr. Michael Wappelhorst > > > -- > Stiftung Leibniz-Institut zur Analyse des Biodiversit?tswandels > Postanschrift: Adenauerallee 127, 53113 Bonn, Germany > > Stiftung des ?ffentlichen Rechts; > Generaldirektion: Prof. Dr. Bernhard Misof (Generaldirektor), Adrian > Gr?ter (Kaufm. Gesch?ftsf?hrer) > Sitz der Stiftung: Adenauerallee 160 in Bonn > Vorsitzender des Stiftungsrates: Dr. Michael H. Wappelhorst > _______________________________________________ > Nhcoll-l mailing list > Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu > https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l > > _______________________________________________ > NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of > Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose > mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of > natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to > society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. > Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. > -- Gali Beiner (ACR) Conservator, Palaeontology Lab National Natural History Collections The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Berman Building, Edmond J. Safra campus, Givat Ram Jerusalem 91904, Israel Fax. 972-2-6585785 *gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il * *https://nnhc.huji.ac.il/?lang=en * -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From ianicus.za at gmail.com Thu Apr 16 10:25:33 2026 From: ianicus.za at gmail.com (Ian Engelbrecht) Date: Thu, 16 Apr 2026 16:25:33 +0200 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] [EXTERN] Re: Desktop thermal printers? In-Reply-To: References: <9be072e8-2c72-4e94-a755-bf387ea19307@gmail.com> <114dc970-161d-415a-b9c3-b7e94a9b7686@leibniz-lib.de> <3e98443a-d30c-4b9c-aa39-c74b8c70d824@leibniz-lib.de> Message-ID: Just dropping this bit of info here so it's on the radar. Apparently with Teslin, the heating process that melts the toner melts the substrate under it at the same time, forming a bond between the two so that the letters don't come off again afterwards. This is just theoretical though, and needs to be investigated in some real manner. I wonder if looking at the bonds between laser printed letters and the underlying substrate would be possible with electron microscopy. Possibly something to be investigated in the reals of materials science. Ian On Thu, Apr 16, 2026 at 2:17?PM Gali Beiner wrote: > I'll add to Dirk's post that to me, the fact that the "alphabet soup" > phenomenon has been spotted in various places (including our own > collections at NNHC-HUJI) in labels produced by different printers makes > laser printers a problematic choice. Laser printers are based firstly on > electric charges (the paper is negatively charged to attract the image from > the photoreceptor drum), and then on heating (to melt the powder from the > toner and fuse the resultant ink into the paper fibers). This, combined > with the paper quality and coating issue, means that there could be several > problematic points along the process of printing. Choice of paper is > actually the easiest point to resolve. > > Gali > > On Thu, Apr 16, 2026 at 3:01?PM Dirk Neumann > wrote: > >> Hi Ian and all, >> >> there is a lot of valuable information on the SPNHC Wiki on labels: >> >> https://spnhc.org/labeling-natural-history-collections/#Laser_Printing_.28and_Photocopiers.29 >> >> Key factors for the adhesion of laser toner letters is the coating of the >> paper, its roughness and the temperature during printing. >> >> Some early Xerox labels from the 1980ies and 1990ies in my former >> collection were still fine in 30 years later in terms of printing, but the >> coating of the paper started to fell apart (visible white/grey shading, >> followed by detachment of letters from 'discoloured' grey areas). >> >> Letter soup usually occurs if the toner has not been melted properly onto >> the paper (i.e. its fibres), the surface was too smooth, or a combination >> of both. >> >> Hope this helps >> Dirk >> >> >> Am 14.04.2026 um 20:58 schrieb Ian Engelbrecht: >> >> Also, just continuing the aging acceleration discussion, what would be >> tremendously helpful would be a way to accelerate whatever process is going >> on which causes the *laser *printed letters to separate from the >> paper/substrate they're attached to. That might be a good student project >> in itself - working out what happens over time that causes that separation >> so we can understand and mitigate or avoid that process. >> >> Ian >> >> On Tue, Apr 14, 2026 at 8:56?PM Ian Engelbrecht >> wrote: >> >>> We have a similar experiment here. I printed labels on several different >>> archival papers, including Teslin, 'goatskin', and others, all with an >>> Epson EcoTank Mono 1100, and distributed copies to wet collections around >>> the country. They're all sitting in jars on windowsills now (or at least I >>> hope they are). >>> >>> Ian >>> >>> On Tue, Apr 14, 2026 at 6:00?PM Kendrick Fowler >>> wrote: >>> >>>> Along with running labels through a tumbler or shaker of some kind, I >>>> think that exposing labels to light and heat (along the lines of Andy's >>>> window ledge test) could be useful and interesting for accelerated aging >>>> experiments. >>>> >>>> For what it's worth, I have been running a not-very-scientific test >>>> similar to Andy's with labels made using my lab's inkjet printer, albeit >>>> for much less time; the vials have been sitting in my window for ~5 years. >>>> So far, the labels have remained perfectly readable, and the text printed >>>> by the inkjet appears to have held up equally as well as text handwritten >>>> on the labels using a black Pigma Micron pen (though both the inkjet >>>> printed and the handwritten text appear to have faded slightly). The labels >>>> were printed on Enduro Xerographic 100% cotton paper using an Epson ET-4750 >>>> EcoTank printer filled with Epson T5021 black ink, and the Micron pen was >>>> Sakura stock # XSDK005-49. >>>> >>>> Kendrick >>>> >>>> >>>> *Kendrick Fowler*, *Entomology Lab Manager* >>>> Hawthorne Valley Farmscape Ecology Program | hvfarmscape.org >>>> +1 (518) 672-7994 (office) | +1 (267) 377-7567 (cell) >>>> >>>> *Follow us** on Facebook >>>> or >>>> subscribe to our **Progress of the Seasons Journal >>>> for weekly **photoessays >>>> on **Columbia County's natural **wonders**.* >>>> >>>> >>>> On Tue, Apr 14, 2026 at 12:24?AM Gali Beiner < >>>> gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il> wrote: >>>> >>>>> Just adding my own angle - the tests described in my publication >>>>> involved tubes being shaked for hours in a laboratory shaker. Actually >>>>> sounds to me less rough, motion-wise, than a washing machine... I did add >>>>> glass spheres (no sharp angles) to the mix, though. >>>>> >>>>> However, the comments re: problems of accelerated aging are, of >>>>> course, valid. They are valid also for accelerated aging tests in fields >>>>> other than fluid collection labels. One way I dealt with that was >>>>> shortening test times from 1 month (as pee the "classic" Oddy Test) to 48 >>>>> hours. >>>>> >>>>> In any case, I consider all of the comments here very valuable to >>>>> shsping future testing. I have sent an email to a person at the IPI (thanks >>>>> for the contact, Rob! Fabian, I'll follow yours, too!). If they reply, I'd >>>>> be happy to gather a think-tank team to discuss the subject with them. >>>>> >>>>> Gali >>>>> >>>>> Gali Beiner (ACR) >>>>> Conservator, Palaeontology Lab >>>>> National Natural History Collections >>>>> The Hebrew University of Jerusalem >>>>> Berman Building, Edmond J. Safra campus, Givat Ram >>>>> Jerusalem 91904, Israel >>>>> Fax. 972-2-6585785 >>>>> *gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il * >>>>> >>>>> *https://nnhc.huji.ac.il/?lang=en * >>>>> >>>>> ?????? ??? ??, 14 ????? 2026, 00:39, ??? Dirk Neumann ?< >>>>> d.neumann at leibniz-lib.de>: >>>>> >>>>>> Hi all, >>>>>> >>>>>> before we introduced our gill tags for a major field survey, I tagged >>>>>> small fish (2cm) with approx. 1cm gill tags, but them in PE-bottles with >>>>>> formalin, and put them into a washing machine running the full cold wash >>>>>> programme (no heat, but 'bumpy road' conditions. >>>>>> >>>>>> Think that matches Andy's idea of a rock tumbler quite well. >>>>>> >>>>>> The HP 600 ink jet labels on 100 g/m2 transparent paper preformed >>>>>> best (as already said in this thread: ink jet printing boils the ink and >>>>>> shoots it into the paper). Gill tags also stayed in place (second level of >>>>>> testing). >>>>>> >>>>>> We had perfect performance even on very bumpy off-road tracks in >>>>>> central Africa. >>>>>> >>>>>> Just an idea ... >>>>>> >>>>>> With best wishes >>>>>> Dirk >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> Am 13.04.2026 um 17:20 schrieb Robert Waller: >>>>>> >>>>>> Hi Andy, >>>>>> You are right that accelerated aging tests can be misleading. I am >>>>>> not sure that is what would be wanted. Just having casually read the >>>>>> messages though, I thought that some guidance on specification of papers >>>>>> and inks might be useful. For example, where print simply floated off the >>>>>> paper when immersed, I might guess that could be a result of using a clay >>>>>> coated paper. That is just a guess as I do not have expertise in either >>>>>> printers or papers. It just seemed that we might clarify, even simplify, >>>>>> our understandings by communicating with the people who have expertise in >>>>>> that. IPI would seem a good place to start. >>>>>> Perhaps I should have explained that to start. >>>>>> Best, >>>>>> Rob >>>>>> >>>>>> ------------------------------ >>>>>> *From:* Bentley, Andrew Charles >>>>>> *Sent:* Monday, April 13, 2026 10:44 AM >>>>>> *To:* Gali Beiner >>>>>> ; Robert Waller >>>>>> >>>>>> *Cc:* NHCOLL-new >>>>>> >>>>>> *Subject:* Re: [Nhcoll-l] Desktop thermal printers? >>>>>> >>>>>> Hi all >>>>>> >>>>>> I think the rub (pun intended) with accelerated aging tests is that >>>>>> they can over-express real-world scenarios. A thermal transfer printer >>>>>> label (or any label for that matter) inserted into a glass jar, is going to >>>>>> be subject to limited abrasion and, as such, any accelerated aging test >>>>>> that uses physical abrasion as its main mechanism of aging is not going to >>>>>> be an accurate representation of real word effects in my opinion. Maybe >>>>>> placing a jar of alcohol with specimen and label in the equivalent of a >>>>>> rock tumbler would more closely approximate a real-world scenario. >>>>>> >>>>>> Andy >>>>>> >>>>>> A : A : A : >>>>>> }<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<)))_?> >>>>>> V V V >>>>>> Andy Bentley >>>>>> Ichthyology Collection Manager >>>>>> University of Kansas >>>>>> Biodiversity Institute >>>>>> >>>>>> Dyche Hall >>>>>> *1345 Jayhawk Boulevard >>>>>> * >>>>>> *Lawrence, KS, 66045-7561 >>>>>> * >>>>>> *USA >>>>>> * >>>>>> >>>>>> Tel: *(785) 864-3863* <%28785%29%20864-3863> >>>>>> Fax: *(785) 864-5335* <%28785%29%20864-5335> >>>>>> Email: *abentley at ku.edu* >>>>>> >>>>>> ORCID: *https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3093-1258* >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> *http://ichthyology.biodiversity.ku.edu* >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> A : A : A : >>>>>> }<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<)))_?> >>>>>> V V V >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> ------------------------------ >>>>>> *From:* Nhcoll-l >>>>>> on behalf of Gali Beiner >>>>>> >>>>>> *Sent:* Sunday, April 12, 2026 1:06 AM >>>>>> *To:* Robert Waller >>>>>> *Cc:* NHCOLL-new >>>>>> >>>>>> *Subject:* Re: [Nhcoll-l] Desktop thermal printers? >>>>>> >>>>>> Hi Rob and all, >>>>>> >>>>>> I'm not familiar with task groups in SPNHC, so somebody who already >>>>>> works with one will have to explain to me how that works, but >>>>>> generally speaking - the main problem here is formulating the right kind of >>>>>> question to answer in a scientific research. In fact, it crosses my mind >>>>>> that if anybody here has a contact within the Image Permanence Institute, >>>>>> I'd be happy to get in touch (IPI, according to its own vision, is >>>>>> "dedicated to supporting the preservation of cultural heritage collections >>>>>> in libraries, archives, and museums around the world"). >>>>>> >>>>>> Possibly the study question should be about finding the most >>>>>> permanent printer-ink-substrate combo (for ethanol?) in each category >>>>>> (laser, inkjet, thermal transfer), and then comparing categories. This >>>>>> would involve thinking about *the best ways to test permanence for >>>>>> labels in fluids* - for example, in my own published paper I >>>>>> presented a form of accelerated aging as a testing method. What would be >>>>>> the best way for testing, other than waiting 50-100 years? Maybe discussing >>>>>> this with people at the Image Permanence Institute could help. >>>>>> >>>>>> Gali >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> On Fri, Apr 10, 2026 at 5:18?PM Robert Waller >>>>>> wrote: >>>>>> >>>>>> Hi Gali, >>>>>> Your suggestion "to understand the "recipe" as much as possible" >>>>>> seems a very good idea. >>>>>> If you or someone else decides to initiate a task group within SPNHC >>>>>> to take that on, I suggest you reach out to archives and paper conservators >>>>>> through their discussion groups as they may already have useful information >>>>>> available. Perhaps the subject could be suggested as a good research >>>>>> project for a conservation student. That is, a compilation of information >>>>>> combined with some experimentation for validation. >>>>>> Rob >>>>>> >>>>>> ------------------------------ >>>>>> *From:* Nhcoll-l on behalf of >>>>>> Gali Beiner >>>>>> *Sent:* Thursday, April 09, 2026 4:17 PM >>>>>> *To:* Ian Engelbrecht >>>>>> *Cc:* NHCOLL-new >>>>>> *Subject:* Re: [Nhcoll-l] Desktop thermal printers? >>>>>> >>>>>> Redesigning is already happening: new tech pops in, for example the >>>>>> thermal transfer printers are new compared to inkjets, and new substrates >>>>>> are also being developed. >>>>>> >>>>>> One way to deal with inevitable change is to understand the "recipe" >>>>>> as much as possible and seek out the "cleaner" products - as in the case of >>>>>> "OBA free, acid free, lignin free" etc paper or understanding which types >>>>>> of toners are likely to be more permanent. Understanding the technology as >>>>>> much as possible and testing what we can may help narrow down choices and >>>>>> set clearer standards. The other way is to remain out of it and use >>>>>> handwritten labels, but it seems that all of us regard this option mostly >>>>>> as a ship that has sailed: too hard to get the workforce to do it. >>>>>> >>>>>> Gali >>>>>> >>>>>> Gali Beiner (ACR) >>>>>> Conservator, Palaeontology Lab >>>>>> National Natural History Collections >>>>>> The Hebrew University of Jerusalem >>>>>> Berman Building, Edmond J. Safra campus, Givat Ram >>>>>> Jerusalem 91904, Israel >>>>>> Fax. 972-2-6585785 >>>>>> *gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il* >>>>>> *https://nnhc.huji.ac.il/?lang=en* >>>>>> >>>>>> ?????? ??? ??, 9 ????? 2026, 21:49, ??? Ian Engelbrecht ?< >>>>>> ianicus.za at gmail.com>: >>>>>> >>>>>> Plus the fact that things change over time. HP printer - toner - >>>>>> paper combination might work now, but will it still 30 years from now when >>>>>> they?ve redesigned one or three of those components? >>>>>> >>>>>> Ian >>>>>> >>>>>> On Thu, 09 Apr 2026 at 18:20, Gali Beiner < >>>>>> gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il> wrote: >>>>>> >>>>>> Doug is pointing out the heart of the problem - the variety of >>>>>> printing combinations which makes comparisons difficult. >>>>>> >>>>>> In fact, the variations in the way printer-ink-subsrate (paper or >>>>>> other) combinations work is the main reason why manufacturers recommend >>>>>> using their own brand for all three parts of the combo. In other words, the >>>>>> manufacturers say HP printers are supposed to yield better, more permanent >>>>>> results with original HP toners and HP specialized paper. The same goes for >>>>>> Canon, Epson or any other brand. Testing according to conservation >>>>>> parameters can work with that - or at least look very carefully into what, >>>>>> exactly is chosen for use (eg paper - OBA free, lignin free etc etc). >>>>>> >>>>>> The way things stand now - with endless possible variations and >>>>>> combinations - basically means it is up to us to try and set the criteria >>>>>> of choice and monitor whether that works. Not easy, but possibly we can >>>>>> try. >>>>>> >>>>>> Gali >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> Gali Beiner (ACR) >>>>>> Conservator, Palaeontology Lab >>>>>> National Natural History Collections >>>>>> The Hebrew University of Jerusalem >>>>>> Berman Building, Edmond J. Safra campus, Givat Ram >>>>>> Jerusalem 91904, Israel >>>>>> Fax. 972-2-6585785 >>>>>> *gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il* >>>>>> *https://nnhc.huji.ac.il/?lang=en* >>>>>> >>>>>> ?????? ??? ??, 9 ????? 2026, 18:46, ??? Douglas Yanega ?< >>>>>> dyanega at gmail.com>: >>>>>> >>>>>> On 4/8/26 11:38 PM, Gali Beiner wrote: >>>>>> >>>>>> Other than that, I think that maybe we could use this forum to up the >>>>>> level of testing a bit - after all we have a pool of collection >>>>>> professionals here, all with the same problem to solve re:labels for wet >>>>>> collections (mainly alcohol but also other). Why shouldn't we gather >>>>>> ourselves into a group of say 5 to 10 people in different collections and >>>>>> agree on some sort of protocol for different labels in each collection (or >>>>>> maybe sets of different labels to be tested in all collections, we could >>>>>> consider the details) - and have this followed both in the short and long >>>>>> terms? That would be more interesting than any individual test. Dear >>>>>> readers in this forum, how does this sound to you? >>>>>> >>>>>> Compilation of different people's experiences have been done here and >>>>>> elsewhere with some regularity, and one thing that is a universal >>>>>> impediment to generating a coherent picture is the variability of the >>>>>> medium that is being printed on. Comparisons of different printers are >>>>>> nearly meaningless if the "tests" are on different paper stock. >>>>>> >>>>>> The most dramatic example I can offer is one from personal >>>>>> experience: back in 1990, we obtained a Laserjet, a fairly new technology >>>>>> at that time, and printed thousands of labels for both dry and ethanol >>>>>> specimens. The first several months everything worked flawlessly, and to >>>>>> this day, almost 40 years on, those original labels are perfectly fine, >>>>>> even the ones stored in ethanol. Then one day we ran out of the existing >>>>>> stock of paper, bought a new ream, and loaded it into the printer without >>>>>> changing anything else. The lettering on those labels chipped, flaked, and >>>>>> rubbed off the dry labels, and when we tried to put them into ethanol, the >>>>>> letters floated off. No alteration of settings was involved, and nothing we >>>>>> did made the labels viable. That is, until we checked the packaging on the >>>>>> original ream; we found it was not the exact same thing that we had >>>>>> switched to, so we bought something IDENTICAL, and the resulting labels >>>>>> were just fine again. The problem had literally nothing to do with the >>>>>> printer, and everything to do with the paper. >>>>>> >>>>>> Again, any "test" that does not control for the medium will not be a >>>>>> fair and objective test of the merits of a printer. >>>>>> >>>>>> We presently use an HP Laser printer, and yes, we have had to try >>>>>> different types of paper to find paper stocks that work well with this >>>>>> printer. Not all do. Even worse, when we use "replacement" toner cartridges >>>>>> (not the official HP brand), sometimes *but not always*, the >>>>>> printing is slightly flaky and easily abraded. That means there are at >>>>>> least THREE parameters that need to be controlled: the printer, the medium, >>>>>> and the toner. Variation in any one of those three can lead to variation in >>>>>> the quality of the results. This makes objective assessment and testing >>>>>> *very* difficult, and ultimately it's just a litany of anecdotes. >>>>>> >>>>>> Peace, >>>>>> >>>>>> -- >>>>>> Doug Yanega Dept. of Entomology Entomology Research Museum >>>>>> Univ. of California, Riverside, CA 92521-0314 phone: 951-827-4315 >>>>>> FaceBook: Doug Yanega (disclaimer: opinions are mine, not UCR's) >>>>>> https://faculty.ucr.edu/~heraty/yanega.html >>>>>> "There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness >>>>>> is the true method" - Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chap. 82 >>>>>> >>>>>> _______________________________________________ >>>>>> Nhcoll-l mailing list >>>>>> Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu >>>>>> https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l >>>>>> >>>>>> _______________________________________________ >>>>>> NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of >>>>>> Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose >>>>>> mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of >>>>>> natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to >>>>>> society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. >>>>>> Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. >>>>>> >>>>>> _______________________________________________ >>>>>> Nhcoll-l mailing list >>>>>> Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu >>>>>> https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l >>>>>> >>>>>> _______________________________________________ >>>>>> NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of >>>>>> Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose >>>>>> mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of >>>>>> natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to >>>>>> society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. >>>>>> Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> -- >>>>>> Gali Beiner (ACR) >>>>>> Conservator, Palaeontology Lab >>>>>> National Natural History Collections >>>>>> The Hebrew University of Jerusalem >>>>>> Berman Building, Edmond J. Safra campus, Givat Ram >>>>>> Jerusalem 91904, Israel >>>>>> Fax. 972-2-6585785 >>>>>> *gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il* >>>>>> *https://nnhc.huji.ac.il/?lang=en* >>>>>> >>>>>> _______________________________________________ >>>>>> Nhcoll-l mailing listNhcoll-l at mailman.yale.eduhttps://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l >>>>>> >>>>>> _______________________________________________ >>>>>> NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of >>>>>> Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose >>>>>> mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of >>>>>> natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to >>>>>> society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. >>>>>> Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> -- >>>>>> >>>>>> ****** >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> *Dirk Neumann* >>>>>> >>>>>> Collection Manager, Hamburg >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> Postal address: >>>>>> >>>>>> *Museum of Nature Hamburg* >>>>>> Leibniz Institute for the Analysis >>>>>> >>>>>> of Biodiversity Change >>>>>> >>>>>> Dirk Neumann >>>>>> >>>>>> Martin-Luther-King-Platz 3 >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> 20146 >>>>>> >>>>>> Hamburg >>>>>> >>>>>> +49 40 238 317 ? 628 >>>>>> >>>>>> *d.neumann at leibniz-lib.de * >>>>>> >>>>>> www.leibniz-lib.de >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> -- >>>>>> Stiftung Leibniz-Institut zur Analyse des Biodiversit?tswandels >>>>>> Postanschrift: Adenauerallee 127, 53113 Bonn, Germany >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> Stiftung des ?ffentlichen Rechts; >>>>>> Generaldirektion: Prof. Dr. Bernhard Misof (Generaldirektor), Adrian >>>>>> Gr?ter (Kaufm. Gesch?ftsf?hrer) >>>>>> Sitz der Stiftung: Adenauerallee 160 >>>>>> >>>>>> in Bonn >>>>>> Vorsitzender des Stiftungsrates: Dr. Michael Wappelhorst >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> -- >>>>>> Stiftung Leibniz-Institut zur Analyse des Biodiversit?tswandels >>>>>> Postanschrift: Adenauerallee 127, 53113 Bonn, Germany >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> Stiftung des ?ffentlichen Rechts; >>>>>> Generaldirektion: Prof. Dr. Bernhard Misof (Generaldirektor), Adrian >>>>>> Gr?ter (Kaufm. Gesch?ftsf?hrer) >>>>>> Sitz der Stiftung: Adenauerallee 160 >>>>>> >>>>>> in Bonn >>>>>> Vorsitzender des Stiftungsrates: Dr. Michael H. Wappelhorst >>>>>> _______________________________________________ >>>>>> Nhcoll-l mailing list >>>>>> Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu >>>>>> https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l >>>>>> >>>>>> _______________________________________________ >>>>>> NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of >>>>>> Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose >>>>>> mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of >>>>>> natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to >>>>>> society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. >>>>>> Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. >>>>>> >>>>> _______________________________________________ >>>>> Nhcoll-l mailing list >>>>> Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu >>>>> https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l >>>>> >>>>> _______________________________________________ >>>>> NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of >>>>> Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose >>>>> mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of >>>>> natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to >>>>> society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. >>>>> Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. >>>>> >>>> _______________________________________________ >>>> Nhcoll-l mailing list >>>> Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu >>>> https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l >>>> >>>> _______________________________________________ >>>> NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of >>>> Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose >>>> mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of >>>> natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to >>>> society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. >>>> Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. >>>> >>> >> _______________________________________________ >> Nhcoll-l mailing listNhcoll-l at mailman.yale.eduhttps://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l >> >> _______________________________________________ >> NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of >> Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose >> mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of >> natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to >> society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. >> Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. >> >> >> -- >> >> ****** >> >> >> >> *Dirk Neumann* >> >> Collection Manager, Hamburg >> >> >> >> Postal address: >> >> *Museum of Nature Hamburg* >> Leibniz Institute for the Analysis >> >> of Biodiversity Change >> >> Dirk Neumann >> >> Martin-Luther-King-Platz 3 >> >> 20146 Hamburg >> +49 40 238 317 ? 628 >> >> *d.neumann at leibniz-lib.de * >> >> www.leibniz-lib.de >> >> >> >> -- >> Stiftung Leibniz-Institut zur Analyse des Biodiversit?tswandels >> Postanschrift: Adenauerallee 127, 53113 Bonn, Germany >> >> Stiftung des ?ffentlichen Rechts; >> Generaldirektion: Prof. Dr. Bernhard Misof (Generaldirektor), Adrian >> Gr?ter (Kaufm. Gesch?ftsf?hrer) >> Sitz der Stiftung: Adenauerallee 160 in Bonn >> Vorsitzender des Stiftungsrates: Dr. Michael Wappelhorst >> >> >> -- >> Stiftung Leibniz-Institut zur Analyse des Biodiversit?tswandels >> Postanschrift: Adenauerallee 127, 53113 Bonn, Germany >> >> Stiftung des ?ffentlichen Rechts; >> Generaldirektion: Prof. Dr. Bernhard Misof (Generaldirektor), Adrian >> Gr?ter (Kaufm. Gesch?ftsf?hrer) >> Sitz der Stiftung: Adenauerallee 160 in Bonn >> Vorsitzender des Stiftungsrates: Dr. Michael H. Wappelhorst >> _______________________________________________ >> Nhcoll-l mailing list >> Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu >> https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l >> >> _______________________________________________ >> NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of >> Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose >> mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of >> natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to >> society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. >> Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. >> > > > -- > Gali Beiner (ACR) > Conservator, Palaeontology Lab > National Natural History Collections > The Hebrew University of Jerusalem > Berman Building, Edmond J. Safra campus, Givat Ram > Jerusalem 91904, Israel > Fax. 972-2-6585785 > *gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il * > > *https://nnhc.huji.ac.il/?lang=en * > _______________________________________________ > Nhcoll-l mailing list > Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu > https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l > > _______________________________________________ > NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of > Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose > mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of > natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to > society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. > Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From prc44 at drexel.edu Thu Apr 16 10:36:17 2026 From: prc44 at drexel.edu (Callomon,Paul) Date: Thu, 16 Apr 2026 14:36:17 +0000 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] [EXTERN] Re: Desktop thermal printers? In-Reply-To: References: <9be072e8-2c72-4e94-a755-bf387ea19307@gmail.com> <114dc970-161d-415a-b9c3-b7e94a9b7686@leibniz-lib.de> <3e98443a-d30c-4b9c-aa39-c74b8c70d824@leibniz-lib.de> Message-ID: My understanding of how laser ink works is that the ink becomes fluid when heated and flows into and around the fibers of the paper. It then hardens into what is effectively a thermoset plastic as it cools. Its adhesion is thus at least partially mechanical through penetration in three dimensions, like the roots of a tree. I don?t know if any bonding might also occur at molecular level, but it was explained to me that larger laser printers intended for heavy office use fuse the ink at hotter temperatures and thus achieve deeper penetration of the paper. We use an older HP 3015 and print on rag (laundry tag) paper, and those labels seem unchanged in alcohol so far (the oldest that was made on the same paper with a comparable printer is about 25 years now). Many modern laser printers emphasize sheets-per-minute speed over durability, however, and I can see how that might reduce the heat accordingly. Paul Callomon Collection Manager, Malacology and General Invertebrates ________________________________ Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, Philadelphia callomon at ansp.org Tel 215-405-5096 - Fax 215-299-1170 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From Joachim.Haendel at zns.uni-halle.de Fri Apr 17 02:52:39 2026 From: Joachim.Haendel at zns.uni-halle.de (=?UTF-8?Q?Hans-Joachim=20H=C3=A4ndel?=) Date: Fri, 17 Apr 2026 08:52:39 +0200 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Antw: Re: [EXTERN] Re: Desktop thermal printers? In-Reply-To: <3265B5B60200009EAB59E961@gwia0.itz.uni-halle.de> References: <9be072e8-2c72-4e94-a755-bf387ea19307@gmail.com> <114dc970-161d-415a-b9c3-b7e94a9b7686@leibniz-lib.de> <3e98443a-d30c-4b9c-aa39-c74b8c70d824@leibniz-lib.de> <9F1F8B980200007921F50454@gwia0.itz.uni-halle.de> <7F1190C8020000B9AB59E961@gwia0.itz.uni-halle.de> <3265B5B60200009EAB59E961@gwia0.itz.uni-halle.de> Message-ID: <69E1D8B7020000B3000E1C75@gwia0.itz.uni-halle.de> Hello everyone, That?s what a paper expert told me as well. The toner and the surface of the ?synthetic paper? apparently fuse together. I believe that such papers will be of interest to us in the future. There are some that are age-resistant and chemical-resistant. That?s why I?m currently conducting tests with Teslin, Neobond, Artisyn and NeverTear. Regarding the older posts from earlier this week. Light and temperature naturally play a major role. But that applies to all our objects and their labels! In my tests, as an accelerated ageing test, I placed the the containers with the labels on a laboratory 3D shakers (40 revolutions per minute) for two weeks to simulate, for example, transport or the opening and closing of drawers over a long period. When using laser printers, it seems that print speed and fusing temperature are indeed crucial. The standard setting for documents is apparently not ideal. I usually print labels using the setting for card stock or overhead transparencies. @Dirk Even though your labels on transparent paper performed best, I don?t think this paper is a good idea. With tracing paper, the cellulose fibres are ground and crushed so that they lie flat on top of one another and are barely interlocked (felted). This is why tracing paper is not absorbent, but is not very strong mechanically (It breaks easily). Furthermore, the transparency is achieved by soaking the paper in sulphuric acid, which dissolves the cellulose a little. The sulphuric acid is washed out at the end, but this is never completely successful. Tracing paper is not resistant to ageing. All the best, Joachim -- Joachim Haendel Center of Natural Science Collections of the Martin Luther University (ZNS) - Zoological Collection - Domplatz 4 D-06099 Halle (Saale) Germany Phone: +49 345 - 55 26 447 Email: joachim.haendel at zns.uni-halle.de >>> Ian Engelbrecht schrieb am 16.04.2026 um 16:25: Just dropping this bit of info here so it's on the radar. Apparently with Teslin, the heating process that melts the toner melts the substrate under it at the same time, forming a bond between the two so that the letters don't come off again afterwards. This is just theoretical though, and needs to be investigated in some real manner. I wonder if looking at the bonds between laser printed letters and the underlying substrate would be possible with electron microscopy. Possibly something to be investigated in the reals of materials science. Ian On Thu, Apr 16, 2026 at 2:17?PM Gali Beiner wrote: I'll add to Dirk's post that to me, the fact that the "alphabet soup" phenomenon has been spotted in various places (including our own collections at NNHC-HUJI) in labels produced by different printers makes laser printers a problematic choice. Laser printers are based firstly on electric charges (the paper is negatively charged to attract the image from the photoreceptor drum), and then on heating (to melt the powder from the toner and fuse the resultant ink into the paper fibers). This, combined with the paper quality and coating issue, means that there could be several problematic points along the process of printing. Choice of paper is actually the easiest point to resolve. Gali On Thu, Apr 16, 2026 at 3:01?PM Dirk Neumann wrote: Hi Ian and all, there is a lot of valuable information on the SPNHC Wiki on labels: https://spnhc.org/labeling-natural-history-collections/#Laser_Printing_.28and_Photocopiers.29 Key factors for the adhesion of laser toner letters is the coating of the paper, its roughness and the temperature during printing. Some early Xerox labels from the 1980ies and 1990ies in my former collection were still fine in 30 years later in terms of printing, but the coating of the paper started to fell apart (visible white/grey shading, followed by detachment of letters from 'discoloured' grey areas). Letter soup usually occurs if the toner has not been melted properly onto the paper (i.e. its fibres), the surface was too smooth, or a combination of both. Hope this helps Dirk Am 14.04.2026 um 20:58 schrieb Ian Engelbrecht: Also, just continuing the aging acceleration discussion, what would be tremendously helpful would be a way to accelerate whatever process is going on which causes thelaser printed letters to separate from the paper/substrate they're attached to. That might be a good student project in itself - working out what happens over time that causes that separation so we can understand and mitigate or avoid that process. Ian On Tue, Apr 14, 2026 at 8:56?PM Ian Engelbrecht wrote: We have a similar experiment here. I printed labels on several different archival papers, including Teslin, 'goatskin', and others, all with an Epson EcoTank Mono 1100, and distributed copies to wet collections around the country. They're all sitting in jars on windowsills now (or at least I hope they are). Ian On Tue, Apr 14, 2026 at 6:00?PM Kendrick Fowler wrote: Along with running labels through a tumbler or shaker of some kind, I think that exposing labels to light and heat (along the lines of Andy's window ledge test) could be useful and interesting for accelerated aging experiments. For what it's worth, I have been running a not-very-scientific test similar to Andy's with labels made using my lab's inkjet printer, albeit for much less time; the vials have been sitting in my window for ~5 years. So far, the labels have remained perfectly readable, and the text printed by the inkjet appears to have held up equally as well as text handwritten on the labels using a black Pigma Micron pen (though both the inkjet printed and the handwritten text appear to have faded slightly). The labels were printed on Enduro Xerographic 100% cotton paper using an Epson ET-4750 EcoTank printer filled with Epson T5021 black ink, and the Micron pen was Sakura stock # XSDK005-49. Kendrick Kendrick Fowler, Entomology Lab Manager Hawthorne Valley Farmscape Ecology Program | hvfarmscape.org +1 (518) 672-7994 (office) | +1 (267) 377-7567 (cell) Follow us on Facebook ( https://www.facebook.com/Farmscape-Ecology-Program-154393294745947/) or subscribe to our Progress of the Seasons Journal ( https://progressoftheseasons.wordpress.com/) for weekly photoessays on Columbia County's natural wonders. On Tue, Apr 14, 2026 at 12:24?AM Gali Beiner wrote: Just adding my own angle - the tests described in my publication involved tubes being shaked for hours in a laboratory shaker. Actually sounds to me less rough, motion-wise, than a washing machine... I did add glass spheres (no sharp angles) to the mix, though. However, the comments re: problems of accelerated aging are, of course, valid. They are valid also for accelerated aging tests in fields other than fluid collection labels. One way I dealt with that was shortening test times from 1 month (as pee the "classic" Oddy Test) to 48 hours. In any case, I consider all of the comments here very valuable to shsping future testing. I have sent an email to a person at the IPI (thanks for the contact, Rob! Fabian, I'll follow yours, too!). If they reply, I'd be happy to gather a think-tank team to discuss the subject with them. Gali Gali Beiner (ACR) Conservator, Palaeontology Lab National Natural History Collections The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Berman Building, Edmond J. Safra campus, Givat Ram Jerusalem 91904, Israel Fax. 972-2-6585785 gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il https://nnhc.huji.ac.il/?lang=en ?????? ??? ??, 14 ????? 2026, 00:39, ??? Dirk Neumann ?: Hi all, before we introduced our gill tags for a major field survey, I tagged small fish (2cm) with approx. 1cm gill tags, but them in PE-bottles with formalin, and put them into a washing machine running the full cold wash programme (no heat, but 'bumpy road' conditions. Think that matches Andy's idea of a rock tumbler quite well. The HP 600 ink jet labels on 100 g/m2 transparent paper preformed best (as already said in this thread: ink jet printing boils the ink and shoots it into the paper). Gill tags also stayed in place (second level of testing). We had perfect performance even on very bumpy off-road tracks in central Africa. Just an idea ... With best wishes Dirk Am 13.04.2026 um 17:20 schrieb Robert Waller: Hi Andy, You are right that accelerated aging tests can be misleading. I am not sure that is what would be wanted. Just having casually read the messages though, I thought that some guidance on specification of papers and inks might be useful. For example, where print simply floated off the paper when immersed, I might guess that could be a result of using a clay coated paper. That is just a guess as I do not have expertise in either printers or papers. It just seemed that we might clarify, even simplify, our understandings by communicating with the people who have expertise in that. IPI would seem a good place to start. Perhaps I should have explained that to start. Best, Rob From: Bentley, Andrew Charles ( mailto:abentley at ku.edu) Sent: Monday, April 13, 2026 10:44 AM To: Gali Beiner ( mailto:gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il) ; Robert Waller ( mailto:rw at protectheritage.com) Cc: NHCOLL-new ( mailto:nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu) Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] Desktop thermal printers? Hi all I think the rub (pun intended) with accelerated aging tests is that they can over-express real-world scenarios. A thermal transfer printer label (or any label for that matter) inserted into a glass jar, is going to be subject to limited abrasion and, as such, any accelerated aging test that uses physical abrasion as its main mechanism of aging is not going to be an accurate representation of real word effects in my opinion. Maybe placing a jar of alcohol with specimen and label in the equivalent of a rock tumbler would more closely approximate a real-world scenario. Andy A : A : A : }<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<)))_?> V V V Andy Bentley Ichthyology Collection Manager University of Kansas Biodiversity Institute Dyche Hall 1345 Jayhawk Boulevard ( https://www.google.com/maps/search/1345+Jayhawk+Boulevard+%0D%0A+Lawrence,+KS,+66045-7561+%0D%0A+USA?entry=gmail&source=g) Lawrence, KS, 66045-7561 ( https://www.google.com/maps/search/1345+Jayhawk+Boulevard+%0D%0A+Lawrence,+KS,+66045-7561+%0D%0A+USA?entry=gmail&source=g) USA ( https://www.google.com/maps/search/1345+Jayhawk+Boulevard+%0D%0A+Lawrence,+KS,+66045-7561+%0D%0A+USA?entry=gmail&source=g) Tel: (785) 864-3863 ( tel:%28785%29%20864-3863) Fax: (785) 864-5335 ( tel:%28785%29%20864-5335) Email: abentley at ku.edu ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3093-1258 http://ichthyology.biodiversity.ku.edu A : A : A : }<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<)))_?> V V V From: Nhcoll-l ( mailto:nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu) on behalf of Gali Beiner ( mailto:gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il) Sent: Sunday, April 12, 2026 1:06 AM To: Robert Waller ( mailto:rw at protectheritage.com) Cc: NHCOLL-new ( mailto:nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu) Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] Desktop thermal printers? Hi Rob and all, I'm not familiar with task groups in SPNHC, so somebody who already works with one will have to explain to me how that works, but generally speaking - the main problem here is formulating the right kind of question to answer in a scientific research. In fact, it crosses my mind that if anybody here has a contact within the Image Permanence Institute, I'd be happy to get in touch (IPI, according to its own vision, is "dedicated to supporting the preservation of cultural heritage collections in libraries, archives, and museums around the world"). Possibly the study question should be about finding the most permanent printer-ink-substrate combo (for ethanol?) in each category (laser, inkjet, thermal transfer), and then comparing categories. This would involve thinking aboutthe best ways to test permanence for labels in fluids - for example, in my own published paper I presented a form of accelerated aging as a testing method. What would be the best way for testing, other than waiting 50-100 years? Maybe discussing this with people at the Image Permanence Institute could help. Gali On Fri, Apr 10, 2026 at 5:18?PM Robert Waller wrote: Hi Gali, Your suggestion "to understand the "recipe" as much as possible" seems a very good idea. If you or someone else decides to initiate a task group within SPNHC to take that on, I suggest you reach out to archives and paper conservators through their discussion groups as they may already have useful information available. Perhaps the subject could be suggested as a good research project for a conservation student. That is, a compilation of information combined with some experimentation for validation. Rob From: Nhcoll-l on behalf of Gali Beiner Sent: Thursday, April 09, 2026 4:17 PM To: Ian Engelbrecht Cc: NHCOLL-new Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] Desktop thermal printers? Redesigning is already happening: new tech pops in, for example the thermal transfer printers are new compared to inkjets, and new substrates are also being developed. One way to deal with inevitable change is to understand the "recipe" as much as possible and seek out the "cleaner" products - as in the case of "OBA free, acid free, lignin free" etc paper or understanding which types of toners are likely to be more permanent. Understanding the technology as much as possible and testing what we can may help narrow down choices and set clearer standards. The other way is to remain out of it and use handwritten labels, but it seems that all of us regard this option mostly as a ship that has sailed: too hard to get the workforce to do it. Gali Gali Beiner (ACR) Conservator, Palaeontology Lab National Natural History Collections The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Berman Building, Edmond J. Safra campus, Givat Ram Jerusalem 91904, Israel Fax. 972-2-6585785 gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il https://nnhc.huji.ac.il/?lang=en ?????? ??? ??, 9 ????? 2026, 21:49, ??? Ian Engelbrecht ?: Plus the fact that things change over time. HP printer - toner - paper combination might work now, but will it still 30 years from now when they?ve redesigned one or three of those components? Ian On Thu, 09 Apr 2026 at 18:20, Gali Beiner wrote: Doug is pointing out the heart of the problem - the variety of printing combinations which makes comparisons difficult. In fact, the variations in the way printer-ink-subsrate (paper or other) combinations work is the main reason why manufacturers recommend using their own brand for all three parts of the combo. In other words, the manufacturers say HP printers are supposed to yield better, more permanent results with original HP toners and HP specialized paper. The same goes for Canon, Epson or any other brand. Testing according to conservation parameters can work with that - or at least look very carefully into what, exactly is chosen for use (eg paper - OBA free, lignin free etc etc). The way things stand now - with endless possible variations and combinations - basically means it is up to us to try and set the criteria of choice and monitor whether that works. Not easy, but possibly we can try. Gali Gali Beiner (ACR) Conservator, Palaeontology Lab National Natural History Collections The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Berman Building, Edmond J. Safra campus, Givat Ram Jerusalem 91904, Israel Fax. 972-2-6585785 gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il https://nnhc.huji.ac.il/?lang=en ?????? ??? ??, 9 ????? 2026, 18:46, ??? Douglas Yanega ?: On 4/8/26 11:38 PM, Gali Beiner wrote: Other than that, I think that maybe we could use this forum to up the level of testing a bit - after all we have a pool of collection professionals here, all with the same problem to solve re:labels for wet collections (mainly alcohol but also other). Why shouldn't we gather ourselves into a group of say 5 to 10 people in different collections and agree on some sort of protocol for different labels in each collection (or maybe sets of different labels to be tested in all collections, we could consider the details) - and have this followed both in the short and long terms? That would be more interesting than any individual test. Dear readers in this forum, how does this sound to you? Compilation of different people's experiences have been done here and elsewhere with some regularity, and one thing that is a universal impediment to generating a coherent picture is the variability of the medium that is being printed on. Comparisons of different printers are nearly meaningless if the "tests" are on different paper stock. The most dramatic example I can offer is one from personal experience: back in 1990, we obtained a Laserjet, a fairly new technology at that time, and printed thousands of labels for both dry and ethanol specimens. The first several months everything worked flawlessly, and to this day, almost 40 years on, those original labels are perfectly fine, even the ones stored in ethanol. Then one day we ran out of the existing stock of paper, bought a new ream, and loaded it into the printer without changing anything else. The lettering on those labels chipped, flaked, and rubbed off the dry labels, and when we tried to put them into ethanol, the letters floated off. No alteration of settings was involved, and nothing we did made the labels viable. That is, until we checked the packaging on the original ream; we found it was not the exact same thing that we had switched to, so we bought something IDENTICAL, and the resulting labels were just fine again. The problem had literally nothing to do with the printer, and everything to do with the paper. Again, any "test" that does not control for the medium will not be a fair and objective test of the merits of a printer. We presently use an HP Laser printer, and yes, we have had to try different types of paper to find paper stocks that work well with this printer. Not all do. Even worse, when we use "replacement" toner cartridges (not the official HP brand), sometimes but not always, the printing is slightly flaky and easily abraded. That means there are at least THREE parameters that need to be controlled: the printer, the medium, and the toner. Variation in any one of those three can lead to variation in the quality of the results. This makes objective assessment and testingvery difficult, and ultimately it's just a litany of anecdotes. Peace, -- Doug Yanega Dept. of Entomology Entomology Research Museum Univ. of California, Riverside, CA 92521-0314 phone: 951-827-4315 FaceBook: Doug Yanega (disclaimer: opinions are mine, not UCR's) https://faculty.ucr.edu/~heraty/yanega.html "There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness is the true method" - Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chap. 82 _______________________________________________ Nhcoll-l mailing list Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l _______________________________________________ NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to society. See http://www.spnhc.org ( http://www.spnhc.org/) for membership information. Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. _______________________________________________ Nhcoll-l mailing list Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l _______________________________________________ NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to society. See http://www.spnhc.org ( http://www.spnhc.org/) for membership information. Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. -- Gali Beiner (ACR) Conservator, Palaeontology Lab National Natural History Collections The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Berman Building, Edmond J. Safra campus, Givat Ram Jerusalem 91904, Israel Fax. 972-2-6585785 gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il https://nnhc.huji.ac.il/?lang=en _______________________________________________ Nhcoll-l mailing listNhcoll-l at mailman.yale.eduhttps://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l _______________________________________________ NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. -- **** Dirk Neumann Collection Manager, Hamburg Postal address: Museum of Nature Hamburg Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change Dirk Neumann Martin-Luther-King-Platz 3 ( https://www.google.com/maps/search/Martin-Luther-King-Platz+3+%0D%0A+%0D%0A+20146+%0D%0A+Hamburg?entry=gmail&source=g) 20146 ( https://www.google.com/maps/search/Martin-Luther-King-Platz+3+%0D%0A+%0D%0A+20146+%0D%0A+Hamburg?entry=gmail&source=g) Hamburg ( https://www.google.com/maps/search/Martin-Luther-King-Platz+3+%0D%0A+%0D%0A+20146+%0D%0A+Hamburg?entry=gmail&source=g) +49 40238 317 ?628 d.neumann at leibniz-lib.de www.leibniz-lib.de -- Stiftung Leibniz-Institut zur Analyse des Biodiversit?tswandels Postanschrift: Adenauerallee 127, 53113 Bonn, Germany ( https://www.google.com/maps/search/Adenauerallee+127,+53113+Bonn,+Germany?entry=gmail&source=g) Stiftung des ?ffentlichen Rechts; Generaldirektion: Prof. Dr. Bernhard Misof (Generaldirektor), Adrian Gr?ter (Kaufm. Gesch?ftsf?hrer) Sitz der Stiftung: Adenauerallee 160 ( https://www.google.com/maps/search/Adenauerallee+160?entry=gmail&source=g) in Bonn Vorsitzender des Stiftungsrates: Dr. Michael Wappelhorst -- Stiftung Leibniz-Institut zur Analyse des Biodiversit?tswandels Postanschrift: Adenauerallee 127, 53113 Bonn, Germany ( https://www.google.com/maps/search/Adenauerallee+127,+53113+Bonn,+Germany?entry=gmail&source=g) Stiftung des ?ffentlichen Rechts; Generaldirektion: Prof. Dr. Bernhard Misof (Generaldirektor), Adrian Gr?ter (Kaufm. Gesch?ftsf?hrer) Sitz der Stiftung: Adenauerallee 160 ( https://www.google.com/maps/search/Adenauerallee+160?entry=gmail&source=g) in Bonn Vorsitzender des Stiftungsrates: Dr. Michael H. Wappelhorst _______________________________________________ Nhcoll-l mailing list Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l _______________________________________________ NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to society. See http://www.spnhc.org ( http://www.spnhc.org) for membership information. Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. _______________________________________________ Nhcoll-l mailing list Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l _______________________________________________ NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to society. See http://www.spnhc.org ( http://www.spnhc.org) for membership information. Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. _______________________________________________ Nhcoll-l mailing list Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l _______________________________________________ NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to society. See http://www.spnhc.org ( http://www.spnhc.org) for membership information. Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. _______________________________________________ Nhcoll-l mailing listNhcoll-l at mailman.yale.eduhttps://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l _______________________________________________ NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. -- **** Dirk Neumann Collection Manager, Hamburg Postal address: Museum of Nature Hamburg Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change Dirk Neumann Martin-Luther-King-Platz 3 20146Hamburg +49 40238 317 ?628 d.neumann at leibniz-lib.de www.leibniz-lib.de -- Stiftung Leibniz-Institut zur Analyse des Biodiversit?tswandels Postanschrift: Adenauerallee 127, 53113 Bonn, Germany Stiftung des ?ffentlichen Rechts; Generaldirektion: Prof. Dr. Bernhard Misof (Generaldirektor), Adrian Gr?ter (Kaufm. Gesch?ftsf?hrer) Sitz der Stiftung: Adenauerallee 160 in Bonn Vorsitzender des Stiftungsrates: Dr. Michael Wappelhorst -- Stiftung Leibniz-Institut zur Analyse des Biodiversit?tswandels Postanschrift: Adenauerallee 127, 53113 Bonn, Germany Stiftung des ?ffentlichen Rechts; Generaldirektion: Prof. Dr. Bernhard Misof (Generaldirektor), Adrian Gr?ter (Kaufm. Gesch?ftsf?hrer) Sitz der Stiftung: Adenauerallee 160 in Bonn Vorsitzender des Stiftungsrates: Dr. Michael H. Wappelhorst _______________________________________________ Nhcoll-l mailing list Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l _______________________________________________ NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. -- Gali Beiner (ACR) Conservator, Palaeontology Lab National Natural History Collections The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Berman Building, Edmond J. Safra campus, Givat Ram Jerusalem 91904, Israel Fax. 972-2-6585785 gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il https://nnhc.huji.ac.il/?lang=en _______________________________________________ Nhcoll-l mailing list Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l _______________________________________________ NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. _______________________________________________ Nhcoll-l mailing list Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l _______________________________________________ NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From d.neumann at leibniz-lib.de Fri Apr 17 05:02:55 2026 From: d.neumann at leibniz-lib.de (Dirk Neumann) Date: Fri, 17 Apr 2026 11:02:55 +0200 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] [EXTERN] Shipping human remains In-Reply-To: References: <843ee1c9-4cc9-4eab-a2eb-d5c3c15395ba@leibniz-lib.de> Message-ID: Hi Kristian, regarding your email this morning of sending human material into the US, it might be worth contacting Ben Hess directly; he can probably give you more specific advice on import requirements. Your probably need issue a notification for the import before you send the material in the CDC system (see links and information below). Hope this helps With best wishes Dirk Am 07.06.2024 um 13:54 schrieb Benjamin Hess: Kristian, To second Dirk's comment, archaeological human material normally does not require an import permit but a certification statement must accompany this material. * I am happy to help you directly if you have additional questions. Please feel free to contact me. Upon entry, the US Customs and Border Patrol may review the documents and approve it on behalf of the CDC, or they will consult with CDC. In my experience with the import of archaeological human remains, a clear certification statement is all that has been necessary. You can check the CDC import eTool (https://www.cdc.gov/orr/ipp/etool.htm) to verify, but you want to certify that your material "is not known or suspected to contain any infectious biological material" as shown below from the CDC import permit tool. I normally include the following in a certification statement: * clearly identify the material and the origin of the material * if it is owned by an institution/country/etc., identify this * identify the estimated age of the material and how this is known * if this is the case, state that these are for research purposes and have no commercial value * clarify that they are clean, dry, and free of debris, soil, clay, sand, tissue, flesh, and other related material * clarify that have not been exposed to or commingled with contemporary animals * state how it is packaged - we have been using standard triple-packaging [image.png] I am happy to help if you have any questions. Sincerely, Ben On Fri, Jun 7, 2024 at 2:59?AM Dirk Neumann > wrote: Hi Kristian, in any case, you should declare the specimens under the Harmonised Customs Tariff Code 9705 21 00, preserved archaeological museum specimens (Human specimens and parts thereof). You probably should observe the CDC recommendation (link) and make sure and clearly demonstrate, how old your material presumably is by giving a rough dating. You sould also make very clear that the material is preserved and poses absolutely no health risk. The Federal Register provides some specific information on import restrictions on categories of Archaeological end Ethnological material of Albania that might be worth consulting (link). Pasted below you find a boilerplate for a shipping doc for archaeological findings I have used previously - might be useful and give some orientation. It might perhaps also be helpful contacting colleagues e.g. at the Smithsonian directly; as Federal Agency, they are usually well informed and prepared when it comes to shipping. Hope this helps Dirk ************* This package contains samples from a museum collection (dry, dead preserved prehistoric vertebrate bones, dating approx. to 8,500 - 7,000 BC;[A1] for Latin species names refer to included loan agreement) for ancient DNA-sequencing, which are exclusively exchanged between museums acc. point (5) (b) in the Annex of Commission Regulation (EU) 2020/762 amending (EU) No 142/2011. The dried, excavated bones are bare of any grease or other fresh attachment. Preserved specimens packed are not subject to the initial selection list of products for veterinary checks at border inspection posts under Art. 3 Council Directive 2007/275/EC, Annex I, EX 9705 00 00). Preservation of specimens agrees with requirements for Safe Treatment laid down in Point (8) (a) (e) (ii) in the ANNEX to the Commission Regulation (EU) No 294/2013, amending Commission Regulation (EU) No 142/2011, ANNEX XIII, CHAPTER VI. The specimens are on loan for biodiversity (morphological / taxonomical) research and legally belong to the State of Bavaria (Country of Origin: Germany)[A2] ; they are non-infectious, non-contagious, non-venomous, unfit for human consumption, no traded goods, have no commercial value and are not for resale. HS-Code: 9705 21 00 (Collections of human archaeological remains or parts thereof) Declared value: 5.00 ? ________________________________ [A1]adjust accordingly [A2]adjust country of origin accordingly, i.e. enter the home country of your institution, if it is accessioned in your collection Am 07.06.2024 um 08:39 schrieb Kristian Murphy Gregersen: Hey everyone, I?d like to ask if any of you have had experience with shipping human remains to the US? I have a little box with four small bone fragments (human, from an archaeological site in the US) that I?d like to return to their rightful owners. I don?t have any previous export/import permits, or any other paperwork associated with them. Does anyone know how I should proceed? All the best, Kristian ??????????????????????????? Kristian Murphy Gregersen Teaching associate professor Head of Natural History Programme Institute of Conservation M: +45 41701764 E: kgre at kglakademi.dk ??????????????????????????? Royal Danish Academy ? Architecture, Design, Conservation ?????????????????????????????? [cid:part2.GwkuXhE6.C5c2rWFk at leibniz-lib.de] ??????????????????????????? W: www.royaldanishacademy.com ??????????????????????????? Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Vimeo Instagram ??????????????????????????? _______________________________________________ Nhcoll-l mailing list Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l _______________________________________________ NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. -- **** Dirk Neumann Collection Manager, Hamburg Postal address: Museum of Nature Hamburg Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change Dirk Neumann Martin-Luther-King-Platz 3 20146 Hamburg +49 40 238 317 ? 628 d.neumann at leibniz-lib.de www.leibniz-lib.de -- Stiftung Leibniz-Institut zur Analyse des Biodiversit?tswandels Postanschrift: Adenauerallee 127, 53113 Bonn, Germany Stiftung des ?ffentlichen Rechts; Generaldirektion: Prof. Dr. Bernhard Misof (Generaldirektor), Adrian Gr?ter (Kaufm. Gesch?ftsf?hrer) Sitz der Stiftung: Adenauerallee 160 in Bonn Vorsitzender des Stiftungsrates: Dr. Michael Wappelhorst -- Stiftung Leibniz-Institut zur Analyse des Biodiversit?tswandels Postanschrift: Adenauerallee 127, 53113 Bonn, Germany Stiftung des ?ffentlichen Rechts; Generaldirektion: Prof. Dr. Bernhard Misof (Generaldirektor), Adrian Gr?ter (Kaufm. Gesch?ftsf?hrer) Sitz der Stiftung: Adenauerallee 160 in Bonn Vorsitzender des Stiftungsrates: Dr. Michael Wappelhorst _______________________________________________ Nhcoll-l mailing list Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l _______________________________________________ NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. -- Benjamin M. Hess | EEB Museums Registrar | EEB Museums Safety Representative to the RMC University of Michigan | LSA Ecology & Evolutionary Biology | Research Museums Center 3600 Varsity Drive, Ann Arbor MI 48108-2228 bmhess at umich.edu | 734-764-2432 -- **** Dirk Neumann Collection Manager, Hamburg Postal address: Museum of Nature Hamburg Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change Dirk Neumann Martin-Luther-King-Platz 3 20146 Hamburg +49 40 238 317 ? 628 d.neumann at leibniz-lib.de www.leibniz-lib.de -- Stiftung Leibniz-Institut zur Analyse des Biodiversit?tswandels Postanschrift: Adenauerallee 127, 53113 Bonn, Germany Stiftung des ?ffentlichen Rechts; Generaldirektion: Prof. Dr. Bernhard Misof (Generaldirektor), Adrian Gr?ter (Kaufm. Gesch?ftsf?hrer) Sitz der Stiftung: Adenauerallee 160 in Bonn Vorsitzender des Stiftungsrates: Dr. Michael Wappelhorst -- Stiftung Leibniz-Institut zur Analyse des Biodiversit?tswandels Postanschrift: Adenauerallee 127, 53113 Bonn, Germany Stiftung des ?ffentlichen Rechts; Generaldirektion: Prof. Dr. Bernhard Misof (Generaldirektor), Adrian Gr?ter (Kaufm. Gesch?ftsf?hrer) Sitz der Stiftung: Adenauerallee 160 in Bonn Vorsitzender des Stiftungsrates: Dr. Michael H. Wappelhorst -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: image.png Type: image/png Size: 134516 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: image001.png Type: image/png Size: 11467 bytes Desc: not available URL: From Michele.Koons at dmns.org Thu Apr 16 14:00:55 2026 From: Michele.Koons at dmns.org (Michele Koons) Date: Thu, 16 Apr 2026 18:00:55 +0000 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Two Job Postings in Conservation at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science Message-ID: Hello, The Denver Museum of Nature & Science is hiring two positions in conservation. Conservation Lab Manager (Head of Conservation): https://www.dmns.org/about/careers/current-openings/?p=job%2FodMXzfwf Conservation Scientist: https://www.dmns.org/about/careers/current-openings/?p=job%2FoKNXzfwN Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions. Best, Michele Koons Michele L. Koons, PhD she/her/hers Director of Anthropology and Conservation Curator of Archaeology [DMNS 2 Line RGB small.jpg] Michele.Koons at dmns.org Work 303.370.6457 2001 Colorado Blvd. Denver, CO 80205 Fax 303.370.6313 www.dmns.org [FacebookIcon (1)] [TwitterLogo] I acknowledge I reside on the traditional lands of 48 Native American tribes who now live throughout the American Southwest, Great Plains, and Rocky Mountains, including the Southern Ute and Ute Mountain Ute, the Arapahoe, the Cheyenne, the Apache, the Comanche, and the Shoshone tribes. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Outlook-DMNS 2 Lin Type: image/jpg Size: 2112 bytes Desc: Outlook-DMNS 2 Lin URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Outlook-FacebookIc.png Type: image/png Size: 604 bytes Desc: Outlook-FacebookIc.png URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Outlook-TwitterLog.png Type: image/png Size: 592 bytes Desc: Outlook-TwitterLog.png URL: From abentley at ku.edu Fri Apr 17 11:14:30 2026 From: abentley at ku.edu (Bentley, Andrew Charles) Date: Fri, 17 Apr 2026 15:14:30 +0000 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Antw: Re: [EXTERN] Re: Desktop thermal printers? In-Reply-To: <69E1D8B7020000B3000E1C75@gwia0.itz.uni-halle.de> References: <9be072e8-2c72-4e94-a755-bf387ea19307@gmail.com> <114dc970-161d-415a-b9c3-b7e94a9b7686@leibniz-lib.de> <3e98443a-d30c-4b9c-aa39-c74b8c70d824@leibniz-lib.de> <9F1F8B980200007921F50454@gwia0.itz.uni-halle.de> <7F1190C8020000B9AB59E961@gwia0.itz.uni-halle.de> <3265B5B60200009EAB59E961@gwia0.itz.uni-halle.de> <69E1D8B7020000B3000E1C75@gwia0.itz.uni-halle.de> Message-ID: This is exactly how thermal transfer printing works. It thermally embeds the ink from a ribbon into the surface of the media. As with laser printing, the composition of both the ribbon and media as well as the print speed and temperature are vital to obtaining a long-lasting, chemical resistant bond. Unlike laser printing though there is no extra work required. The SDR5+ ribbon and spun-bound polyester media (specs for both attached) are extremely chemical resistant, while printer temperature and print speed can be manually selected in the menu of the printer to create a strong, "permanent" bond. This is without doubt in my mind the gold standard in printing for wet collection labels. Andy A : A : A : }<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<)))_?> V V V 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 ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3093-1258 http://ichthyology.biodiversity.ku.edu A : A : A : }<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<)))_?> V V V ________________________________ From: Nhcoll-l on behalf of Hans-Joachim H?ndel Sent: Friday, April 17, 2026 1:52 AM To: Ian Engelbrecht ; Gali Beiner Cc: nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Antw: Re: [EXTERN] Re: Desktop thermal printers? Hello everyone, That?s what a paper expert told me as well. The toner and the surface of the ?synthetic paper? apparently fuse together. I believe that such papers will be of interest to us in the future. There are some that are age-resistant and chemical-resistant. That?s why I?m currently conducting tests with Teslin, Neobond, Artisyn and NeverTear. Regarding the older posts from earlier this week. Light and temperature naturally play a major role. But that applies to all our objects and their labels! In my tests, as an accelerated ageing test, I placed the the containers with the labels on a laboratory 3D shakers (40 revolutions per minute) for two weeks to simulate, for example, transport or the opening and closing of drawers over a long period. When using laser printers, it seems that print speed and fusing temperature are indeed crucial. The standard setting for documents is apparently not ideal. I usually print labels using the setting for card stock or overhead transparencies. @Dirk Even though your labels on transparent paper performed best, I don?t think this paper is a good idea. With tracing paper, the cellulose fibres are ground and crushed so that they lie flat on top of one another and are barely interlocked (felted). This is why tracing paper is not absorbent, but is not very strong mechanically (It breaks easily). Furthermore, the transparency is achieved by soaking the paper in sulphuric acid, which dissolves the cellulose a little. The sulphuric acid is washed out at the end, but this is never completely successful. Tracing paper is not resistant to ageing. All the best, Joachim -- Joachim Haendel Center of Natural Science Collections of the Martin Luther University (ZNS) - Zoological Collection - Domplatz 4 D-06099 Halle (Saale) Germany Phone: +49 345 - 55 26 447 Email: joachim.haendel at zns.uni-halle.de >>> Ian Engelbrecht schrieb am 16.04.2026 um 16:25: Just dropping this bit of info here so it's on the radar. Apparently with Teslin, the heating process that melts the toner melts the substrate under it at the same time, forming a bond between the two so that the letters don't come off again afterwards. This is just theoretical though, and needs to be investigated in some real manner. I wonder if looking at the bonds between laser printed letters and the underlying substrate would be possible with electron microscopy. Possibly something to be investigated in the reals of materials science. Ian On Thu, Apr 16, 2026 at 2:17?PM Gali Beiner > wrote: I'll add to Dirk's post that to me, the fact that the "alphabet soup" phenomenon has been spotted in various places (including our own collections at NNHC-HUJI) in labels produced by different printers makes laser printers a problematic choice. Laser printers are based firstly on electric charges (the paper is negatively charged to attract the image from the photoreceptor drum), and then on heating (to melt the powder from the toner and fuse the resultant ink into the paper fibers). This, combined with the paper quality and coating issue, means that there could be several problematic points along the process of printing. Choice of paper is actually the easiest point to resolve. Gali On Thu, Apr 16, 2026 at 3:01?PM Dirk Neumann > wrote: Hi Ian and all, there is a lot of valuable information on the SPNHC Wiki on labels: https://spnhc.org/labeling-natural-history-collections/#Laser_Printing_.28and_Photocopiers.29 Key factors for the adhesion of laser toner letters is the coating of the paper, its roughness and the temperature during printing. Some early Xerox labels from the 1980ies and 1990ies in my former collection were still fine in 30 years later in terms of printing, but the coating of the paper started to fell apart (visible white/grey shading, followed by detachment of letters from 'discoloured' grey areas). Letter soup usually occurs if the toner has not been melted properly onto the paper (i.e. its fibres), the surface was too smooth, or a combination of both. Hope this helps Dirk Am 14.04.2026 um 20:58 schrieb Ian Engelbrecht: Also, just continuing the aging acceleration discussion, what would be tremendously helpful would be a way to accelerate whatever process is going on which causes the laser printed letters to separate from the paper/substrate they're attached to. That might be a good student project in itself - working out what happens over time that causes that separation so we can understand and mitigate or avoid that process. Ian On Tue, Apr 14, 2026 at 8:56?PM Ian Engelbrecht > wrote: We have a similar experiment here. I printed labels on several different archival papers, including Teslin, 'goatskin', and others, all with an Epson EcoTank Mono 1100, and distributed copies to wet collections around the country. They're all sitting in jars on windowsills now (or at least I hope they are). Ian On Tue, Apr 14, 2026 at 6:00?PM Kendrick Fowler > wrote: Along with running labels through a tumbler or shaker of some kind, I think that exposing labels to light and heat (along the lines of Andy's window ledge test) could be useful and interesting for accelerated aging experiments. For what it's worth, I have been running a not-very-scientific test similar to Andy's with labels made using my lab's inkjet printer, albeit for much less time; the vials have been sitting in my window for ~5 years. So far, the labels have remained perfectly readable, and the text printed by the inkjet appears to have held up equally as well as text handwritten on the labels using a black Pigma Micron pen (though both the inkjet printed and the handwritten text appear to have faded slightly). The labels were printed on Enduro Xerographic 100% cotton paper using an Epson ET-4750 EcoTank printer filled with Epson T5021 black ink, and the Micron pen was Sakura stock # XSDK005-49. Kendrick Kendrick Fowler, Entomology Lab Manager Hawthorne Valley Farmscape Ecology Program | hvfarmscape.org +1 (518) 672-7994 (office) | +1 (267) 377-7567 (cell) Follow us on Facebook or subscribe to our Progress of the Seasons Journal for weekly photoessays on Columbia County's natural wonders. On Tue, Apr 14, 2026 at 12:24?AM Gali Beiner > wrote: Just adding my own angle - the tests described in my publication involved tubes being shaked for hours in a laboratory shaker. Actually sounds to me less rough, motion-wise, than a washing machine... I did add glass spheres (no sharp angles) to the mix, though. However, the comments re: problems of accelerated aging are, of course, valid. They are valid also for accelerated aging tests in fields other than fluid collection labels. One way I dealt with that was shortening test times from 1 month (as pee the "classic" Oddy Test) to 48 hours. In any case, I consider all of the comments here very valuable to shsping future testing. I have sent an email to a person at the IPI (thanks for the contact, Rob! Fabian, I'll follow yours, too!). If they reply, I'd be happy to gather a think-tank team to discuss the subject with them. Gali [https://docs.google.com/a/mail.huji.ac.il/uc?id=0B5B3I3QnN7dsSzNkbGlLNDNGWG8&export=download]Gali Beiner (ACR) Conservator, Palaeontology Lab National Natural History Collections The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Berman Building, Edmond J. Safra campus, Givat Ram Jerusalem 91904, Israel Fax. 972-2-6585785 gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il https://nnhc.huji.ac.il/?lang=en ?????? ??? ??, 14 ????? 2026, 00:39, ??? Dirk Neumann ?>: Hi all, before we introduced our gill tags for a major field survey, I tagged small fish (2cm) with approx. 1cm gill tags, but them in PE-bottles with formalin, and put them into a washing machine running the full cold wash programme (no heat, but 'bumpy road' conditions. Think that matches Andy's idea of a rock tumbler quite well. The HP 600 ink jet labels on 100 g/m2 transparent paper preformed best (as already said in this thread: ink jet printing boils the ink and shoots it into the paper). Gill tags also stayed in place (second level of testing). We had perfect performance even on very bumpy off-road tracks in central Africa. Just an idea ... With best wishes Dirk Am 13.04.2026 um 17:20 schrieb Robert Waller: Hi Andy, You are right that accelerated aging tests can be misleading. I am not sure that is what would be wanted. Just having casually read the messages though, I thought that some guidance on specification of papers and inks might be useful. For example, where print simply floated off the paper when immersed, I might guess that could be a result of using a clay coated paper. That is just a guess as I do not have expertise in either printers or papers. It just seemed that we might clarify, even simplify, our understandings by communicating with the people who have expertise in that. IPI would seem a good place to start. Perhaps I should have explained that to start. Best, Rob ________________________________ From: Bentley, Andrew Charles Sent: Monday, April 13, 2026 10:44 AM To: Gali Beiner ; Robert Waller Cc: NHCOLL-new Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] Desktop thermal printers? Hi all I think the rub (pun intended) with accelerated aging tests is that they can over-express real-world scenarios. A thermal transfer printer label (or any label for that matter) inserted into a glass jar, is going to be subject to limited abrasion and, as such, any accelerated aging test that uses physical abrasion as its main mechanism of aging is not going to be an accurate representation of real word effects in my opinion. Maybe placing a jar of alcohol with specimen and label in the equivalent of a rock tumbler would more closely approximate a real-world scenario. Andy A : A : A : }<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<)))_?> V V V 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 ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3093-1258 http://ichthyology.biodiversity.ku.edu A : A : A : }<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<(((_?>.,.,.,.}<)))_?> V V V ________________________________ From: Nhcoll-l on behalf of Gali Beiner Sent: Sunday, April 12, 2026 1:06 AM To: Robert Waller Cc: NHCOLL-new Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] Desktop thermal printers? Hi Rob and all, I'm not familiar with task groups in SPNHC, so somebody who already works with one will have to explain to me how that works, but generally speaking - the main problem here is formulating the right kind of question to answer in a scientific research. In fact, it crosses my mind that if anybody here has a contact within the Image Permanence Institute, I'd be happy to get in touch (IPI, according to its own vision, is "dedicated to supporting the preservation of cultural heritage collections in libraries, archives, and museums around the world"). Possibly the study question should be about finding the most permanent printer-ink-substrate combo (for ethanol?) in each category (laser, inkjet, thermal transfer), and then comparing categories. This would involve thinking about the best ways to test permanence for labels in fluids - for example, in my own published paper I presented a form of accelerated aging as a testing method. What would be the best way for testing, other than waiting 50-100 years? Maybe discussing this with people at the Image Permanence Institute could help. Gali On Fri, Apr 10, 2026 at 5:18?PM Robert Waller > wrote: Hi Gali, Your suggestion "to understand the "recipe" as much as possible" seems a very good idea. If you or someone else decides to initiate a task group within SPNHC to take that on, I suggest you reach out to archives and paper conservators through their discussion groups as they may already have useful information available. Perhaps the subject could be suggested as a good research project for a conservation student. That is, a compilation of information combined with some experimentation for validation. Rob ________________________________ From: Nhcoll-l > on behalf of Gali Beiner > Sent: Thursday, April 09, 2026 4:17 PM To: Ian Engelbrecht > Cc: NHCOLL-new > Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] Desktop thermal printers? Redesigning is already happening: new tech pops in, for example the thermal transfer printers are new compared to inkjets, and new substrates are also being developed. One way to deal with inevitable change is to understand the "recipe" as much as possible and seek out the "cleaner" products - as in the case of "OBA free, acid free, lignin free" etc paper or understanding which types of toners are likely to be more permanent. Understanding the technology as much as possible and testing what we can may help narrow down choices and set clearer standards. The other way is to remain out of it and use handwritten labels, but it seems that all of us regard this option mostly as a ship that has sailed: too hard to get the workforce to do it. Gali [https://docs.google.com/a/mail.huji.ac.il/uc?id=0B5B3I3QnN7dsSzNkbGlLNDNGWG8&export=download]Gali Beiner (ACR) Conservator, Palaeontology Lab National Natural History Collections The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Berman Building, Edmond J. Safra campus, Givat Ram Jerusalem 91904, Israel Fax. 972-2-6585785 gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il https://nnhc.huji.ac.il/?lang=en ?????? ??? ??, 9 ????? 2026, 21:49, ??? Ian Engelbrecht ?>: Plus the fact that things change over time. HP printer - toner - paper combination might work now, but will it still 30 years from now when they?ve redesigned one or three of those components? Ian On Thu, 09 Apr 2026 at 18:20, Gali Beiner > wrote: Doug is pointing out the heart of the problem - the variety of printing combinations which makes comparisons difficult. In fact, the variations in the way printer-ink-subsrate (paper or other) combinations work is the main reason why manufacturers recommend using their own brand for all three parts of the combo. In other words, the manufacturers say HP printers are supposed to yield better, more permanent results with original HP toners and HP specialized paper. The same goes for Canon, Epson or any other brand. Testing according to conservation parameters can work with that - or at least look very carefully into what, exactly is chosen for use (eg paper - OBA free, lignin free etc etc). The way things stand now - with endless possible variations and combinations - basically means it is up to us to try and set the criteria of choice and monitor whether that works. Not easy, but possibly we can try. Gali [https://docs.google.com/a/mail.huji.ac.il/uc?id=0B5B3I3QnN7dsSzNkbGlLNDNGWG8&export=download]Gali Beiner (ACR) Conservator, Palaeontology Lab National Natural History Collections The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Berman Building, Edmond J. Safra campus, Givat Ram Jerusalem 91904, Israel Fax. 972-2-6585785 gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il https://nnhc.huji.ac.il/?lang=en ?????? ??? ??, 9 ????? 2026, 18:46, ??? Douglas Yanega ?>: On 4/8/26 11:38 PM, Gali Beiner wrote: Other than that, I think that maybe we could use this forum to up the level of testing a bit - after all we have a pool of collection professionals here, all with the same problem to solve re:labels for wet collections (mainly alcohol but also other). Why shouldn't we gather ourselves into a group of say 5 to 10 people in different collections and agree on some sort of protocol for different labels in each collection (or maybe sets of different labels to be tested in all collections, we could consider the details) - and have this followed both in the short and long terms? That would be more interesting than any individual test. Dear readers in this forum, how does this sound to you? Compilation of different people's experiences have been done here and elsewhere with some regularity, and one thing that is a universal impediment to generating a coherent picture is the variability of the medium that is being printed on. Comparisons of different printers are nearly meaningless if the "tests" are on different paper stock. The most dramatic example I can offer is one from personal experience: back in 1990, we obtained a Laserjet, a fairly new technology at that time, and printed thousands of labels for both dry and ethanol specimens. The first several months everything worked flawlessly, and to this day, almost 40 years on, those original labels are perfectly fine, even the ones stored in ethanol. Then one day we ran out of the existing stock of paper, bought a new ream, and loaded it into the printer without changing anything else. The lettering on those labels chipped, flaked, and rubbed off the dry labels, and when we tried to put them into ethanol, the letters floated off. No alteration of settings was involved, and nothing we did made the labels viable. That is, until we checked the packaging on the original ream; we found it was not the exact same thing that we had switched to, so we bought something IDENTICAL, and the resulting labels were just fine again. The problem had literally nothing to do with the printer, and everything to do with the paper. Again, any "test" that does not control for the medium will not be a fair and objective test of the merits of a printer. We presently use an HP Laser printer, and yes, we have had to try different types of paper to find paper stocks that work well with this printer. Not all do. Even worse, when we use "replacement" toner cartridges (not the official HP brand), sometimes but not always, the printing is slightly flaky and easily abraded. That means there are at least THREE parameters that need to be controlled: the printer, the medium, and the toner. Variation in any one of those three can lead to variation in the quality of the results. This makes objective assessment and testing very difficult, and ultimately it's just a litany of anecdotes. Peace, -- Doug Yanega Dept. of Entomology Entomology Research Museum Univ. of California, Riverside, CA 92521-0314 phone: 951-827-4315 FaceBook: Doug Yanega (disclaimer: opinions are mine, not UCR's) https://faculty.ucr.edu/~heraty/yanega.html "There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness is the true method" - Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chap. 82 _______________________________________________ Nhcoll-l mailing list Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l _______________________________________________ NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. _______________________________________________ Nhcoll-l mailing list Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l _______________________________________________ NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. -- [https://docs.google.com/a/mail.huji.ac.il/uc?id=0B5B3I3QnN7dsSzNkbGlLNDNGWG8&export=download]Gali Beiner (ACR) Conservator, Palaeontology Lab National Natural History Collections The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Berman Building, Edmond J. Safra campus, Givat Ram Jerusalem 91904, Israel Fax. 972-2-6585785 gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il https://nnhc.huji.ac.il/?lang=en _______________________________________________ Nhcoll-l mailing list Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l _______________________________________________ NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. -- **** Dirk Neumann Collection Manager, Hamburg Postal address: Museum of Nature Hamburg Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change Dirk Neumann Martin-Luther-King-Platz 3 20146 Hamburg +49 40 238 317 ? 628 d.neumann at leibniz-lib.de www.leibniz-lib.de -- Stiftung Leibniz-Institut zur Analyse des Biodiversit?tswandels Postanschrift: Adenauerallee 127, 53113 Bonn, Germany Stiftung des ?ffentlichen Rechts; Generaldirektion: Prof. Dr. Bernhard Misof (Generaldirektor), Adrian Gr?ter (Kaufm. Gesch?ftsf?hrer) Sitz der Stiftung: Adenauerallee 160 in Bonn Vorsitzender des Stiftungsrates: Dr. Michael Wappelhorst -- Stiftung Leibniz-Institut zur Analyse des Biodiversit?tswandels Postanschrift: Adenauerallee 127, 53113 Bonn, Germany Stiftung des ?ffentlichen Rechts; Generaldirektion: Prof. Dr. Bernhard Misof (Generaldirektor), Adrian Gr?ter (Kaufm. Gesch?ftsf?hrer) Sitz der Stiftung: Adenauerallee 160 in Bonn Vorsitzender des Stiftungsrates: Dr. Michael H. Wappelhorst _______________________________________________ Nhcoll-l mailing list Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l _______________________________________________ NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. _______________________________________________ Nhcoll-l mailing list Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l _______________________________________________ NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. _______________________________________________ Nhcoll-l mailing list Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l _______________________________________________ NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. _______________________________________________ Nhcoll-l mailing list Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l _______________________________________________ NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. -- **** Dirk Neumann Collection Manager, Hamburg Postal address: Museum of Nature Hamburg Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change Dirk Neumann Martin-Luther-King-Platz 3 20146 Hamburg +49 40 238 317 ? 628 d.neumann at leibniz-lib.de www.leibniz-lib.de -- Stiftung Leibniz-Institut zur Analyse des Biodiversit?tswandels Postanschrift: Adenauerallee 127, 53113 Bonn, Germany Stiftung des ?ffentlichen Rechts; Generaldirektion: Prof. Dr. Bernhard Misof (Generaldirektor), Adrian Gr?ter (Kaufm. Gesch?ftsf?hrer) Sitz der Stiftung: Adenauerallee 160 in Bonn Vorsitzender des Stiftungsrates: Dr. Michael Wappelhorst -- Stiftung Leibniz-Institut zur Analyse des Biodiversit?tswandels Postanschrift: Adenauerallee 127, 53113 Bonn, Germany Stiftung des ?ffentlichen Rechts; Generaldirektion: Prof. Dr. Bernhard Misof (Generaldirektor), Adrian Gr?ter (Kaufm. Gesch?ftsf?hrer) Sitz der Stiftung: Adenauerallee 160 in Bonn Vorsitzender des Stiftungsrates: Dr. Michael H. Wappelhorst _______________________________________________ Nhcoll-l mailing list Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l _______________________________________________ NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. -- [https://docs.google.com/a/mail.huji.ac.il/uc?id=0B5B3I3QnN7dsSzNkbGlLNDNGWG8&export=download]Gali Beiner (ACR) Conservator, Palaeontology Lab National Natural History Collections The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Berman Building, Edmond J. Safra campus, Givat Ram Jerusalem 91904, Israel Fax. 972-2-6585785 gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il https://nnhc.huji.ac.il/?lang=en _______________________________________________ Nhcoll-l mailing list Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l _______________________________________________ NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. _______________________________________________ Nhcoll-l mailing list Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l _______________________________________________ NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: SDR-5_Plus_Chemical_Resistance_Ribbon.pdf Type: application/pdf Size: 124666 bytes Desc: SDR-5_Plus_Chemical_Resistance_Ribbon.pdf URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Labelling material.pdf Type: application/pdf Size: 269844 bytes Desc: Labelling material.pdf URL: From ajvandam at alcomon.com Sat Apr 18 05:06:13 2026 From: ajvandam at alcomon.com (ajvandam at alcomon.com) Date: Sat, 18 Apr 2026 11:06:13 +0200 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Antw: Re: [EXTERN] Re: Desktop thermal printers? In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <99161697-34E2-4B0A-A2D3-CFE45605BF50@alcomon.com> An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From eric.schultz at uconn.edu Sun Apr 19 08:34:00 2026 From: eric.schultz at uconn.edu (Schultz, Eric) Date: Sun, 19 Apr 2026 12:34:00 +0000 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] availability of ocean sunfish tissues In-Reply-To: References: <3F4E9FE9-3979-4911-BB0E-A9BB198DAE18@me.com> Message-ID: I have ocean sunfish samples that I am trying to place with interested researchers. I have been collecting tissues from carcasses for years. * Jaws (upper and lower) - many frozen and a few dried ones * Whole eyes - all frozen * Pharyngeal gill teeth - all frozen * Pectoral fins - all frozen * Muscle tissue - all frozen * Plugs (thin section that include skin, reticulated collagen and muscle stored in a 50 ml plastic centrifuge tube with 70% ETHOH) - all frozen Everything is at -20. The tissues come with the stranding data and descriptive data for each carcass. Stranding Data: - date - time - location - situation (stranded dead, stranded live and then died, etc.) Descriptive Data? - body measurements - body weight (if it could be collected) - photographs - etc. I also have external parasites mostly preserved at room temperature in 70% ETOH. Carol "Krill" Carson Marine Biologist and President, NECWA krillcarson at me.com 508-369-8303 www.necwa.org www.nebshark.org "Life is better with a dog." -- Charlie Brown -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From gnelson at floridamuseum.ufl.edu Mon Apr 20 07:11:27 2026 From: gnelson at floridamuseum.ufl.edu (Nelson,Gil) Date: Mon, 20 Apr 2026 11:11:27 +0000 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Register for tomorrow's iDigBio webinar! Message-ID: Don?t miss this upcoming webinar in our Sustaining Collections Digitization Beyond NSF Funding webinar series, focusing on planning for the future of biodiversity digitization and data mobilization at Carnegie Museum of Natural History (CMNH). This session will highlight how CMNH is approaching the management, integration, and long-term care of its digital collections and data. We hope to see you tomorrow! Register: April 21, 2026 (2:00?4:00 PM ET) >>>>Register Here ? Sign up Today<<<< Planning for the future of Biodiversity Digitization and Data Mobilization at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History For past recordings and upcoming events, visit the series Wiki page: https://www.idigbio.org/wiki/index.php/Sustaining_Collections_Digitization_Beyond_NSF_Funding:_A_Webinar_Series April 21, 2026: Planning for the future of Biodiversity Digitization and Data Mobilization at Carnegie Museum of Natural History (2:00-4:00pm ET) Speakers: Kathy Hollis (Carnegie Museum of Natural History) Mason Heberling (Carnegie Museum of Natural History) Mary Janecka (Carnegie Museum of Natural History) Valerie Warhol (Carnegie Museum of Natural History) Abstract: Carnegie Museum of Natural History (CMNH) houses over 22 million specimens and objects critical to understanding biodiversity, climate change, and cultural history. In addition to these physical collections, CMNH also stewards extensive long-term ecological and environmental observational data collected at its field station, Powdermill Nature Reserve (PNR). Together, these data resources form a vital foundation for scientific research and public engagement. While a significant portion of these collections and observational datasets are in digital formats, the museum faces significant challenges in managing, integrating, and mobilizing its diverse digital data and digital assets. This webinar presents CMNH?s strategic initiative to develop a comprehensive informatics program aimed at ensuring long-term accessibility, interoperability, and preservation of both collections and observational data. Presenters will outline the program?s goals, including the implementation of a centralized collections management system (CMS) and digital asset management system (DAMS), adherence to FAIR Data Principles, and the development of sustainable workflows and infrastructure. The session will offer insights into the assessment and planning process, current projects and implementation efforts, and the practical strategies CMNH is employing to build a resilient, scalable data stewardship program. Best, Gil Gil Nelson PhD, Director Integrated Digitized Biocollections (iDigBio) Immediate Past President, Natural Science Collections Alliance (NSCA) Florida Museum of Natural History University of Florida gnelson at floridamuseum.ufl.edu [FM_logo_horizontal_CMYK] -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Outlook-FM_logo_ho.png Type: image/png Size: 10269 bytes Desc: Outlook-FM_logo_ho.png URL: From evlecompte2 at gmail.com Tue Apr 21 23:00:01 2026 From: evlecompte2 at gmail.com (Elise LeCompte) Date: Tue, 21 Apr 2026 23:00:01 -0400 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] SPNHC 2026 Travel Grants for Upcoming Sept. 2026 Conference Message-ID: SPNHC Annual Meeting Travel Grants Available Application Deadline: June 1, 2026, Close of Business (COB) Your Local Time The Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC) is offering travel grants for the *2026 SPNHC *Annual Meeting, https://spnhc.org/spnhc-2026-south-africa/. Applicants must be members of the Society or apply for membership before the application will be accepted. While any SPNHC member may apply, preference will be given to students (undergraduate or graduate) and emerging professionals, focused on the physical care, management, or preservation of natural history collections. Preference will also be given to applicants presenting at the conference. SPNHC members from the following countries are strongly encouraged to apply?Central and South America, Africa, Asia, and Eastern Europe. The 2026 SPNHC conference will be held in *Cape Town, South Africa, September 7-11, 2026*. Visit https://spnhc.org/spnhc-2026-south-africa/ for additional information. General Information For general enquiries about the annual SPNHC Annual Meeting Travel Grant program or to submit completed applications, contact Elise V. LeCompte, Chair, SPNHC Travel Grant Program Subcommittee, evlecompte2 at gmail.com, +1 407-443-6419 (texts only please). -- Elise V. LeCompte Museum Consultant P.O. Box 132 Micanopy, FL 32667 TEL/TEXTS: 407-443-6419 Email: evlecompte2 at gmail.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From vmathis at flmnh.ufl.edu Wed Apr 22 16:38:00 2026 From: vmathis at flmnh.ufl.edu (Mathis,Verity L) Date: Wed, 22 Apr 2026 20:38:00 +0000 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Best practices for ethanol-fixed specimens Message-ID: Hello all I am hoping to get feedback on the best practices for some recently fixed fluid specimens. During some recent field work, our lab fixed some rodent fetuses in 95% ethanol while prepping. I?m hoping for some advice on how best store them long-term now that they are back in the lab/collections. Do I keep them in 95% ETOH, re-fix them in formalin, or step them down to 70% ETOH for long-term storage? Or something else altogether? Thanks for any insight! Verity ****************************** Verity L. Mathis, Ph.D. Mammal Collections Manager Florida Museum of Natural History University of Florida 1659 Museum Road Gainesville FL 32611 Phone: (352) 273-2114 Email: vmathis at flmnh.ufl.edu Website: https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/mammals/ FM Mammal Collection Google Scholar: https://tinyurl.com/flmnh-mammals ????? Support Florida Museum Mammalogy ????? -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shoobs.1 at osu.edu Wed Apr 22 16:50:52 2026 From: shoobs.1 at osu.edu (Shoobs, Nate) Date: Wed, 22 Apr 2026 20:50:52 +0000 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Best practices for ethanol-fixed specimens In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Depends on what you want to use them for! Formalin is not a great long-term preservative, even though it's a great fixative. Since the tissue is fixed already, unless you want to post-fix for some specific purpose like histology, I'd leave them in ethanol. It's fine to keep things in 95% indefinitely, but if you think they will be used mainly for anatomical study, swapping the 95% for 70-75% is better for long term storage and will keep the tissues flexible. Some institutions use 80% as a compromise between genetic and anatomical preservation. If you typically voucher frozen material, I'd recommend taking your tissue samples and freezing them before stepping the lot(s) down in concentration. You could even chuck a whole individual in 95% into the freezer. Personally, I rarely if ever use graded ethanol series for going from high to lower concentration, especially for fresher material, I only bother when going from low-high, but I'm unsure how vertebrates typically handle. My 2 cents! -Nate -- [The Ohio State University] Nathaniel F. Shoobs Curator of Mollusks College of Arts & Sciences Dept. of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology Museum of Biological Diversity, 1315 Kinnear Rd, Columbus, OH 43212 614-688-1342 (Office) mbd.osu.edu/collections/invertebrates From: Nhcoll-l on behalf of Mathis,Verity L Date: Wednesday, April 22, 2026 at 4:38?PM To: nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Best practices for ethanol-fixed specimens This Message Is From an External Sender This message came from outside your organization. Report Suspicious Hello all I am hoping to get feedback on the best practices for some recently fixed fluid specimens. During some recent field work, our lab fixed some rodent fetuses in 95% ethanol while prepping. I?m hoping for some advice on how best store them long-term now that they are back in the lab/collections. Do I keep them in 95% ETOH, re-fix them in formalin, or step them down to 70% ETOH for long-term storage? Or something else altogether? Thanks for any insight! Verity ****************************** Verity L. Mathis, Ph.D. Mammal Collections Manager Florida Museum of Natural History University of Florida 1659 Museum Road Gainesville FL 32611 Phone: (352) 273-2114 Email: vmathis at flmnh.ufl.edu Website: https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/mammals/ FM Mammal Collection Google Scholar: https://tinyurl.com/flmnh-mammals ????? Support Florida Museum Mammalogy ????? -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: image001[26].png Type: image/png Size: 3607 bytes Desc: image001[26].png URL: From d.neumann at leibniz-lib.de Thu Apr 23 02:09:38 2026 From: d.neumann at leibniz-lib.de (Dirk Neumann) Date: Thu, 23 Apr 2026 08:09:38 +0200 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] [EXTERN] Re: Best practices for ethanol-fixed specimens In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <81c2130a-eabd-4790-aa0a-d274f99f223b@leibniz-lib.de> Hi Verity, I would opt for 70%; 95% not only strongly dehydrates the specimens, but also causes a lot of osmotic pressure on tissue membranes, which might effect the usefulness of the specimens for morphological analysis. Tissue subsampling and subsequent storage of tissues in 95% for later molecular investigation might be better. Hope this helps Dirk Am 22.04.2026 um 22:50 schrieb Shoobs, Nate: Depends on what you want to use them for! Formalin is not a great long-term preservative, even though it's a great fixative. Since the tissue is fixed already, unless you want to post-fix for some specific purpose like histology, I'd leave them in ethanol. It's fine to keep things in 95% indefinitely, but if you think they will be used mainly for anatomical study, swapping the 95% for 70-75% is better for long term storage and will keep the tissues flexible. Some institutions use 80% as a compromise between genetic and anatomical preservation. If you typically voucher frozen material, I'd recommend taking your tissue samples and freezing them before stepping the lot(s) down in concentration. You could even chuck a whole individual in 95% into the freezer. Personally, I rarely if ever use graded ethanol series for going from high to lower concentration, especially for fresher material, I only bother when going from low-high, but I'm unsure how vertebrates typically handle. My 2 cents! -Nate -- [The Ohio State University] Nathaniel F. Shoobs Curator of Mollusks College of Arts & Sciences Dept. of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology Museum of Biological Diversity, 1315 Kinnear Rd, Columbus, OH 43212 614-688-1342 (Office) mbd.osu.edu/collections/invertebrates From: Nhcoll-l on behalf of Mathis,Verity L Date: Wednesday, April 22, 2026 at 4:38?PM To: nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Best practices for ethanol-fixed specimens This Message Is From an External Sender This message came from outside your organization. Report Suspicious Hello all I am hoping to get feedback on the best practices for some recently fixed fluid specimens. During some recent field work, our lab fixed some rodent fetuses in 95% ethanol while prepping. I?m hoping for some advice on how best store them long-term now that they are back in the lab/collections. Do I keep them in 95% ETOH, re-fix them in formalin, or step them down to 70% ETOH for long-term storage? Or something else altogether? Thanks for any insight! Verity ****************************** Verity L. Mathis, Ph.D. Mammal Collections Manager Florida Museum of Natural History University of Florida 1659 Museum Road Gainesville FL 32611 Phone: (352) 273-2114 Email: vmathis at flmnh.ufl.edu Website: https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/mammals/ FM Mammal Collection Google Scholar: https://tinyurl.com/flmnh-mammals ????? Support Florida Museum Mammalogy ????? _______________________________________________ Nhcoll-l mailing list Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l _______________________________________________ NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. -- **** Dirk Neumann Collection Manager, Hamburg Postal address: Museum of Nature Hamburg Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change Dirk Neumann Martin-Luther-King-Platz 3 20146 Hamburg +49 40 238 317 ? 628 d.neumann at leibniz-lib.de www.leibniz-lib.de -- Stiftung Leibniz-Institut zur Analyse des Biodiversit?tswandels Postanschrift: Adenauerallee 127, 53113 Bonn, Germany Stiftung des ?ffentlichen Rechts; Generaldirektion: Prof. Dr. Bernhard Misof (Generaldirektor), Adrian Gr?ter (Kaufm. Gesch?ftsf?hrer) Sitz der Stiftung: Adenauerallee 160 in Bonn Vorsitzender des Stiftungsrates: Dr. Michael Wappelhorst -- Stiftung Leibniz-Institut zur Analyse des Biodiversit?tswandels Postanschrift: Adenauerallee 127, 53113 Bonn, Germany Stiftung des ?ffentlichen Rechts; Generaldirektion: Prof. Dr. Bernhard Misof (Generaldirektor), Adrian Gr?ter (Kaufm. Gesch?ftsf?hrer) Sitz der Stiftung: Adenauerallee 160 in Bonn Vorsitzender des Stiftungsrates: Dr. Michael H. Wappelhorst -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: image001[26].png Type: image/png Size: 3607 bytes Desc: not available URL: From Joosep.Sarapuu at loodusmuuseum.ee Thu Apr 23 07:44:56 2026 From: Joosep.Sarapuu at loodusmuuseum.ee (Joosep Sarapuu) Date: Thu, 23 Apr 2026 11:44:56 +0000 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Public Procurement! Implementation and taxidermy for the new exhibition at the Estonian Museum of Natural History Message-ID: Dear all! I am writing to inform you that the public procurement for the implementation of the Estonian Museum of Natural History's new permanent exhibition, including the taxidermy procurement, has been officially announced in the Public Procurement Portal. I encourage you to participate! You can find the link to the procurement here: https://riigihanked.riik.ee/rhr-web/#/procurement/10066544/general-info All questions must also be submitted through the procurement portal. Sincerely, Joosep Sarapuu Estonian Museum of Natural History -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From netta.lempiainen at studionaturalia.fi Thu Apr 23 07:50:24 2026 From: netta.lempiainen at studionaturalia.fi (Netta / Studio Naturalia) Date: Thu, 23 Apr 2026 14:50:24 +0300 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Public Procurement! Implementation and taxidermy for the new exhibition at the Estonian Museum of Natural History In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <14efd45c-897e-416d-bd95-7e54fb7d1afe@studionaturalia.fi> Hi Joosep! Is there a chance to get to read this in english? ?Kind regards, Netta Lempi?inen Studio Naturalia Oy www.studionaturalia.fi +358 41 538 7602 netta.lempiainen at studionaturalia.fi? 23.4.2026 klo 14.45, 14.45, Joosep Sarapuu kirjoitti: >Dear all! > >I am writing to inform you that the public procurement for the >implementation of the Estonian Museum of Natural History's new >permanent exhibition, including the taxidermy procurement, has been >officially announced in the Public Procurement Portal. >I encourage you to participate! > >You can find the link to the procurement here: >https://riigihanked.riik.ee/rhr-web/#/procurement/10066544/general-info > >All questions must also be submitted through the procurement portal. > > >Sincerely, >Joosep Sarapuu >Estonian Museum of Natural History -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From gnelson at floridamuseum.ufl.edu Thu Apr 23 08:33:15 2026 From: gnelson at floridamuseum.ufl.edu (Nelson,Gil) Date: Thu, 23 Apr 2026 12:33:15 +0000 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] iDigBio Transitions, edition 3 Message-ID: Dear Colleagues: iDigBio is pleased to announce that the Internet Archive has completed its most recent comprehensive crawl of iDigBio?s website and wiki, the result of which is available at: https://web.archive.org/web/20260423/idigbio.org. As previously announced, iDigBio?s permanent home has transitioned to a new GBIF hosted portal at: https://idigbio.gbif.us, through which users can search GBIF data including all data aggregated by iDigBio, as well as keep up with iDigBio and GBIF news and activities. iDigBio?s legacy data portal (https://portal.idigbio.org/) will remain active and available for searching until 31 August 2026, although data ingestion into the iDigBio portal will cease on 01 May 2026. Also mentioned in a previous update, the current iDigBio website will be taken offline as of 24 April 2026 and will be replaced with a simplified landing page, still accessible at https://idigbio.org, with links to: * iDigBio?s new GBIF hosted portal (https://idigbio.gbif.us), * the aforementioned iDigBio archive (https://web.archive.org/web/20260423/idigbio.org) * iDigBio?s new Zoom events hub, including links to upcoming webinars and the Digital Data Conference (https://ufl.zoom.us/ze/hub/iDigBio), and * the legacy iDigBio data portal (https://portal.idigbio.org/). Two reminders: The last data ingestion into the current legacy iDigBio portal is scheduled for 01 May 2026, and the iDigBio IPT and all of its contents (including user accounts) have migrated to https://ipt.gbif.us/. If you have questions about the IPT or other ingestion processes, please contact Cat Chapman (caitlin.chapman at ufl.edu). iDigBio?s conversational data interface (iChatBio) will continue to be available at: https://ichatbio.org/. We are also pleased to announce that our much-improved YouTube page, which hosts our webinar, event, and other recordings is now available: https://www.youtube.com/@iDigBio/. YouTube will also host all recordings from our upcoming webinars as well as the virtual Digital Data in Biodiversity Research conference (https://idigb.io/h), which is scheduled for 2-4 June 2026. Be sure to register! Besst, Gil Gil Nelson PhD, Director Integrated Digitized Biocollections (iDigBio) Immediate Past President, Natural Science Collections Alliance (NSCA) Florida Museum of Natural History University of Florida gnelson at floridamuseum.ufl.edu [FM_logo_horizontal_CMYK] -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: image.png Type: image/png Size: 10269 bytes Desc: image.png URL: From gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il Thu Apr 23 09:52:27 2026 From: gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il (Gali Beiner) Date: Thu, 23 Apr 2026 16:52:27 +0300 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Gathering info on in-house testing of printed labels for fluid collections! Message-ID: Dear All, We very recently held a long (over 50 postings!) discussion here in NHCOLL, headed "Desktop thermal printers?". In that thread, I mentioned the possibility of creating some sort of "digital space" for information on ongoing "informal" testing and follow-ups on labels in different places. *There is an opening for doing exactly this within the framework of the SPNHC wikipages*. Those of you who conduct such ongoing informal tests or have specific observations from "their" collections (Andy, Chris, Fowler, Hans-Joachim and anyone else out there, apologies if I failed to mention anyone) are very much invited to contact me. It will be good to list the duration of your procedures, which products exactly you put under observation, general conditions of your procedure, etc. I'll try to create a table for the purpose. Let's see how this goes! All this info that never gets published because it is "not exactly scientific" but still very interesting now has a chance to be seen! Gali -- Gali Beiner (ACR) Conservator, Palaeontology Lab National Natural History Collections The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Berman Building, Edmond J. Safra campus, Givat Ram Jerusalem 91904, Israel Fax. 972-2-6585785 *gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il * *https://nnhc.huji.ac.il/?lang=en * -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From info at boutentaxidermy.com Thu Apr 23 09:02:51 2026 From: info at boutentaxidermy.com (Info Bouten Taxidermy) Date: Thu, 23 Apr 2026 13:02:51 +0000 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Request for information - Implementation and taxidermy for the new exhibition at the Estonian Museum of Natural History Message-ID: Dear sir/madam, We kindly like to request for information and introduce ourselves. We are Bouten Taxidermy - the largest taxidermy company of the Netherlands, which has been operating for more than a 100 years. The Bouten-family has won a lot of international awards over the past decades, and we are glad to announce that we proceed with this high-quality taxidermy. We produced a lot of taxidermy for outstanding natural history museums all over the world: Naturalis, ARTIS, NHM Dublin, NHM Copenhagen, Hailan Equestrian Club in China and so on. Nigel Monaghan - from the National History Museum of Ireland - tipped us on the procurement for the Estonian Museum of Natural History. We are very interested in what this procurement consists of and we would like to inform if we can do an application. We like to thank you very much in advance, Met vriendelijke groet / Kind regards / Mit freundlichen Gr??en, Loes Verstraete Bouten Taxidermy Veegtesstraat 13 5916 PG, Venlo The Netherlands +31(0)773512303 info at boutentaxidermy.com [cid:image001.png at 01DCD332.3DA21450] Met vriendelijke groet / Kind regards /Mit freundlichen Gr??en, ? Info Bouten Taxidermy ?Bouten Taxidermy ?Veegtesstraat 13 ?5916 PG, Venlo ?The Netherlands Email: info at boutentaxidermy.com Web: boutentaxidermy.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: image001.png Type: image/png Size: 34411 bytes Desc: image001.png URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: image301488.png Type: image/png Size: 34411 bytes Desc: image301488.png URL: From jwtrimble at g.harvard.edu Thu Apr 23 11:24:23 2026 From: jwtrimble at g.harvard.edu (Trimble, Jennifer) Date: Thu, 23 Apr 2026 11:24:23 -0400 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Gathering info on in-house testing of printed labels for fluid collections! In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Gali, Count me in. I have a few sets of labels which have been our "testers" in different preservation fluids sitting on our shelves since 2016. Best, Jenn *Jennifer Winifred Trimble* Collection Manager | Curatorial Associate, Malacology Museum of Comparative Zoology 26 Oxford Street Cambridge, MA 02138 617-496-3118 jwtrimble at g.harvard.edu On Thu, Apr 23, 2026 at 9:52?AM Gali Beiner wrote: > Dear All, > > We very recently held a long (over 50 postings!) discussion here in > NHCOLL, headed "Desktop thermal printers?". In that thread, I mentioned the > possibility of creating some sort of "digital space" for information on > ongoing "informal" testing and follow-ups on labels in different places. > > *There is an opening for doing exactly this within the framework of the > SPNHC wikipages*. Those of you who conduct such ongoing informal tests or > have specific observations from "their" collections (Andy, Chris, Fowler, > Hans-Joachim and anyone else out there, apologies if I failed to mention > anyone) are very much invited to contact me. It will be good to list the > duration of your procedures, which products exactly you put under > observation, general conditions of your procedure, etc. I'll try to create > a table for the purpose. > > Let's see how this goes! All this info that never gets published because > it is "not exactly scientific" but still very interesting now has a chance > to be seen! > > Gali > > > -- > Gali Beiner (ACR) > Conservator, Palaeontology Lab > National Natural History Collections > The Hebrew University of Jerusalem > Berman Building, Edmond J. Safra campus, Givat Ram > Jerusalem 91904, Israel > Fax. 972-2-6585785 > *gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il * > > *https://nnhc.huji.ac.il/?lang=en * > _______________________________________________ > Nhcoll-l mailing list > Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu > https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l > > _______________________________________________ > NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of > Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose > mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of > natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to > society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. > Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From kendrickorion at gmail.com Thu Apr 23 11:53:31 2026 From: kendrickorion at gmail.com (Kendrick Fowler) Date: Thu, 23 Apr 2026 11:53:31 -0400 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Gathering info on in-house testing of printed labels for fluid collections! In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Hi Gali, Thanks for moving this forward! My test has been appallingly unscientific, as it was not originally meant as a test of labels/ink nor meant to run as long as it has (and so has been neglected/not supervised with care). About 5 years ago (9 and 13 July 2021), I filled a variety of vials with 70% ethanol and placed into each of them a label identical to those we use for both our dry and wet specimens in our insect collection, then set the vials on a window ledge. They sat in the window for about two years until they were accidentally knocked down during an office cleaning, then were removed and placed into a clear deli container and have sat jumbled together in a different window since then. The vials that still retain alcohol up to or above the level of the label today were borosilicate vials with phenolic polyseal screw caps (Bioquip 8801P and 8804P) and polypropylene vials with TPE O-rings in the caps (Hyundai Micro HBS020CS1SF). The labels were printed on Enduro Xerographic 100% cotton paper using the black-and-white setting (which uses only black ink) on an Epson ET-4750 EcoTank printer filled with Epson T5021 black ink (this is the standard black ink for the ET-4750, from the Epson T502 ink bottle pack) in 3 pt Avenir Book font, and the dates on the labels were handwritten using a black Pigma Micron pen (Sakura stock # XSDK005-49). The labels remain perfectly readable, but the text appears slightly to moderately faded compared to similar-aged labels that have been kept in the dark, or compared to newly-printed labels. In my subjective assessment (no quantitative measuring of contrast or anything like that), the text made using the printer and the text written in pen both appear faded to a similar degree; if anything, the text written in pen appears more faded because it originally appeared darker than the printed text, whereas now the text made using both methods appears about the same darkness (however, the text written in pen may only have appeared darker initially because its lines are much thicker than in the text made by the printer). Unfortunately, some of the above products are discontinued, but suitable alternatives are available (Bioquip is sadly no more, but polyseal/polycone vials can be obtained from a variety of sources; Sarstedt's 72.694.300 vials are similar to the no-longer-available Hyundai Micro product named above, but seem in my subjective assessment to be higher quality; Epson offers a variety of EcoTank printers that take the same ink as the discontinued ET-4750 as well as other printers that take inks with different product numbers but that, according to their SDSs, appear to have a similar composition). Again, the above is terribly unscientific, so don't take it for more than it's worth. However, considering the popularity of Pigma Micron pens for handwriting labels, the fact that the printer ink (subjectively) appears to have held up just as well in this test gives me confidence in its longevity. Also, according to their safety data sheets (available online), both the Epson T5021 black ink and the ink in black Pigma Micron pens are colored at least in part using carbon black pigment, which should have excellent longevity. I hope this is helpful in some way! Kind regards, Kendrick *Kendrick Fowler*, *Entomology Lab Manager* Hawthorne Valley Farmscape Ecology Program | hvfarmscape.org +1 (518) 672-7994 (office) | +1 (267) 377-7567 (cell) *Follow us** on Facebook or subscribe to our **Progress of the Seasons Journal for weekly **photoessays on **Columbia County's natural **wonders**.* On Thu, Apr 23, 2026 at 9:52?AM Gali Beiner wrote: > Dear All, > > We very recently held a long (over 50 postings!) discussion here in > NHCOLL, headed "Desktop thermal printers?". In that thread, I mentioned the > possibility of creating some sort of "digital space" for information on > ongoing "informal" testing and follow-ups on labels in different places. > > *There is an opening for doing exactly this within the framework of the > SPNHC wikipages*. Those of you who conduct such ongoing informal tests or > have specific observations from "their" collections (Andy, Chris, Fowler, > Hans-Joachim and anyone else out there, apologies if I failed to mention > anyone) are very much invited to contact me. It will be good to list the > duration of your procedures, which products exactly you put under > observation, general conditions of your procedure, etc. I'll try to create > a table for the purpose. > > Let's see how this goes! All this info that never gets published because > it is "not exactly scientific" but still very interesting now has a chance > to be seen! > > Gali > > > -- > Gali Beiner (ACR) > Conservator, Palaeontology Lab > National Natural History Collections > The Hebrew University of Jerusalem > Berman Building, Edmond J. Safra campus, Givat Ram > Jerusalem 91904, Israel > Fax. 972-2-6585785 > *gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il * > > *https://nnhc.huji.ac.il/?lang=en * > _______________________________________________ > Nhcoll-l mailing list > Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu > https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l > > _______________________________________________ > NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of > Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose > mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of > natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to > society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. > Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From cgrinter at calacademy.org Thu Apr 23 12:04:49 2026 From: cgrinter at calacademy.org (Chris Grinter) Date: Thu, 23 Apr 2026 09:04:49 -0700 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Gathering info on in-house testing of printed labels for fluid collections! In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: A caution against the eco tank printers that these are dye based inks and not pigment, therefore should not be considered archival. It's getting harder and harder to find low-cost pigment based inkjet printing especially in monochrome. Christopher C. Grinter Senior Collection Manager of Entomology Secretary, The Lepidopterists? Society Subject Editor: Lepidoptera, The Pacific Coast Entomological Society California Academy of Sciences 55 Music Concourse Dr San Francisco, CA 94118 T 415.379.5320 CAS in the news - $10M for digitization Learn more at calacademy.org On Thu, Apr 23, 2026 at 8:58?AM Kendrick Fowler wrote: > Hi Gali, > > Thanks for moving this forward! > > My test has been appallingly unscientific, as it was not originally meant > as a test of labels/ink nor meant to run as long as it has (and so has been > neglected/not supervised with care). > > About 5 years ago (9 and 13 July 2021), I filled a variety of vials with > 70% ethanol and placed into each of them a label identical to those we use > for both our dry and wet specimens in our insect collection, then set the > vials on a window ledge. They sat in the window for about two years until > they were accidentally knocked down during an office cleaning, then were > removed and placed into a clear deli container and have sat jumbled > together in a different window since then. The vials that still retain > alcohol up to or above the level of the label today were borosilicate vials > with phenolic polyseal screw caps (Bioquip 8801P and 8804P) and > polypropylene vials with TPE O-rings in the caps (Hyundai Micro > HBS020CS1SF). The labels were printed on Enduro Xerographic 100% cotton > paper using the black-and-white setting (which uses only black ink) on an > Epson ET-4750 EcoTank printer filled with Epson T5021 black ink (this is > the standard black ink for the ET-4750, from the Epson T502 ink bottle > pack) in 3 pt Avenir Book font, and the dates on the labels were > handwritten using a black Pigma Micron pen (Sakura stock # XSDK005-49). The > labels remain perfectly readable, but the text appears slightly to > moderately faded compared to similar-aged labels that have been kept in the > dark, or compared to newly-printed labels. In my subjective assessment (no > quantitative measuring of contrast or anything like that), the text made > using the printer and the text written in pen both appear faded to a > similar degree; if anything, the text written in pen appears more faded > because it originally appeared darker than the printed text, whereas now > the text made using both methods appears about the same darkness (however, > the text written in pen may only have appeared darker initially because its > lines are much thicker than in the text made by the printer). > > Unfortunately, some of the above products are discontinued, but suitable > alternatives are available (Bioquip is sadly no more, but polyseal/polycone > vials can be obtained from a variety of sources; Sarstedt's 72.694.300 > vials are similar to the no-longer-available Hyundai Micro product named > above, but seem in my subjective assessment to be higher quality; Epson > offers a variety of EcoTank printers that take the same ink as the > discontinued ET-4750 as well as other printers that take inks with > different product numbers but that, according to their SDSs, appear to have > a similar composition). > > Again, the above is terribly unscientific, so don't take it for more than > it's worth. However, considering the popularity of Pigma Micron pens for > handwriting labels, the fact that the printer ink (subjectively) appears to > have held up just as well in this test gives me confidence in its longevity. > > Also, according to their safety data sheets (available online), both the > Epson T5021 black ink and the ink in black Pigma Micron pens are colored at > least in part using carbon black pigment, which should have excellent > longevity. > > I hope this is helpful in some way! > > Kind regards, > Kendrick > > > *Kendrick Fowler*, *Entomology Lab Manager* > Hawthorne Valley Farmscape Ecology Program | hvfarmscape.org > > +1 (518) 672-7994 (office) | +1 (267) 377-7567 (cell) > > *Follow us** on Facebook > or > subscribe to our **Progress of the Seasons Journal > for > weekly **photoessays on **Columbia County's natural **wonders**.* > > > On Thu, Apr 23, 2026 at 9:52?AM Gali Beiner > wrote: > >> Dear All, >> >> We very recently held a long (over 50 postings!) discussion here in >> NHCOLL, headed "Desktop thermal printers?". In that thread, I mentioned the >> possibility of creating some sort of "digital space" for information on >> ongoing "informal" testing and follow-ups on labels in different places. >> >> *There is an opening for doing exactly this within the framework of the >> SPNHC wikipages*. Those of you who conduct such ongoing informal tests >> or have specific observations from "their" collections (Andy, Chris, >> Fowler, Hans-Joachim and anyone else out there, apologies if I failed to >> mention anyone) are very much invited to contact me. It will be good to >> list the duration of your procedures, which products exactly you put under >> observation, general conditions of your procedure, etc. I'll try to create >> a table for the purpose. >> >> Let's see how this goes! All this info that never gets published because >> it is "not exactly scientific" but still very interesting now has a chance >> to be seen! >> >> Gali >> >> >> -- >> Gali Beiner (ACR) >> Conservator, Palaeontology Lab >> National Natural History Collections >> The Hebrew University of Jerusalem >> Berman Building, Edmond J. Safra campus, Givat Ram >> Jerusalem 91904, Israel >> Fax. 972-2-6585785 >> *gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il * >> >> *https://nnhc.huji.ac.il/?lang=en >> * >> _______________________________________________ >> Nhcoll-l mailing list >> Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu >> https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of >> Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose >> mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of >> natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to >> society. See http://www.spnhc.org >> >> for membership information. >> Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. >> > _______________________________________________ > Nhcoll-l mailing list > Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu > > https://url.avanan.click/v2/r01/___https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l___.YXAzOmNhbGFjYWRlbXk6YTpnOjMyNDVjZDUxZTZhNTVjMDJmMTBjYmIxZDViM2Q2ZmJmOjc6ZmVkYTpjYjZiZjllNTJlZjRiMDNjN2RhMDk5MTI4ZDQxMjYzYzI4YmExZjRmYTY0MzFiOGY0NWE4ZmJkYTJiOGMxZWQzOnA6VDpO > > _______________________________________________ > NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of > Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose > mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of > natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to > society. See > https://url.avanan.click/v2/r01/___http://www.spnhc.org___.YXAzOmNhbGFjYWRlbXk6YTpnOjMyNDVjZDUxZTZhNTVjMDJmMTBjYmIxZDViM2Q2ZmJmOjc6MTEzODo1MmUxOWVlYWU2MGY3NWY0MWJjZTI0ZDE5NjRiMzYxMzA3OWYwY2ZhZjc5ZGUyODllMzM3MzkyNDJlNDVhZWI5OnA6VDpO > for membership information. > Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From kendrickorion at gmail.com Thu Apr 23 14:24:12 2026 From: kendrickorion at gmail.com (Kendrick Fowler) Date: Thu, 23 Apr 2026 14:24:12 -0400 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Gathering info on in-house testing of printed labels for fluid collections! In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: The *color* inks for the EcoTank printers are dye-based and dissolve instantly in water, but the *black* inks have a percentage of carbon black pigment comparable to some India inks. See, for example, the following documents: SDS for Epson T5021 black ink (5?7% carbon black pigment) SDS for Epson T5321 black ink (5?7% carbon black pigment) SDS for Epson T5421 black ink (5?7% carbon black pigment) SDS for Epson T552020 black ink (5?7% carbon black pigment) SDS for Epson T774120 black ink (5?10% carbon black pigment) SDS for Higgins inks , including their waterproof black India ink (up to 7.48% carbon black pigment) SDS for Hunt Speedball India inks (up to 10.36% carbon black pigment) As far as I am aware, none of the Epson EcoTank black inks have been certified as meeting archival standards (e.g., ISO 11798), so some kind of formal testing (as proposed by folks in this group) should be done before treating them as a product recommendation. However, as discussed in my previous email, in my experience they seem to hold up well in alcohol. Kendrick P.S. As folks move forward with determining how to evaluate inks, Williams *et al*.'s 1986 paper Inks for Documentation in Vertebrate Research Collections might be interesting as a source for inspiration. The authors performed a wide variety of tests on a wide variety of inks! (Interestingly, one of the tests was a test for the proportion of solids in the ink; the best-performing inks overall contained between ~14?32% solids.) *Kendrick Fowler*, *Entomology Lab Manager* Hawthorne Valley Farmscape Ecology Program | hvfarmscape.org +1 (518) 672-7994 (office) | +1 (267) 377-7567 (cell) *Follow us** on Facebook or subscribe to our **Progress of the Seasons Journal for weekly **photoessays on **Columbia County's natural **wonders**.* On Thu, Apr 23, 2026 at 12:05?PM Chris Grinter wrote: > A caution against the eco tank printers that these are dye based inks and > not pigment, therefore should not be considered archival. It's getting > harder and harder to find low-cost pigment based inkjet printing especially > in monochrome. > > > Christopher C. Grinter > Senior Collection Manager of Entomology > Secretary, The Lepidopterists? Society > Subject Editor: Lepidoptera, The Pacific Coast Entomological Society > California Academy of Sciences > 55 Music Concourse Dr > San Francisco, CA 94118 > T 415.379.5320 > CAS in the news - $10M for digitization > > Learn more at calacademy.org > > > > On Thu, Apr 23, 2026 at 8:58?AM Kendrick Fowler > wrote: > >> Hi Gali, >> >> Thanks for moving this forward! >> >> My test has been appallingly unscientific, as it was not originally meant >> as a test of labels/ink nor meant to run as long as it has (and so has been >> neglected/not supervised with care). >> >> About 5 years ago (9 and 13 July 2021), I filled a variety of vials with >> 70% ethanol and placed into each of them a label identical to those we use >> for both our dry and wet specimens in our insect collection, then set the >> vials on a window ledge. They sat in the window for about two years until >> they were accidentally knocked down during an office cleaning, then were >> removed and placed into a clear deli container and have sat jumbled >> together in a different window since then. The vials that still retain >> alcohol up to or above the level of the label today were borosilicate vials >> with phenolic polyseal screw caps (Bioquip 8801P and 8804P) and >> polypropylene vials with TPE O-rings in the caps (Hyundai Micro >> HBS020CS1SF). The labels were printed on Enduro Xerographic 100% cotton >> paper using the black-and-white setting (which uses only black ink) on an >> Epson ET-4750 EcoTank printer filled with Epson T5021 black ink (this is >> the standard black ink for the ET-4750, from the Epson T502 ink bottle >> pack) in 3 pt Avenir Book font, and the dates on the labels were >> handwritten using a black Pigma Micron pen (Sakura stock # XSDK005-49). The >> labels remain perfectly readable, but the text appears slightly to >> moderately faded compared to similar-aged labels that have been kept in the >> dark, or compared to newly-printed labels. In my subjective assessment (no >> quantitative measuring of contrast or anything like that), the text made >> using the printer and the text written in pen both appear faded to a >> similar degree; if anything, the text written in pen appears more faded >> because it originally appeared darker than the printed text, whereas now >> the text made using both methods appears about the same darkness (however, >> the text written in pen may only have appeared darker initially because its >> lines are much thicker than in the text made by the printer). >> >> Unfortunately, some of the above products are discontinued, but suitable >> alternatives are available (Bioquip is sadly no more, but polyseal/polycone >> vials can be obtained from a variety of sources; Sarstedt's 72.694.300 >> vials are similar to the no-longer-available Hyundai Micro product named >> above, but seem in my subjective assessment to be higher quality; Epson >> offers a variety of EcoTank printers that take the same ink as the >> discontinued ET-4750 as well as other printers that take inks with >> different product numbers but that, according to their SDSs, appear to have >> a similar composition). >> >> Again, the above is terribly unscientific, so don't take it for more than >> it's worth. However, considering the popularity of Pigma Micron pens for >> handwriting labels, the fact that the printer ink (subjectively) appears to >> have held up just as well in this test gives me confidence in its longevity. >> >> Also, according to their safety data sheets (available online), both the >> Epson T5021 black ink and the ink in black Pigma Micron pens are colored at >> least in part using carbon black pigment, which should have excellent >> longevity. >> >> I hope this is helpful in some way! >> >> Kind regards, >> Kendrick >> >> >> *Kendrick Fowler*, *Entomology Lab Manager* >> Hawthorne Valley Farmscape Ecology Program | hvfarmscape.org >> >> +1 (518) 672-7994 (office) | +1 (267) 377-7567 (cell) >> >> *Follow us** on Facebook >> or >> subscribe to our **Progress of the Seasons Journal >> for >> weekly **photoessays on **Columbia County's natural **wonders**.* >> >> >> On Thu, Apr 23, 2026 at 9:52?AM Gali Beiner >> wrote: >> >>> Dear All, >>> >>> We very recently held a long (over 50 postings!) discussion here in >>> NHCOLL, headed "Desktop thermal printers?". In that thread, I mentioned the >>> possibility of creating some sort of "digital space" for information on >>> ongoing "informal" testing and follow-ups on labels in different places. >>> >>> *There is an opening for doing exactly this within the framework of the >>> SPNHC wikipages*. Those of you who conduct such ongoing informal tests >>> or have specific observations from "their" collections (Andy, Chris, >>> Fowler, Hans-Joachim and anyone else out there, apologies if I failed to >>> mention anyone) are very much invited to contact me. It will be good to >>> list the duration of your procedures, which products exactly you put under >>> observation, general conditions of your procedure, etc. I'll try to create >>> a table for the purpose. >>> >>> Let's see how this goes! All this info that never gets published because >>> it is "not exactly scientific" but still very interesting now has a chance >>> to be seen! >>> >>> Gali >>> >>> >>> -- >>> Gali Beiner (ACR) >>> Conservator, Palaeontology Lab >>> National Natural History Collections >>> The Hebrew University of Jerusalem >>> Berman Building, Edmond J. Safra campus, Givat Ram >>> Jerusalem 91904, Israel >>> Fax. 972-2-6585785 >>> *gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il * >>> >>> *https://nnhc.huji.ac.il/?lang=en >>> * >>> _______________________________________________ >>> Nhcoll-l mailing list >>> Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu >>> https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l >>> >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of >>> Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose >>> mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of >>> natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to >>> society. See http://www.spnhc.org >>> >>> for membership information. >>> Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. >>> >> _______________________________________________ >> Nhcoll-l mailing list >> Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu >> >> https://url.avanan.click/v2/r01/___https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l___.YXAzOmNhbGFjYWRlbXk6YTpnOjMyNDVjZDUxZTZhNTVjMDJmMTBjYmIxZDViM2Q2ZmJmOjc6ZmVkYTpjYjZiZjllNTJlZjRiMDNjN2RhMDk5MTI4ZDQxMjYzYzI4YmExZjRmYTY0MzFiOGY0NWE4ZmJkYTJiOGMxZWQzOnA6VDpO >> >> _______________________________________________ >> NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of >> Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose >> mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of >> natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to >> society. See >> https://url.avanan.click/v2/r01/___http://www.spnhc.org___.YXAzOmNhbGFjYWRlbXk6YTpnOjMyNDVjZDUxZTZhNTVjMDJmMTBjYmIxZDViM2Q2ZmJmOjc6MTEzODo1MmUxOWVlYWU2MGY3NWY0MWJjZTI0ZDE5NjRiMzYxMzA3OWYwY2ZhZjc5ZGUyODllMzM3MzkyNDJlNDVhZWI5OnA6VDpO >> for membership information. >> Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. >> > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From ewommack at uwyo.edu Thu Apr 23 16:30:45 2026 From: ewommack at uwyo.edu (Elizabeth Wommack) Date: Thu, 23 Apr 2026 20:30:45 +0000 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] [EXTERN] Re: Best practices for ethanol-fixed specimens In-Reply-To: <81c2130a-eabd-4790-aa0a-d274f99f223b@leibniz-lib.de> References: <81c2130a-eabd-4790-aa0a-d274f99f223b@leibniz-lib.de> Message-ID: Hi Verity, One thing you could do is check to see if they have finished fixing in the 95% ETOH. Check to see if the concentration of the ETOH they are in is 95%. If it is less then they may still be exchanging water with the preservative, and you might want to put them in some fresh 95% ETOH for a bit longer. Once they are stable at 95% ETOH, I switch ETOH fixed material to 70% ETOH for long-term storage. cheers, Beth Elizabeth Wommack, PhD Curator and Collections Manager of Vertebrates University of Wyoming Museum of Vertebrates Berry Biodiversity Conservation Center University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY 82071 ewommack@uwyo.edu pronouns: she, her, herself www.uwymv.org UWYMV Collection Use Policy [https://ci3.googleusercontent.com/mail-sig/AIorK4wzeBAm3ZshQCDFzQ5wkSAIelZLntGMwLQ0l3OaxGfoFH4PEQ-tYzlg1s7X9ScKxz1dFEGIXS8] ________________________________ From: Nhcoll-l on behalf of Dirk Neumann Sent: Thursday, April 23, 2026 00:09 To: nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] [EXTERN] Re: Best practices for ethanol-fixed specimens ? This message was sent from a non-UWYO address. Please exercise caution when clicking links or opening attachments from external sources. Hi Verity, I would opt for 70%; 95% not only strongly dehydrates the specimens, but also causes a lot of osmotic pressure on tissue membranes, which might effect the usefulness of the specimens for morphological analysis. Tissue subsampling and subsequent storage of tissues in 95% for later molecular investigation might be better. Hope this helps Dirk Am 22.04.2026 um 22:50 schrieb Shoobs, Nate: Depends on what you want to use them for! Formalin is not a great long-term preservative, even though it's a great fixative. Since the tissue is fixed already, unless you want to post-fix for some specific purpose like histology, I'd leave them in ethanol. It's fine to keep things in 95% indefinitely, but if you think they will be used mainly for anatomical study, swapping the 95% for 70-75% is better for long term storage and will keep the tissues flexible. Some institutions use 80% as a compromise between genetic and anatomical preservation. If you typically voucher frozen material, I'd recommend taking your tissue samples and freezing them before stepping the lot(s) down in concentration. You could even chuck a whole individual in 95% into the freezer. Personally, I rarely if ever use graded ethanol series for going from high to lower concentration, especially for fresher material, I only bother when going from low-high, but I'm unsure how vertebrates typically handle. My 2 cents! -Nate -- [The Ohio State University] Nathaniel F. Shoobs Curator of Mollusks College of Arts & Sciences Dept. of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology Museum of Biological Diversity, 1315 Kinnear Rd, Columbus, OH 43212 614-688-1342 (Office) mbd.osu.edu/collections/invertebrates From: Nhcoll-l on behalf of Mathis,Verity L Date: Wednesday, April 22, 2026 at 4:38?PM To: nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Best practices for ethanol-fixed specimens This Message Is From an External Sender This message came from outside your organization. Report Suspicious Hello all I am hoping to get feedback on the best practices for some recently fixed fluid specimens. During some recent field work, our lab fixed some rodent fetuses in 95% ethanol while prepping. I?m hoping for some advice on how best store them long-term now that they are back in the lab/collections. Do I keep them in 95% ETOH, re-fix them in formalin, or step them down to 70% ETOH for long-term storage? Or something else altogether? Thanks for any insight! Verity ****************************** Verity L. Mathis, Ph.D. Mammal Collections Manager Florida Museum of Natural History University of Florida 1659 Museum Road Gainesville FL 32611 Phone: (352) 273-2114 Email: vmathis at flmnh.ufl.edu Website: https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/mammals/ FM Mammal Collection Google Scholar: https://tinyurl.com/flmnh-mammals ????? Support Florida Museum Mammalogy ????? _______________________________________________ Nhcoll-l mailing list Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l _______________________________________________ NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. -- **** Dirk Neumann Collection Manager, Hamburg Postal address: Museum of Nature Hamburg Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change Dirk Neumann Martin-Luther-King-Platz 3 20146 Hamburg +49 40 238 317 ? 628 d.neumann at leibniz-lib.de www.leibniz-lib.de -- Stiftung Leibniz-Institut zur Analyse des Biodiversit?tswandels Postanschrift: Adenauerallee 127, 53113 Bonn, Germany Stiftung des ?ffentlichen Rechts; Generaldirektion: Prof. Dr. Bernhard Misof (Generaldirektor), Adrian Gr?ter (Kaufm. Gesch?ftsf?hrer) Sitz der Stiftung: Adenauerallee 160 in Bonn Vorsitzender des Stiftungsrates: Dr. Michael Wappelhorst -- Stiftung Leibniz-Institut zur Analyse des Biodiversit?tswandels Postanschrift: Adenauerallee 127, 53113 Bonn, Germany Stiftung des ?ffentlichen Rechts; Generaldirektion: Prof. Dr. Bernhard Misof (Generaldirektor), Adrian Gr?ter (Kaufm. Gesch?ftsf?hrer) Sitz der Stiftung: Adenauerallee 160 in Bonn Vorsitzender des Stiftungsrates: Dr. Michael H. Wappelhorst -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: image001[26].png Type: image/png Size: 3607 bytes Desc: image001[26].png URL: From couteaufin at btinternet.com Thu Apr 23 17:35:06 2026 From: couteaufin at btinternet.com (Simon Moore) Date: Thu, 23 Apr 2026 22:35:06 +0100 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] [EXTERN] Re: Best practices for ethanol-fixed specimens In-Reply-To: References: <81c2130a-eabd-4790-aa0a-d274f99f223b@leibniz-lib.de> Message-ID: <17CDFA0B-B042-4D5F-9B2B-C4AEF30FB1AF@btinternet.com> Hi Beth, Remember that EtOH is only a pseudo-fixative as it doesn?t really bring about a chemical change. Sorry to be such a pedant! With all good wishes, Simon Simon Moore MIScT, RSci, FLS, ACR Conservator of Natural Sciences and Cutlery Historian. www.natural-history-conservation.com -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: PastedGraphic-1.tiff Type: image/tiff Size: 20726 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: MA logo 2.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 25185 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- > On 23 Apr 2026, at 21:30, Elizabeth Wommack wrote: > > Hi Verity, > > One thing you could do is check to see if they have finished fixing in the 95% ETOH. Check to see if the concentration of the ETOH they are in is 95%. If it is less then they may still be exchanging water with the preservative, and you might want to put them in some fresh 95% ETOH for a bit longer. Once they are stable at 95% ETOH, I switch ETOH fixed material to 70% ETOH for long-term storage. > > cheers, > Beth > > Elizabeth Wommack, PhD > Curator and Collections Manager of Vertebrates > University of Wyoming Museum of Vertebrates > Berry Biodiversity Conservation Center > University of Wyoming, > Laramie, WY 82071 > ewommack at uwyo.edu > pronouns: she, her, herself > www.uwymv.org > UWYMV Collection Use PolicyFrom: Nhcoll-l on behalf of Dirk Neumann > Sent: Thursday, April 23, 2026 00:09 > To: nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu > Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] [EXTERN] Re: Best practices for ethanol-fixed specimens > ? This message was sent from a non-UWYO address. Please exercise caution when clicking links or opening attachments from external sources. > > Hi Verity, > > I would opt for 70%; 95% not only strongly dehydrates the specimens, but also causes a lot of osmotic pressure on tissue membranes, which might effect the usefulness of the specimens for morphological analysis. Tissue subsampling and subsequent storage of tissues in 95% for later molecular investigation might be better. > > Hope this helps > Dirk > > > Am 22.04.2026 um 22:50 schrieb Shoobs, Nate: >> >> >> Depends on what you want to use them for! >> Formalin is not a great long-term preservative, even though it's a great fixative. Since the tissue is fixed already, unless you want to post-fix for some specific purpose like histology, I'd leave them in ethanol. >> It's fine to keep things in 95% indefinitely, but if you think they will be used mainly for anatomical study, swapping the 95% for 70-75% is better for long term storage and will keep the tissues flexible. Some institutions use 80% as a compromise between genetic and anatomical preservation. If you typically voucher frozen material, I'd recommend taking your tissue samples and freezing them before stepping the lot(s) down in concentration. You could even chuck a whole individual in 95% into the freezer. >> >> Personally, I rarely if ever use graded ethanol series for going from high to lower concentration, especially for fresher material, I only bother when going from low-high, but I'm unsure how vertebrates typically handle. >> My 2 cents! >> -Nate >> -- >> >> Nathaniel F. Shoobs >> Curator of Mollusks >> College of Arts & Sciences Dept. of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology >> Museum of Biological Diversity, 1315 Kinnear Rd, Columbus, OH 43212 >> 614-688-1342 (Office) >> mbd.osu.edu/collections/invertebrates >> From: Nhcoll-l on behalf of Mathis,Verity L >> Date: Wednesday, April 22, 2026 at 4:38?PM >> To: nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu >> Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Best practices for ethanol-fixed specimens >> >> This Message Is From an External Sender >> This message came from outside your organization. >> Report Suspicious >> Hello all >> I am hoping to get feedback on the best practices for some recently fixed fluid specimens. During some recent field work, our lab fixed some rodent fetuses in 95% ethanol while prepping. I?m hoping for some advice on how best store them long-term now that they are back in the lab/collections. Do I keep them in 95% ETOH, re-fix them in formalin, or step them down to 70% ETOH for long-term storage? Or something else altogether? >> Thanks for any insight! >> Verity >> ****************************** >> Verity L. Mathis, Ph.D. >> Mammal Collections Manager >> Florida Museum of Natural History >> University of Florida >> 1659 Museum Road >> Gainesville FL 32611 >> Phone: (352) 273-2114 >> Email: vmathis at flmnh.ufl.edu >> Website: https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/mammals/ >> FM Mammal Collection Google Scholar: https://tinyurl.com/flmnh-mammals >> ????? Support Florida Museum Mammalogy ????? >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Nhcoll-l mailing list >> Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu >> https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l >> >> _______________________________________________ >> NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of >> Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose >> mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of >> natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to >> society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. >> Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. >> > > -- > **** > Dirk Neumann > Collection Manager, Hamburg > Postal address: > Museum of Nature Hamburg > Leibniz Institute for the Analysis > of Biodiversity Change > Dirk Neumann > Martin-Luther-King-Platz 3 > 20146 Hamburg > +49 40 238 317 ? 628 > d.neumann at leibniz-lib.de > www.leibniz-lib.de > -- > Stiftung Leibniz-Institut zur Analyse des Biodiversit?tswandels > Postanschrift: Adenauerallee 127, 53113 Bonn, Germany > > Stiftung des ?ffentlichen Rechts; > Generaldirektion: Prof. Dr. Bernhard Misof (Generaldirektor), Adrian Gr?ter (Kaufm. Gesch?ftsf?hrer) > Sitz der Stiftung: Adenauerallee 160 in Bonn > Vorsitzender des Stiftungsrates: Dr. Michael Wappelhorst > > -- > Stiftung Leibniz-Institut zur Analyse des Biodiversit?tswandels > Postanschrift: Adenauerallee 127, 53113 Bonn, Germany > > Stiftung des ?ffentlichen Rechts; > Generaldirektion: Prof. Dr. Bernhard Misof (Generaldirektor), Adrian Gr?ter (Kaufm. Gesch?ftsf?hrer) > Sitz der Stiftung: Adenauerallee 160 in Bonn > Vorsitzender des Stiftungsrates: Dr. Michael H. Wappelhorst > _______________________________________________ > Nhcoll-l mailing list > Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu > https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l > > _______________________________________________ > NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of > Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose > mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of > natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to > society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. > Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. From d.neumann at leibniz-lib.de Fri Apr 24 01:38:55 2026 From: d.neumann at leibniz-lib.de (Dirk Neumann) Date: Fri, 24 Apr 2026 07:38:55 +0200 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] [EXTERN] Re: Best practices for ethanol-fixed specimens In-Reply-To: <17CDFA0B-B042-4D5F-9B2B-C4AEF30FB1AF@btinternet.com> References: <81c2130a-eabd-4790-aa0a-d274f99f223b@leibniz-lib.de> <17CDFA0B-B042-4D5F-9B2B-C4AEF30FB1AF@btinternet.com> Message-ID: <4456ac4a-3da9-43ce-941d-2d9fb9c55003@leibniz-lib.de> ... and that "once they are stable in 95%", but osmotic damage is done (which usually is irreversible and includes cell rupture, which makes the specimens less suited for histology and analysis of fine cell structures, embryos tend to be used for). With best wishes Dirk Am 23.04.2026 um 23:35 schrieb Simon Moore: ACHTUNG/ATTENTION: Diese E-Mail stammt von einem externen Absender. / This e-mail comes from an external sender. Hi Beth, Remember that EtOH is only a pseudo-fixative as it doesn?t really bring about a chemical change. Sorry to be such a pedant! With all good wishes, Simon Simon Moore MIScT, RSci, FLS, ACR Conservator of Natural Sciences and Cutlery Historian. www.natural-history-conservation.com [cid:part1.mjZQWYDj.VTRY1MSz at leibniz-lib.de] > On 23 Apr 2026, at 21:30, Elizabeth Wommack wrote: > > Hi Verity, > > One thing you could do is check to see if they have finished fixing in the 95% ETOH. Check to see if the concentration of the ETOH they are in is 95%. If it is less then they may still be exchanging water with the preservative, and you might want to put them in some fresh 95% ETOH for a bit longer. Once they are stable at 95% ETOH, I switch ETOH fixed material to 70% ETOH for long-term storage. > > cheers, > Beth > > Elizabeth Wommack, PhD > Curator and Collections Manager of Vertebrates > University of Wyoming Museum of Vertebrates > Berry Biodiversity Conservation Center > University of Wyoming, > Laramie, WY 82071 > ewommack at uwyo.edu > pronouns: she, her, herself > www.uwymv.org > UWYMV Collection Use PolicyFrom: Nhcoll-l on behalf of Dirk Neumann > Sent: Thursday, April 23, 2026 00:09 > To: nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu > Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] [EXTERN] Re: Best practices for ethanol-fixed specimens > ? This message was sent from a non-UWYO address. Please exercise caution when clicking links or opening attachments from external sources. > > Hi Verity, > > I would opt for 70%; 95% not only strongly dehydrates the specimens, but also causes a lot of osmotic pressure on tissue membranes, which might effect the usefulness of the specimens for morphological analysis. Tissue subsampling and subsequent storage of tissues in 95% for later molecular investigation might be better. > > Hope this helps > Dirk > > > Am 22.04.2026 um 22:50 schrieb Shoobs, Nate: >> >> >> Depends on what you want to use them for! >> Formalin is not a great long-term preservative, even though it's a great fixative. Since the tissue is fixed already, unless you want to post-fix for some specific purpose like histology, I'd leave them in ethanol. >> It's fine to keep things in 95% indefinitely, but if you think they will be used mainly for anatomical study, swapping the 95% for 70-75% is better for long term storage and will keep the tissues flexible. Some institutions use 80% as a compromise between genetic and anatomical preservation. If you typically voucher frozen material, I'd recommend taking your tissue samples and freezing them before stepping the lot(s) down in concentration. You could even chuck a whole individual in 95% into the freezer. >> >> Personally, I rarely if ever use graded ethanol series for going from high to lower concentration, especially for fresher material, I only bother when going from low-high, but I'm unsure how vertebrates typically handle. >> My 2 cents! >> -Nate >> -- >> >> Nathaniel F. Shoobs >> Curator of Mollusks >> College of Arts & Sciences Dept. of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology >> Museum of Biological Diversity, 1315 Kinnear Rd, Columbus, OH 43212 >> 614-688-1342 (Office) >> mbd.osu.edu/collections/invertebrates >> From: Nhcoll-l on behalf of Mathis,Verity L >> Date: Wednesday, April 22, 2026 at 4:38?PM >> To: nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu >> Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Best practices for ethanol-fixed specimens >> >> This Message Is From an External Sender >> This message came from outside your organization. >> Report Suspicious >> Hello all >> I am hoping to get feedback on the best practices for some recently fixed fluid specimens. During some recent field work, our lab fixed some rodent fetuses in 95% ethanol while prepping. I?m hoping for some advice on how best store them long-term now that they are back in the lab/collections. Do I keep them in 95% ETOH, re-fix them in formalin, or step them down to 70% ETOH for long-term storage? Or something else altogether? >> Thanks for any insight! >> Verity >> ****************************** >> Verity L. Mathis, Ph.D. >> Mammal Collections Manager >> Florida Museum of Natural History >> University of Florida >> 1659 Museum Road >> Gainesville FL 32611 >> Phone: (352) 273-2114 >> Email: vmathis at flmnh.ufl.edu >> Website: https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/mammals/ >> FM Mammal Collection Google Scholar: https://tinyurl.com/flmnh-mammals >> ????? Support Florida Museum Mammalogy ????? >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Nhcoll-l mailing list >> Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu >> https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l >> >> _______________________________________________ >> NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of >> Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose >> mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of >> natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to >> society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. >> Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. >> > > -- > **** > Dirk Neumann > Collection Manager, Hamburg > Postal address: > Museum of Nature Hamburg > Leibniz Institute for the Analysis > of Biodiversity Change > Dirk Neumann > Martin-Luther-King-Platz 3 > 20146 Hamburg > +49 40 238 317 ? 628 > d.neumann at leibniz-lib.de > www.leibniz-lib.de > -- > Stiftung Leibniz-Institut zur Analyse des Biodiversit?tswandels > Postanschrift: Adenauerallee 127, 53113 Bonn, Germany > > Stiftung des ?ffentlichen Rechts; > Generaldirektion: Prof. Dr. Bernhard Misof (Generaldirektor), Adrian Gr?ter (Kaufm. Gesch?ftsf?hrer) > Sitz der Stiftung: Adenauerallee 160 in Bonn > Vorsitzender des Stiftungsrates: Dr. Michael Wappelhorst > > -- > Stiftung Leibniz-Institut zur Analyse des Biodiversit?tswandels > Postanschrift: Adenauerallee 127, 53113 Bonn, Germany > > Stiftung des ?ffentlichen Rechts; > Generaldirektion: Prof. Dr. Bernhard Misof (Generaldirektor), Adrian Gr?ter (Kaufm. Gesch?ftsf?hrer) > Sitz der Stiftung: Adenauerallee 160 in Bonn > Vorsitzender des Stiftungsrates: Dr. Michael H. Wappelhorst > _______________________________________________ > Nhcoll-l mailing list > Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu > https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l > > _______________________________________________ > NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of > Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose > mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of > natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to > society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. > Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. -- **** Dirk Neumann Collection Manager, Hamburg Postal address: Museum of Nature Hamburg Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change Dirk Neumann Martin-Luther-King-Platz 3 20146 Hamburg +49 40 238 317 ? 628 d.neumann at leibniz-lib.de www.leibniz-lib.de -- Stiftung Leibniz-Institut zur Analyse des Biodiversit?tswandels Postanschrift: Adenauerallee 127, 53113 Bonn, Germany Stiftung des ?ffentlichen Rechts; Generaldirektion: Prof. Dr. Bernhard Misof (Generaldirektor), Adrian Gr?ter (Kaufm. Gesch?ftsf?hrer) Sitz der Stiftung: Adenauerallee 160 in Bonn Vorsitzender des Stiftungsrates: Dr. Michael Wappelhorst -- Stiftung Leibniz-Institut zur Analyse des Biodiversit?tswandels Postanschrift: Adenauerallee 127, 53113 Bonn, Germany Stiftung des ?ffentlichen Rechts; Generaldirektion: Prof. Dr. Bernhard Misof (Generaldirektor), Adrian Gr?ter (Kaufm. Gesch?ftsf?hrer) Sitz der Stiftung: Adenauerallee 160 in Bonn Vorsitzender des Stiftungsrates: Dr. Michael H. Wappelhorst -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: MA logo 2.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 25185 bytes Desc: not available URL: From Joosep.Sarapuu at loodusmuuseum.ee Fri Apr 24 05:16:46 2026 From: Joosep.Sarapuu at loodusmuuseum.ee (Joosep Sarapuu) Date: Fri, 24 Apr 2026 09:16:46 +0000 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Public Procurement! Implementation and taxidermy for the new exhibition at the Estonian Museum of Natural History In-Reply-To: <14efd45c-897e-416d-bd95-7e54fb7d1afe@studionaturalia.fi> References: <14efd45c-897e-416d-bd95-7e54fb7d1afe@studionaturalia.fi> Message-ID: <6b1a1074466e41f294347963e166bacb@loodusmuuseum.ee> Hello Netta! Unfortunately these documents are only in Estonian. We suggest to use AI for translation. Sincerely, Joosep Sarapuu Estonian Museum of Natural History From: Netta / Studio Naturalia Sent: Thursday, April 23, 2026 2:50 PM To: Joosep Sarapuu Cc: nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu Subject: Re: Public Procurement! Implementation and taxidermy for the new exhibition at the Estonian Museum of Natural History Hi Joosep! Is there a chance to get to read this in english? Kind regards, Netta Lempi?inen Studio Naturalia Oy www.studionaturalia.fi +358 41 538 7602 netta.lempiainen at studionaturalia.fi 23.4.2026, 14.45, Joosep Sarapuu > kirjoitti: Dear all! I am writing to inform you that the public procurement for the implementation of the Estonian Museum of Natural History's new permanent exhibition, including the taxidermy procurement, has been officially announced in the Public Procurement Portal. I encourage you to participate! You can find the link to the procurement here: https://riigihanked.riik.ee/rhr-web/#/procurement/10066544/general-info All questions must also be submitted through the procurement portal. Sincerely, Joosep Sarapuu Estonian Museum of Natural History --- Kiri on saadetud v?ljastpoolt valitsemisala. ?rge avage kirjaga kaasa tulnud linke v?i manuseid enne, kui olete saatja ?igsuses ja sisu turvalisuses kindel. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From simmons.johne at gmail.com Fri Apr 24 10:38:02 2026 From: simmons.johne at gmail.com (John E Simmons) Date: Fri, 24 Apr 2026 10:38:02 -0400 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] [EXTERN] Re: Best practices for ethanol-fixed specimens In-Reply-To: <4456ac4a-3da9-43ce-941d-2d9fb9c55003@leibniz-lib.de> References: <81c2130a-eabd-4790-aa0a-d274f99f223b@leibniz-lib.de> <17CDFA0B-B042-4D5F-9B2B-C4AEF30FB1AF@btinternet.com> <4456ac4a-3da9-43ce-941d-2d9fb9c55003@leibniz-lib.de> Message-ID: A correction needs to be made concerning the use of the term ?pseudo-fixative.? Fixation has many meanings, but in general it refers to a chemical or physical process that is used to prevent postmortem changes in tissue. From a histological point of view, fixation also prepares tissues to be receptive to staining, sectioning, or other treatments. There are dozens of definitions of fixation in the literature, and dozens of recipes for fixatives to produce particular results. Tissues can be fixed by dehydration, heat, salts, acids, and other chemicals. Fixation has been practiced for a very long time?histologists cite the year 1833 as the date of the origin of modern fixation because that was when chromic acid came into use as a hardening agent, well before formaldehyde had even been discovered, but specimens were being fixed by various means well before the 1833. The choice of fixative or fixation process depends on what organism you are working with and what results you want. As discussed in detail in the second edition of *Fluid Preservation: A Comprehensive Reference* (2025) the term pseudo-fixative is both incorrect and misleading. It seems to have been coined by Stoddard to differentiate between fixatives that form covalent bonds or crosslinks (e.g., formaldehyde and gluteraldehyde) and fixatives that do not form crosslinks. In fact, there is no such thing as a pseudo-fixative because fixation cannot be defined by the formation of crosslinks. There are many ways to fix tissue that do not form crosslinks. The specimens in question that were put into 95% ethanol have no doubt been fixed, and as Dirk has correctly pointed out, that process has no doubt resulted in osmotic damage to the tissues. Other treatments can still be done on the specimens, including other fixation techniques, but to refer to the use of 95% ETOH as a pseudo-fixative is incorrect. Fixation in alcohol does, in fact, result in changes in the tissues in that it unwinds and disorders proteins and alters the patterns of hydrogen bonding as the tissue is dehydrated. --John John E. Simmons US Fulbright Senior Scholar Writer and Museum Consultant, Museologica *and* Research Associate, Earth and Mineral Sciences Museum & Art Gallery, Penn State University *and* Investigador Asociado, Departamento de Ornitolog?a, Museo de Historia Natural, Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Lima On Fri, Apr 24, 2026 at 1:43?AM Dirk Neumann wrote: > ... and that "once they are stable in 95%", but osmotic damage is done > (which usually is irreversible and includes cell rupture, which makes the > specimens less suited for histology and analysis of fine cell structures, > embryos tend to be used for). > > With best wishes > Dirk > > > Am 23.04.2026 um 23:35 schrieb Simon Moore: > > ACHTUNG/ATTENTION: Diese E-Mail stammt von einem externen Absender. / This > e-mail comes from an external sender. > > > Hi Beth, > > Remember that EtOH is only a pseudo-fixative as it doesn?t really bring > about a chemical change. > Sorry to be such a pedant! > > With all good wishes, Simon > > Simon Moore MIScT, RSci, FLS, ACR > Conservator of Natural Sciences and Cutlery Historian. > > www.natural-history-conservation.com > > > > > > On 23 Apr 2026, at 21:30, Elizabeth Wommack > wrote: > > > > Hi Verity, > > > > One thing you could do is check to see if they have finished fixing in > the 95% ETOH. Check to see if the concentration of the ETOH they are in is > 95%. If it is less then they may still be exchanging water with the > preservative, and you might want to put them in some fresh 95% ETOH for a > bit longer. Once they are stable at 95% ETOH, I switch ETOH fixed material > to 70% ETOH for long-term storage. > > > > cheers, > > Beth > > > > Elizabeth Wommack, PhD > > Curator and Collections Manager of Vertebrates > > University of Wyoming Museum of Vertebrates > > Berry Biodiversity Conservation Center > > University of Wyoming, > > Laramie, WY 82071 > > ewommack at uwyo.edu > > pronouns: she, her, herself > > www.uwymv.org > > UWYMV Collection Use PolicyFrom: Nhcoll-l > > on behalf of Dirk Neumann > > > Sent: Thursday, April 23, 2026 00:09 > > To: nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu > > > Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] [EXTERN] Re: Best practices for ethanol-fixed > specimens > > ? This message was sent from a non-UWYO address. Please exercise > caution when clicking links or opening attachments from external sources. > > > > Hi Verity, > > > > I would opt for 70%; 95% not only strongly dehydrates the specimens, but > also causes a lot of osmotic pressure on tissue membranes, which might > effect the usefulness of the specimens for morphological analysis. Tissue > subsampling and subsequent storage of tissues in 95% for later molecular > investigation might be better. > > > > Hope this helps > > Dirk > > > > > > Am 22.04.2026 um 22:50 schrieb Shoobs, Nate: > >> > >> > >> Depends on what you want to use them for! > >> Formalin is not a great long-term preservative, even though it's a > great fixative. Since the tissue is fixed already, unless you want to > post-fix for some specific purpose like histology, I'd leave them in > ethanol. > >> It's fine to keep things in 95% indefinitely, but if you think they > will be used mainly for anatomical study, swapping the 95% for 70-75% is > better for long term storage and will keep the tissues flexible. Some > institutions use 80% as a compromise between genetic and anatomical > preservation. If you typically voucher frozen material, I'd recommend > taking your tissue samples and freezing them before stepping the lot(s) > down in concentration. You could even chuck a whole individual in 95% into > the freezer. > >> > >> Personally, I rarely if ever use graded ethanol series for going from > high to lower concentration, especially for fresher material, I only bother > when going from low-high, but I'm unsure how vertebrates typically handle. > >> My 2 cents! > >> -Nate > >> -- > >> > >> Nathaniel F. Shoobs > >> Curator of Mollusks > >> College of Arts & Sciences Dept. of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal > Biology > >> Museum of Biological Diversity, 1315 Kinnear Rd, Columbus, OH 43212 > >> 614-688-1342 (Office) > >> mbd.osu.edu/collections/invertebrates > >> From: Nhcoll-l > on behalf of Mathis,Verity L > > >> Date: Wednesday, April 22, 2026 at 4:38?PM > >> To: nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu > > >> Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Best practices for ethanol-fixed specimens > >> > >> This Message Is From an External Sender > >> This message came from outside your organization. > >> Report Suspicious > >> Hello all > >> I am hoping to get feedback on the best practices for some recently > fixed fluid specimens. During some recent field work, our lab fixed some > rodent fetuses in 95% ethanol while prepping. I?m hoping for some advice > on how best store them long-term now that they are back in the > lab/collections. Do I keep them in 95% ETOH, re-fix them in formalin, or > step them down to 70% ETOH for long-term storage? Or something else > altogether? > >> Thanks for any insight! > >> Verity > >> ****************************** > >> Verity L. Mathis, Ph.D. > >> Mammal Collections Manager > >> Florida Museum of Natural History > >> University of Florida > >> 1659 Museum Road > >> Gainesville FL 32611 > >> Phone: (352) 273-2114 > >> Email: vmathis at flmnh.ufl.edu > >> Website: https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/mammals/ > >> FM Mammal Collection Google Scholar: https://tinyurl.com/flmnh-mammals > >> ????? Support Florida Museum Mammalogy ????? > >> > >> _______________________________________________ > >> Nhcoll-l mailing list > >> Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu > >> https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l > >> > >> _______________________________________________ > >> NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of > >> Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose > >> mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of > >> natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to > >> society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. > >> Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. > >> > > > > -- > > **** > > Dirk Neumann > > Collection Manager, Hamburg > > Postal address: > > Museum of Nature Hamburg > > Leibniz Institute for the Analysis > > of Biodiversity Change > > Dirk Neumann > > Martin-Luther-King-Platz 3 > > 20146 Hamburg > > +49 40 238 317 ? 628 > > d.neumann at leibniz-lib.de > > www.leibniz-lib.de > > -- > > Stiftung Leibniz-Institut zur Analyse des Biodiversit?tswandels > > Postanschrift: Adenauerallee 127, 53113 Bonn, Germany > > > > Stiftung des ?ffentlichen Rechts; > > Generaldirektion: Prof. Dr. Bernhard Misof (Generaldirektor), Adrian > Gr?ter (Kaufm. Gesch?ftsf?hrer) > > Sitz der Stiftung: Adenauerallee 160 in Bonn > > Vorsitzender des Stiftungsrates: Dr. Michael Wappelhorst > > > > -- > > Stiftung Leibniz-Institut zur Analyse des Biodiversit?tswandels > > Postanschrift: Adenauerallee 127, 53113 Bonn, Germany > > > > Stiftung des ?ffentlichen Rechts; > > Generaldirektion: Prof. Dr. Bernhard Misof (Generaldirektor), Adrian > Gr?ter (Kaufm. Gesch?ftsf?hrer) > > Sitz der Stiftung: Adenauerallee 160 in Bonn > > Vorsitzender des Stiftungsrates: Dr. Michael H. Wappelhorst > > _______________________________________________ > > Nhcoll-l mailing list > > Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu > > https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l > > > > _______________________________________________ > > NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of > > Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose > > mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of > > natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to > > society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. > > Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. > > > > -- > > ****** > > > > *Dirk Neumann* > > Collection Manager, Hamburg > > > > Postal address: > > *Museum of Nature Hamburg* > Leibniz Institute for the Analysis > > of Biodiversity Change > > Dirk Neumann > > Martin-Luther-King-Platz 3 > > 20146 Hamburg > +49 40 238 317 ? 628 > > *d.neumann at leibniz-lib.de * > > www.leibniz-lib.de > > > > -- > Stiftung Leibniz-Institut zur Analyse des Biodiversit?tswandels > Postanschrift: Adenauerallee 127, 53113 Bonn, Germany > > Stiftung des ?ffentlichen Rechts; > Generaldirektion: Prof. Dr. Bernhard Misof (Generaldirektor), Adrian > Gr?ter (Kaufm. Gesch?ftsf?hrer) > Sitz der Stiftung: Adenauerallee 160 in Bonn > Vorsitzender des Stiftungsrates: Dr. Michael Wappelhorst > > > -- > Stiftung Leibniz-Institut zur Analyse des Biodiversit?tswandels > Postanschrift: Adenauerallee 127, 53113 Bonn, Germany > > Stiftung des ?ffentlichen Rechts; > Generaldirektion: Prof. Dr. Bernhard Misof (Generaldirektor), Adrian > Gr?ter (Kaufm. Gesch?ftsf?hrer) > Sitz der Stiftung: Adenauerallee 160 in Bonn > Vorsitzender des Stiftungsrates: Dr. Michael H. Wappelhorst > _______________________________________________ > Nhcoll-l mailing list > Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu > https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l > > _______________________________________________ > NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of > Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose > mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of > natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to > society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. > Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: MA logo 2.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 25185 bytes Desc: not available URL: From shoobs.1 at osu.edu Fri Apr 24 11:03:39 2026 From: shoobs.1 at osu.edu (Shoobs, Nate) Date: Fri, 24 Apr 2026 15:03:39 +0000 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] [EXTERN] Re: Best practices for ethanol-fixed specimens In-Reply-To: References: <81c2130a-eabd-4790-aa0a-d274f99f223b@leibniz-lib.de> <17CDFA0B-B042-4D5F-9B2B-C4AEF30FB1AF@btinternet.com> <4456ac4a-3da9-43ce-941d-2d9fb9c55003@leibniz-lib.de> Message-ID: I agree with John, the term fixation doesn't just mean a chemical change, though it often does. I think more broadly one could argue that fixation = any of several irreversible processes that largely arrest biological activity, both in and on tissues. Chemical and physical processes can both fix tissues. For example, one also refers to "heat fixation" in microbiological contexts, which just means "killing and drying out the cells on a slide by passing it over a flame". The main difference between fixed and unfixed tissues is that the former have been irrevocably altered by some means, and that the normal biological process of decomposition has been arrested (not just slowed down). Usually this is accomplished by dehydration (physical or chemical) but also by cross-linking in the case of fixatives like formalin. -N -- [The Ohio State University] Nathaniel F. Shoobs Curator of Mollusks College of Arts & Sciences Dept. of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology Museum of Biological Diversity, 1315 Kinnear Rd, Columbus, OH 43212 614-688-1342 (Office) mbd.osu.edu/collections/invertebrates From: Nhcoll-l on behalf of John E Simmons Date: Friday, April 24, 2026 at 10:43?AM To: Dirk Neumann Cc: NHCOLL-new Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] [EXTERN] Re: Best practices for ethanol-fixed specimens This Message Is From an External Sender This message came from outside your organization. Report Suspicious A correction needs to be made concerning the use of the term ?pseudo-fixative.? Fixation has many meanings, but in general it refers to a chemical or physical process that is used to prevent postmortem changes in tissue. From a histological point of view, fixation also prepares tissues to be receptive to staining, sectioning, or other treatments. There are dozens of definitions of fixation in the literature, and dozens of recipes for fixatives to produce particular results. Tissues can be fixed by dehydration, heat, salts, acids, and other chemicals. Fixation has been practiced for a very long time?histologists cite the year 1833 as the date of the origin of modern fixation because that was when chromic acid came into use as a hardening agent, well before formaldehyde had even been discovered, but specimens were being fixed by various means well before the 1833. The choice of fixative or fixation process depends on what organism you are working with and what results you want. As discussed in detail in the second edition of Fluid Preservation: A Comprehensive Reference (2025) the term pseudo-fixative is both incorrect and misleading. It seems to have been coined by Stoddard to differentiate between fixatives that form covalent bonds or crosslinks (e.g., formaldehyde and gluteraldehyde) and fixatives that do not form crosslinks. In fact, there is no such thing as a pseudo-fixative because fixation cannot be defined by the formation of crosslinks. There are many ways to fix tissue that do not form crosslinks. The specimens in question that were put into 95% ethanol have no doubt been fixed, and as Dirk has correctly pointed out, that process has no doubt resulted in osmotic damage to the tissues. Other treatments can still be done on the specimens, including other fixation techniques, but to refer to the use of 95% ETOH as a pseudo-fixative is incorrect. Fixation in alcohol does, in fact, result in changes in the tissues in that it unwinds and disorders proteins and alters the patterns of hydrogen bonding as the tissue is dehydrated. --John John E. Simmons US Fulbright Senior Scholar Writer and Museum Consultant, Museologica and Research Associate, Earth and Mineral Sciences Museum & Art Gallery, Penn State University and Investigador Asociado, Departamento de Ornitolog?a, Museo de Historia Natural, Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Lima On Fri, Apr 24, 2026 at 1:43?AM Dirk Neumann > wrote: ... and that "once they are stable in 95%", but osmotic damage is done (which usually is irreversible and includes cell rupture, which makes the specimens less suited for histology and analysis of fine cell structures, embryos tend to be used for). With best wishes Dirk Am 23.04.2026 um 23:35 schrieb Simon Moore: ACHTUNG/ATTENTION: Diese E-Mail stammt von einem externen Absender. / This e-mail comes from an external sender. Hi Beth, Remember that EtOH is only a pseudo-fixative as it doesn?t really bring about a chemical change. Sorry to be such a pedant! With all good wishes, Simon Simon Moore MIScT, RSci, FLS, ACR Conservator of Natural Sciences and Cutlery Historian. www.natural-history-conservation.com [cid:ii_19dbfeac7c39ba1137c1] > On 23 Apr 2026, at 21:30, Elizabeth Wommack wrote: > > Hi Verity, > > One thing you could do is check to see if they have finished fixing in the 95% ETOH. Check to see if the concentration of the ETOH they are in is 95%. If it is less then they may still be exchanging water with the preservative, and you might want to put them in some fresh 95% ETOH for a bit longer. Once they are stable at 95% ETOH, I switch ETOH fixed material to 70% ETOH for long-term storage. > > cheers, > Beth > > Elizabeth Wommack, PhD > Curator and Collections Manager of Vertebrates > University of Wyoming Museum of Vertebrates > Berry Biodiversity Conservation Center > University of Wyoming, > Laramie, WY 82071 > ewommack at uwyo.edu > pronouns: she, her, herself > www.uwymv.org > UWYMV Collection Use PolicyFrom: Nhcoll-l on behalf of Dirk Neumann > Sent: Thursday, April 23, 2026 00:09 > To: nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu > Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] [EXTERN] Re: Best practices for ethanol-fixed specimens > ? This message was sent from a non-UWYO address. Please exercise caution when clicking links or opening attachments from external sources. > > Hi Verity, > > I would opt for 70%; 95% not only strongly dehydrates the specimens, but also causes a lot of osmotic pressure on tissue membranes, which might effect the usefulness of the specimens for morphological analysis. Tissue subsampling and subsequent storage of tissues in 95% for later molecular investigation might be better. > > Hope this helps > Dirk > > > Am 22.04.2026 um 22:50 schrieb Shoobs, Nate: >> >> >> Depends on what you want to use them for! >> Formalin is not a great long-term preservative, even though it's a great fixative. Since the tissue is fixed already, unless you want to post-fix for some specific purpose like histology, I'd leave them in ethanol. >> It's fine to keep things in 95% indefinitely, but if you think they will be used mainly for anatomical study, swapping the 95% for 70-75% is better for long term storage and will keep the tissues flexible. Some institutions use 80% as a compromise between genetic and anatomical preservation. If you typically voucher frozen material, I'd recommend taking your tissue samples and freezing them before stepping the lot(s) down in concentration. You could even chuck a whole individual in 95% into the freezer. >> >> Personally, I rarely if ever use graded ethanol series for going from high to lower concentration, especially for fresher material, I only bother when going from low-high, but I'm unsure how vertebrates typically handle. >> My 2 cents! >> -Nate >> -- >> >> Nathaniel F. Shoobs >> Curator of Mollusks >> College of Arts & Sciences Dept. of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology >> Museum of Biological Diversity, 1315 Kinnear Rd, Columbus, OH 43212 >> 614-688-1342 (Office) >> mbd.osu.edu/collections/invertebrates >> From: Nhcoll-l on behalf of Mathis,Verity L >> Date: Wednesday, April 22, 2026 at 4:38?PM >> To: nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu >> Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Best practices for ethanol-fixed specimens >> >> This Message Is From an External Sender >> This message came from outside your organization. >> Report Suspicious >> Hello all >> I am hoping to get feedback on the best practices for some recently fixed fluid specimens. During some recent field work, our lab fixed some rodent fetuses in 95% ethanol while prepping. I?m hoping for some advice on how best store them long-term now that they are back in the lab/collections. Do I keep them in 95% ETOH, re-fix them in formalin, or step them down to 70% ETOH for long-term storage? Or something else altogether? >> Thanks for any insight! >> Verity >> ****************************** >> Verity L. Mathis, Ph.D. >> Mammal Collections Manager >> Florida Museum of Natural History >> University of Florida >> 1659 Museum Road >> Gainesville FL 32611 >> Phone: (352) 273-2114 >> Email: vmathis at flmnh.ufl.edu >> Website: https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/mammals/ >> FM Mammal Collection Google Scholar: https://tinyurl.com/flmnh-mammals >> ????? Support Florida Museum Mammalogy ????? >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Nhcoll-l mailing list >> Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu >> https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l >> >> _______________________________________________ >> NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of >> Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose >> mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of >> natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to >> society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. >> Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. >> > > -- > **** > Dirk Neumann > Collection Manager, Hamburg > Postal address: > Museum of Nature Hamburg > Leibniz Institute for the Analysis > of Biodiversity Change > Dirk Neumann > Martin-Luther-King-Platz 3 > 20146 Hamburg > +49 40 238 317 ? 628 > d.neumann at leibniz-lib.de > www.leibniz-lib.de > -- > Stiftung Leibniz-Institut zur Analyse des Biodiversit?tswandels > Postanschrift: Adenauerallee 127, 53113 Bonn, Germany > > Stiftung des ?ffentlichen Rechts; > Generaldirektion: Prof. Dr. Bernhard Misof (Generaldirektor), Adrian Gr?ter (Kaufm. Gesch?ftsf?hrer) > Sitz der Stiftung: Adenauerallee 160 in Bonn > Vorsitzender des Stiftungsrates: Dr. Michael Wappelhorst > > -- > Stiftung Leibniz-Institut zur Analyse des Biodiversit?tswandels > Postanschrift: Adenauerallee 127, 53113 Bonn, Germany > > Stiftung des ?ffentlichen Rechts; > Generaldirektion: Prof. Dr. Bernhard Misof (Generaldirektor), Adrian Gr?ter (Kaufm. Gesch?ftsf?hrer) > Sitz der Stiftung: Adenauerallee 160 in Bonn > Vorsitzender des Stiftungsrates: Dr. Michael H. Wappelhorst > _______________________________________________ > Nhcoll-l mailing list > Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu > https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l > > _______________________________________________ > NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of > Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose > mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of > natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to > society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. > Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. -- **** Dirk Neumann Collection Manager, Hamburg Postal address: Museum of Nature Hamburg Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change Dirk Neumann Martin-Luther-King-Platz 3 20146 Hamburg +49 40 238 317 ? 628 d.neumann at leibniz-lib.de www.leibniz-lib.de -- Stiftung Leibniz-Institut zur Analyse des Biodiversit?tswandels Postanschrift: Adenauerallee 127, 53113 Bonn, Germany Stiftung des ?ffentlichen Rechts; Generaldirektion: Prof. Dr. Bernhard Misof (Generaldirektor), Adrian Gr?ter (Kaufm. Gesch?ftsf?hrer) Sitz der Stiftung: Adenauerallee 160 in Bonn Vorsitzender des Stiftungsrates: Dr. Michael Wappelhorst -- Stiftung Leibniz-Institut zur Analyse des Biodiversit?tswandels Postanschrift: Adenauerallee 127, 53113 Bonn, Germany Stiftung des ?ffentlichen Rechts; Generaldirektion: Prof. Dr. Bernhard Misof (Generaldirektor), Adrian Gr?ter (Kaufm. Gesch?ftsf?hrer) Sitz der Stiftung: Adenauerallee 160 in Bonn Vorsitzender des Stiftungsrates: Dr. Michael H. Wappelhorst _______________________________________________ Nhcoll-l mailing list Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l _______________________________________________ NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: MA logo 2.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 25185 bytes Desc: MA logo 2.jpg URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: image001[97].png Type: image/png Size: 3607 bytes Desc: image001[97].png URL: From mtaylor at andover.edu Fri Apr 24 12:36:55 2026 From: mtaylor at andover.edu (Marla L Taylor) Date: Fri, 24 Apr 2026 16:36:55 +0000 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Indigenous Collections Care Webinar Series - May 5th (Use and Access of Collections) In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Please join us for the fourth and final session of the Rethinking Collections Stewardship Speaker Series ? May 5th at 2pm Central ? for a conversation on Use and Access of Collections. Thank you for all of your support! Register here Recordings will be made available via the ICC webpage at the conclusion of the series. [https://gallery.mailchimp.com/e400d2ac86b96559d288dd636/images/dc9af8a2-ba64-4ae9-b36f-aeb4361916f9.png] [https://mcusercontent.com/e400d2ac86b96559d288dd636/images/b8b30a09-2c7f-8ae7-9a5d-36f50b9a3a72.png] Indigenous Collections Care (ICC) Speaker Series In partnership with the Indian Arts Research Center (IARC) at the School for Advanced Research and Gilcrease Museum, we present the Indigenous Collections Care (ICC) Speaker Series, a four-part webinar series examining Indigenous-centered approaches to museum collections stewardship. Developed in advance of the forthcoming Indigenous Collections Care Guide, the series brings together leading practitioners to explore consultation, conservation, access, and relationship-building through Indigenous knowledge and values?reflecting our ongoing leadership in this work across the museum field. Museum professionals and colleagues across the field are invited to register or learn more about the series. Register Webinar Schedule Use & Access of Collections May 5 | 2:00 ? 3:30 PM Central Featuring: Amanda Lancaster, Sarah O?Donnell, Ed Jolie, RaeLynn Butler [https://cdn-images.mailchimp.com/icons/social-block-v2/dark-facebook-48.png] [https://cdn-images.mailchimp.com/icons/social-block-v2/dark-twitter-48.png] [https://cdn-images.mailchimp.com/icons/social-block-v2/dark-instagram-48.png] [https://cdn-images.mailchimp.com/icons/social-block-v2/dark-youtube-48.png] Copyright ? 2019 Gilcrease Museum, All rights reserved. Our address is: 800 S Tucker Drive Tulsa, Oklahoma 74104 Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list. View this email in your browser. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: ICC Speaker Series Flyer.png Type: image/png Size: 688184 bytes Desc: ICC Speaker Series Flyer.png URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: ICC Speaker Series_May 2026.jpeg Type: image/jpeg Size: 136004 bytes Desc: ICC Speaker Series_May 2026.jpeg URL: From bourbeaum at hillstead.org Fri Apr 24 14:21:16 2026 From: bourbeaum at hillstead.org (Melanie Bourbeau) Date: Fri, 24 Apr 2026 18:21:16 +0000 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] insect pests in a historic house museum Message-ID: While an inquiry for assistance from a historic house museum with a collection of French Impressionist paintings may seem counterintuitive, we have been grappling with a moth situation over the last nearly three years, and while we feel we have it under control to the best of our ability, there is always more that could be done to mitigate harmful effects. Hence this message. My volunteer "Team Clean" cohort that deals primarily with the cleaning associated with the activity around webbing clothes moths and other insect pests (the rest of the group attends to the routine basics of dusting vacuuming the house and its collection) is in need of a student who might find such work in a setting such as this intriguing and informative. The Natural History Collections listserv was suggested by UConn's Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology faculty. One team member manages, assisted by two others, the pheromone traps and weekly counts to collect the necessary data for understanding what is going on within our 1901 wood frame structure. Assistance with traps, data and the Big Job of essential associated deep cleaning in the many nooks and crannies of this historic house is our need. If you know of a student, either graduate level or an undergrad, we would be interested in connecting and exploring a mutually beneficial arrangement. I am not a member of the listserv so please reach to me directly using my contact information below. With thanks, Melanie Bourbeau | Hill-Stead Museum Senior Curator T: 860 677 4787 ex. 122 bourbeaum at hillstead.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il Sat Apr 25 03:58:32 2026 From: gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il (Gali Beiner) Date: Sat, 25 Apr 2026 10:58:32 +0300 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Gathering info on in-house testing of printed labels for fluid collections! In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Thanks to all contributors to this thread! Waiting for any others to join in! + Anyone who hasn't done testing (formal / informal) with a known combination of printer+ink+substrate in their collections and a good idea of when that came into use is also invited to contribute. Gali Gali Beiner (ACR) Conservator, Palaeontology Lab National Natural History Collections The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Berman Building, Edmond J. Safra campus, Givat Ram Jerusalem 91904, Israel Fax. 972-2-6585785 *gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il * *https://nnhc.huji.ac.il/?lang=en * ?????? ??? ??, 23 ????? 2026, 21:24, ??? Kendrick Fowler ?< kendrickorion at gmail.com>: > The *color* inks for the EcoTank printers are dye-based and dissolve > instantly in water, but the *black* inks have a percentage of carbon > black pigment comparable to some India inks. See, for example, the > following documents: > > SDS for Epson T5021 black ink > (5?7% > carbon black pigment) > SDS for Epson T5321 black ink > (5?7% carbon > black pigment) > SDS for Epson T5421 black ink > (5?7% > carbon black pigment) > SDS for Epson T552020 black ink > (5?7% > carbon black pigment) > SDS for Epson T774120 black ink > (5?10% carbon > black pigment) > SDS for Higgins inks > , > including their waterproof black India ink (up to 7.48% carbon black > pigment) > SDS for Hunt Speedball India inks > > (up to 10.36% carbon black pigment) > > As far as I am aware, none of the Epson EcoTank black inks have been > certified as meeting archival standards (e.g., ISO 11798), so some kind of > formal testing (as proposed by folks in this group) should be done before > treating them as a product recommendation. However, as discussed in > my previous email, in my experience they seem to hold up well in alcohol. > > Kendrick > > P.S. As folks move forward with determining how to evaluate inks, Williams > *et al*.'s 1986 paper Inks for Documentation in Vertebrate Research > Collections > might > be interesting as a source for inspiration. The authors performed a wide > variety of tests on a wide variety of inks! (Interestingly, one of the > tests was a test for the proportion of solids in the ink; the > best-performing inks overall contained between ~14?32% solids.) > > > *Kendrick Fowler*, *Entomology Lab Manager* > Hawthorne Valley Farmscape Ecology Program | hvfarmscape.org > +1 (518) 672-7994 (office) | +1 (267) 377-7567 (cell) > > *Follow us** on Facebook > or > subscribe to our **Progress of the Seasons Journal > for weekly **photoessays > on **Columbia County's natural **wonders**.* > > > On Thu, Apr 23, 2026 at 12:05?PM Chris Grinter > wrote: > >> A caution against the eco tank printers that these are dye based inks and >> not pigment, therefore should not be considered archival. It's getting >> harder and harder to find low-cost pigment based inkjet printing especially >> in monochrome. >> >> >> Christopher C. Grinter >> Senior Collection Manager of Entomology >> Secretary, The Lepidopterists? Society >> Subject Editor: Lepidoptera, The Pacific Coast Entomological Society >> California Academy of Sciences >> 55 Music Concourse Dr >> >> San Francisco, CA 94118 >> >> T 415.379.5320 >> CAS in the news - $10M for digitization >> >> Learn more at calacademy.org >> >> >> >> On Thu, Apr 23, 2026 at 8:58?AM Kendrick Fowler >> wrote: >> >>> Hi Gali, >>> >>> Thanks for moving this forward! >>> >>> My test has been appallingly unscientific, as it was not originally >>> meant as a test of labels/ink nor meant to run as long as it has (and so >>> has been neglected/not supervised with care). >>> >>> About 5 years ago (9 and 13 July 2021), I filled a variety of vials with >>> 70% ethanol and placed into each of them a label identical to those we use >>> for both our dry and wet specimens in our insect collection, then set the >>> vials on a window ledge. They sat in the window for about two years until >>> they were accidentally knocked down during an office cleaning, then were >>> removed and placed into a clear deli container and have sat jumbled >>> together in a different window since then. The vials that still retain >>> alcohol up to or above the level of the label today were borosilicate vials >>> with phenolic polyseal screw caps (Bioquip 8801P and 8804P) and >>> polypropylene vials with TPE O-rings in the caps (Hyundai Micro >>> HBS020CS1SF). The labels were printed on Enduro Xerographic 100% cotton >>> paper using the black-and-white setting (which uses only black ink) on an >>> Epson ET-4750 EcoTank printer filled with Epson T5021 black ink (this is >>> the standard black ink for the ET-4750, from the Epson T502 ink bottle >>> pack) in 3 pt Avenir Book font, and the dates on the labels were >>> handwritten using a black Pigma Micron pen (Sakura stock # XSDK005-49). The >>> labels remain perfectly readable, but the text appears slightly to >>> moderately faded compared to similar-aged labels that have been kept in the >>> dark, or compared to newly-printed labels. In my subjective assessment (no >>> quantitative measuring of contrast or anything like that), the text made >>> using the printer and the text written in pen both appear faded to a >>> similar degree; if anything, the text written in pen appears more faded >>> because it originally appeared darker than the printed text, whereas now >>> the text made using both methods appears about the same darkness (however, >>> the text written in pen may only have appeared darker initially because its >>> lines are much thicker than in the text made by the printer). >>> >>> Unfortunately, some of the above products are discontinued, but suitable >>> alternatives are available (Bioquip is sadly no more, but polyseal/polycone >>> vials can be obtained from a variety of sources; Sarstedt's 72.694.300 >>> vials are similar to the no-longer-available Hyundai Micro product named >>> above, but seem in my subjective assessment to be higher quality; Epson >>> offers a variety of EcoTank printers that take the same ink as the >>> discontinued ET-4750 as well as other printers that take inks with >>> different product numbers but that, according to their SDSs, appear to have >>> a similar composition). >>> >>> Again, the above is terribly unscientific, so don't take it for more >>> than it's worth. However, considering the popularity of Pigma Micron pens >>> for handwriting labels, the fact that the printer ink (subjectively) >>> appears to have held up just as well in this test gives me confidence in >>> its longevity. >>> >>> Also, according to their safety data sheets (available online), both the >>> Epson T5021 black ink and the ink in black Pigma Micron pens are colored at >>> least in part using carbon black pigment, which should have excellent >>> longevity. >>> >>> I hope this is helpful in some way! >>> >>> Kind regards, >>> Kendrick >>> >>> >>> *Kendrick Fowler*, *Entomology Lab Manager* >>> Hawthorne Valley Farmscape Ecology Program | hvfarmscape.org >>> >>> +1 (518) 672-7994 (office) | +1 (267) 377-7567 (cell) >>> >>> *Follow us** on Facebook >>> or >>> subscribe to our **Progress of the Seasons Journal >>> for >>> weekly **photoessays on **Columbia County's natural **wonders**.* >>> >>> >>> On Thu, Apr 23, 2026 at 9:52?AM Gali Beiner >>> wrote: >>> >>>> Dear All, >>>> >>>> We very recently held a long (over 50 postings!) discussion here in >>>> NHCOLL, headed "Desktop thermal printers?". In that thread, I mentioned the >>>> possibility of creating some sort of "digital space" for information on >>>> ongoing "informal" testing and follow-ups on labels in different places. >>>> >>>> *There is an opening for doing exactly this within the framework of the >>>> SPNHC wikipages*. Those of you who conduct such ongoing informal tests >>>> or have specific observations from "their" collections (Andy, Chris, >>>> Fowler, Hans-Joachim and anyone else out there, apologies if I failed to >>>> mention anyone) are very much invited to contact me. It will be good to >>>> list the duration of your procedures, which products exactly you put under >>>> observation, general conditions of your procedure, etc. I'll try to create >>>> a table for the purpose. >>>> >>>> Let's see how this goes! All this info that never gets published >>>> because it is "not exactly scientific" but still very interesting now has a >>>> chance to be seen! >>>> >>>> Gali >>>> >>>> >>>> -- >>>> Gali Beiner (ACR) >>>> Conservator, Palaeontology Lab >>>> National Natural History Collections >>>> The Hebrew University of Jerusalem >>>> Berman Building, Edmond J. Safra campus, Givat Ram >>>> Jerusalem 91904, Israel >>>> Fax. 972-2-6585785 >>>> *gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il * >>>> >>>> *https://nnhc.huji.ac.il/?lang=en >>>> * >>>> _______________________________________________ >>>> Nhcoll-l mailing list >>>> Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu >>>> https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l >>>> >>>> >>>> _______________________________________________ >>>> NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of >>>> Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose >>>> mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of >>>> natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to >>>> society. See http://www.spnhc.org >>>> >>>> for membership information. >>>> Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. >>>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> Nhcoll-l mailing list >>> Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu >>> >>> https://url.avanan.click/v2/r01/___https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l___.YXAzOmNhbGFjYWRlbXk6YTpnOjMyNDVjZDUxZTZhNTVjMDJmMTBjYmIxZDViM2Q2ZmJmOjc6ZmVkYTpjYjZiZjllNTJlZjRiMDNjN2RhMDk5MTI4ZDQxMjYzYzI4YmExZjRmYTY0MzFiOGY0NWE4ZmJkYTJiOGMxZWQzOnA6VDpO >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of >>> Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose >>> mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of >>> natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to >>> society. 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URL: From neotieno at gmail.com Sat Apr 25 05:16:17 2026 From: neotieno at gmail.com (Nickson Otieno) Date: Sat, 25 Apr 2026 12:16:17 +0300 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] [EXTERN] Re: Best practices for ethanol-fixed specimens In-Reply-To: References: <81c2130a-eabd-4790-aa0a-d274f99f223b@leibniz-lib.de> <17CDFA0B-B042-4D5F-9B2B-C4AEF30FB1AF@btinternet.com> <4456ac4a-3da9-43ce-941d-2d9fb9c55003@leibniz-lib.de> Message-ID: The last sentence of John's message is in fact the exact reason why specimens preservation in formaldehyde of etnanol (indeed any chemical with ethyl or -ol) will distort tissue isotopic signals. If wet specimens are to be used for stable isotope analyses, the better option is usually to preserve in a reasonably weak solution of the common table salt (sodium chloride). But even this should work well only if the specimens was recently acquired in the field (recently dead) - a time frame of days - because after several weeks, even the salt solution will have fixed and considerably altered the tissue, and hence the isotopic test signals will no longer be completely defensible. Nickson On Fri, Apr 24, 2026 at 5:43?PM John E Simmons wrote: > A correction needs to be made concerning the use of the term > ?pseudo-fixative.? > > > > Fixation has many meanings, but in general it refers to a chemical or > physical process that is used to prevent postmortem changes in tissue. From > a histological point of view, fixation also prepares tissues to be > receptive to staining, sectioning, or other treatments. There are dozens of > definitions of fixation in the literature, and dozens of recipes for > fixatives to produce particular results. Tissues can be fixed by > dehydration, heat, salts, acids, and other chemicals. Fixation has been > practiced for a very long time?histologists cite the year 1833 as the date > of the origin of modern fixation because that was when chromic acid came > into use as a hardening agent, well before formaldehyde had even been > discovered, but specimens were being fixed by various means well before the > 1833. The choice of fixative or fixation process depends on what organism > you are working with and what results you want. > > > > As discussed in detail in the second edition of *Fluid Preservation: A > Comprehensive Reference* (2025) the term pseudo-fixative is both > incorrect and misleading. It seems to have been coined by Stoddard to > differentiate between fixatives that form covalent bonds or crosslinks > (e.g., formaldehyde and gluteraldehyde) and fixatives that do not form > crosslinks. In fact, there is no such thing as a pseudo-fixative because > fixation cannot be defined by the formation of crosslinks. There are many > ways to fix tissue that do not form crosslinks. > > > > The specimens in question that were put into 95% ethanol have no doubt > been fixed, and as Dirk has correctly pointed out, that process has no > doubt resulted in osmotic damage to the tissues. Other treatments can still > be done on the specimens, including other fixation techniques, but to refer > to the use of 95% ETOH as a pseudo-fixative is incorrect. Fixation in > alcohol does, in fact, result in changes in the tissues in that it unwinds > and disorders proteins and alters the patterns of hydrogen bonding as the > tissue is dehydrated. > > --John > > John E. Simmons > US Fulbright Senior Scholar > Writer and Museum Consultant, Museologica > *and* > Research Associate, Earth and Mineral Sciences Museum & Art Gallery, Penn > State University > *and* > Investigador Asociado, Departamento de Ornitolog?a, Museo de Historia > Natural, Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Lima > > > On Fri, Apr 24, 2026 at 1:43?AM Dirk Neumann > wrote: > >> ... and that "once they are stable in 95%", but osmotic damage is done >> (which usually is irreversible and includes cell rupture, which makes the >> specimens less suited for histology and analysis of fine cell structures, >> embryos tend to be used for). >> >> With best wishes >> Dirk >> >> >> Am 23.04.2026 um 23:35 schrieb Simon Moore: >> >> ACHTUNG/ATTENTION: Diese E-Mail stammt von einem externen Absender. / >> This e-mail comes from an external sender. >> >> >> Hi Beth, >> >> Remember that EtOH is only a pseudo-fixative as it doesn?t really bring >> about a chemical change. >> Sorry to be such a pedant! >> >> With all good wishes, Simon >> >> Simon Moore MIScT, RSci, FLS, ACR >> Conservator of Natural Sciences and Cutlery Historian. >> >> www.natural-history-conservation.com >> >> >> >> >> > On 23 Apr 2026, at 21:30, Elizabeth Wommack >> wrote: >> > >> > Hi Verity, >> > >> > One thing you could do is check to see if they have finished fixing in >> the 95% ETOH. Check to see if the concentration of the ETOH they are in is >> 95%. If it is less then they may still be exchanging water with the >> preservative, and you might want to put them in some fresh 95% ETOH for a >> bit longer. Once they are stable at 95% ETOH, I switch ETOH fixed material >> to 70% ETOH for long-term storage. >> > >> > cheers, >> > Beth >> > >> > Elizabeth Wommack, PhD >> > Curator and Collections Manager of Vertebrates >> > University of Wyoming Museum of Vertebrates >> > Berry Biodiversity Conservation Center >> > University of Wyoming, >> > Laramie, WY 82071 >> > ewommack at uwyo.edu >> > pronouns: she, her, herself >> > www.uwymv.org >> > UWYMV Collection Use PolicyFrom: Nhcoll-l >> >> on behalf of Dirk Neumann >> >> > Sent: Thursday, April 23, 2026 00:09 >> > To: nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu >> >> > Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] [EXTERN] Re: Best practices for ethanol-fixed >> specimens >> > ? This message was sent from a non-UWYO address. Please exercise >> caution when clicking links or opening attachments from external sources. >> > >> > Hi Verity, >> > >> > I would opt for 70%; 95% not only strongly dehydrates the specimens, >> but also causes a lot of osmotic pressure on tissue membranes, which might >> effect the usefulness of the specimens for morphological analysis. Tissue >> subsampling and subsequent storage of tissues in 95% for later molecular >> investigation might be better. >> > >> > Hope this helps >> > Dirk >> > >> > >> > Am 22.04.2026 um 22:50 schrieb Shoobs, Nate: >> >> >> >> >> >> Depends on what you want to use them for! >> >> Formalin is not a great long-term preservative, even though it's a >> great fixative. Since the tissue is fixed already, unless you want to >> post-fix for some specific purpose like histology, I'd leave them in >> ethanol. >> >> It's fine to keep things in 95% indefinitely, but if you think they >> will be used mainly for anatomical study, swapping the 95% for 70-75% is >> better for long term storage and will keep the tissues flexible. Some >> institutions use 80% as a compromise between genetic and anatomical >> preservation. If you typically voucher frozen material, I'd recommend >> taking your tissue samples and freezing them before stepping the lot(s) >> down in concentration. You could even chuck a whole individual in 95% into >> the freezer. >> >> >> >> Personally, I rarely if ever use graded ethanol series for going from >> high to lower concentration, especially for fresher material, I only bother >> when going from low-high, but I'm unsure how vertebrates typically handle. >> >> My 2 cents! >> >> -Nate >> >> -- >> >> >> >> Nathaniel F. Shoobs >> >> Curator of Mollusks >> >> College of Arts & Sciences Dept. of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal >> Biology >> >> Museum of Biological Diversity, 1315 Kinnear Rd, Columbus, OH 43212 >> >> 614-688-1342 (Office) >> >> mbd.osu.edu/collections/invertebrates >> >> From: Nhcoll-l >> on behalf of Mathis,Verity L >> >> >> Date: Wednesday, April 22, 2026 at 4:38?PM >> >> To: nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu >> >> >> Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Best practices for ethanol-fixed specimens >> >> >> >> This Message Is From an External Sender >> >> This message came from outside your organization. >> >> Report Suspicious >> >> Hello all >> >> I am hoping to get feedback on the best practices for some recently >> fixed fluid specimens. During some recent field work, our lab fixed some >> rodent fetuses in 95% ethanol while prepping. I?m hoping for some advice >> on how best store them long-term now that they are back in the >> lab/collections. Do I keep them in 95% ETOH, re-fix them in formalin, or >> step them down to 70% ETOH for long-term storage? Or something else >> altogether? >> >> Thanks for any insight! >> >> Verity >> >> ****************************** >> >> Verity L. Mathis, Ph.D. >> >> Mammal Collections Manager >> >> Florida Museum of Natural History >> >> University of Florida >> >> 1659 Museum Road >> >> Gainesville FL 32611 >> >> Phone: (352) 273-2114 >> >> Email: vmathis at flmnh.ufl.edu >> >> Website: https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/mammals/ >> >> FM Mammal Collection Google Scholar: https://tinyurl.com/flmnh-mammals >> >> ????? Support Florida Museum Mammalogy ????? >> >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> >> Nhcoll-l mailing list >> >> Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu >> >> https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l >> >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> >> NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of >> >> Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose >> >> mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of >> >> natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to >> >> society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. >> >> Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. >> >> >> > >> > -- >> > **** >> > Dirk Neumann >> > Collection Manager, Hamburg >> > Postal address: >> > Museum of Nature Hamburg >> > Leibniz Institute for the Analysis >> > of Biodiversity Change >> > Dirk Neumann >> > Martin-Luther-King-Platz 3 >> > 20146 Hamburg >> > +49 40 238 317 ? 628 >> > d.neumann at leibniz-lib.de >> > www.leibniz-lib.de >> > -- >> > Stiftung Leibniz-Institut zur Analyse des Biodiversit?tswandels >> > Postanschrift: Adenauerallee 127, 53113 Bonn, Germany >> > >> > Stiftung des ?ffentlichen Rechts; >> > Generaldirektion: Prof. Dr. Bernhard Misof (Generaldirektor), Adrian >> Gr?ter (Kaufm. Gesch?ftsf?hrer) >> > Sitz der Stiftung: Adenauerallee 160 in Bonn >> > Vorsitzender des Stiftungsrates: Dr. Michael Wappelhorst >> > >> > -- >> > Stiftung Leibniz-Institut zur Analyse des Biodiversit?tswandels >> > Postanschrift: Adenauerallee 127, 53113 Bonn, Germany >> > >> > Stiftung des ?ffentlichen Rechts; >> > Generaldirektion: Prof. Dr. Bernhard Misof (Generaldirektor), Adrian >> Gr?ter (Kaufm. Gesch?ftsf?hrer) >> > Sitz der Stiftung: Adenauerallee 160 in Bonn >> > Vorsitzender des Stiftungsrates: Dr. Michael H. Wappelhorst >> > _______________________________________________ >> > Nhcoll-l mailing list >> > Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu >> > https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l >> > >> > _______________________________________________ >> > NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of >> > Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose >> > mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of >> > natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to >> > society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. >> > Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. >> >> >> >> -- >> >> ****** >> >> >> >> *Dirk Neumann* >> >> Collection Manager, Hamburg >> >> >> >> Postal address: >> >> *Museum of Nature Hamburg* >> Leibniz Institute for the Analysis >> >> of Biodiversity Change >> >> Dirk Neumann >> >> Martin-Luther-King-Platz 3 >> >> 20146 Hamburg >> +49 40 238 317 ? 628 >> >> *d.neumann at leibniz-lib.de * >> >> www.leibniz-lib.de >> >> >> >> -- >> Stiftung Leibniz-Institut zur Analyse des Biodiversit?tswandels >> Postanschrift: Adenauerallee 127, 53113 Bonn, Germany >> >> Stiftung des ?ffentlichen Rechts; >> Generaldirektion: Prof. Dr. Bernhard Misof (Generaldirektor), Adrian >> Gr?ter (Kaufm. Gesch?ftsf?hrer) >> Sitz der Stiftung: Adenauerallee 160 in Bonn >> Vorsitzender des Stiftungsrates: Dr. Michael Wappelhorst >> >> >> -- >> Stiftung Leibniz-Institut zur Analyse des Biodiversit?tswandels >> Postanschrift: Adenauerallee 127, 53113 Bonn, Germany >> >> Stiftung des ?ffentlichen Rechts; >> Generaldirektion: Prof. Dr. Bernhard Misof (Generaldirektor), Adrian >> Gr?ter (Kaufm. Gesch?ftsf?hrer) >> Sitz der Stiftung: Adenauerallee 160 in Bonn >> Vorsitzender des Stiftungsrates: Dr. Michael H. Wappelhorst >> _______________________________________________ >> Nhcoll-l mailing list >> Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu >> https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l >> >> _______________________________________________ >> NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of >> Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose >> mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of >> natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to >> society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. >> Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. >> > _______________________________________________ > Nhcoll-l mailing list > Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu > https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l > > _______________________________________________ > NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of > Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose > mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of > natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to > society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. > Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: MA logo 2.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 25185 bytes Desc: not available URL: From d.neumann at leibniz-lib.de Sat Apr 25 06:45:57 2026 From: d.neumann at leibniz-lib.de (Dirk Neumann) Date: Sat, 25 Apr 2026 12:45:57 +0200 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] [EXTERN] Re: Best practices for ethanol-fixed specimens In-Reply-To: References: <81c2130a-eabd-4790-aa0a-d274f99f223b@leibniz-lib.de> <17CDFA0B-B042-4D5F-9B2B-C4AEF30FB1AF@btinternet.com> <4456ac4a-3da9-43ce-941d-2d9fb9c55003@leibniz-lib.de> Message-ID: Hi all, adding on ethanol as pseudo-fixative: when writing the book of Best Practices in the Preservation and Management of Fluid-preserved Collections, we had intense discussions on the word pseudo-fixative - we decided to use the term, because it is established, but there is no proper applicable definition what pseudo-fixative is. As John pointed out, ethanol alters the stereochemistry and thus structure of proteins, and dehydrates tissues. Both stops/prevents autolysis (otherwise tissue preservation in 95% EtOH for DNA analysis would be useless). Fixation hardens and denatures proteins, e.g. through cross-linking (e.g., aldehydes) or precipitation (alcohols). As John pointed out, there has been the attempt to distinguish fixation (covalent bonding and cross-linking) and preservation (dehydration of tissues and proteins). However, this is not a clear cut distinction, because dehydration affects the secondary and tertiary bonding pattern (e.g. hydrogen bonds), i.e. influences cross-linking. Verity's original question however referred to the (subsequent) preservation of the embryos in 95% EtOH, which does not seem to be indicated because of the adverse effects of the high alcohol concentration. The reason to keep tissue samples for DNA analysis in 95% EtOH or other preservation media is to prevent subsequent hydrolysis and damage of the DNA helix. A second key aspect is to avoid a low pH / high acidity of the storage medium for tissue samples, which also damages the DNA. With best wishes Dirk Am 25.04.2026 um 11:16 schrieb Nickson Otieno: The last sentence of John's message is in fact the exact reason why specimens preservation in formaldehyde of etnanol (indeed any chemical with ethyl or -ol) will distort tissue isotopic signals. If wet specimens are to be used for stable isotope analyses, the better option is usually to preserve in a reasonably weak solution of the common table salt (sodium chloride). But even this should work well only if the specimens was recently acquired in the field (recently dead) - a time frame of days - because after several weeks, even the salt solution will have fixed and considerably altered the tissue, and hence the isotopic test signals will no longer be completely defensible. Nickson On Fri, Apr 24, 2026 at 5:43?PM John E Simmons > wrote: A correction needs to be made concerning the use of the term ?pseudo-fixative.? Fixation has many meanings, but in general it refers to a chemical or physical process that is used to prevent postmortem changes in tissue. From a histological point of view, fixation also prepares tissues to be receptive to staining, sectioning, or other treatments. There are dozens of definitions of fixation in the literature, and dozens of recipes for fixatives to produce particular results. Tissues can be fixed by dehydration, heat, salts, acids, and other chemicals. Fixation has been practiced for a very long time?histologists cite the year 1833 as the date of the origin of modern fixation because that was when chromic acid came into use as a hardening agent, well before formaldehyde had even been discovered, but specimens were being fixed by various means well before the 1833. The choice of fixative or fixation process depends on what organism you are working with and what results you want. As discussed in detail in the second edition of Fluid Preservation: A Comprehensive Reference (2025) the term pseudo-fixative is both incorrect and misleading. It seems to have been coined by Stoddard to differentiate between fixatives that form covalent bonds or crosslinks (e.g., formaldehyde and gluteraldehyde) and fixatives that do not form crosslinks. In fact, there is no such thing as a pseudo-fixative because fixation cannot be defined by the formation of crosslinks. There are many ways to fix tissue that do not form crosslinks. The specimens in question that were put into 95% ethanol have no doubt been fixed, and as Dirk has correctly pointed out, that process has no doubt resulted in osmotic damage to the tissues. Other treatments can still be done on the specimens, including other fixation techniques, but to refer to the use of 95% ETOH as a pseudo-fixative is incorrect. Fixation in alcohol does, in fact, result in changes in the tissues in that it unwinds and disorders proteins and alters the patterns of hydrogen bonding as the tissue is dehydrated. --John John E. Simmons US Fulbright Senior Scholar Writer and Museum Consultant, Museologica and Research Associate, Earth and Mineral Sciences Museum & Art Gallery, Penn State University and Investigador Asociado, Departamento de Ornitolog?a, Museo de Historia Natural, Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Lima On Fri, Apr 24, 2026 at 1:43?AM Dirk Neumann > wrote: ... and that "once they are stable in 95%", but osmotic damage is done (which usually is irreversible and includes cell rupture, which makes the specimens less suited for histology and analysis of fine cell structures, embryos tend to be used for). With best wishes Dirk Am 23.04.2026 um 23:35 schrieb Simon Moore: ACHTUNG/ATTENTION: Diese E-Mail stammt von einem externen Absender. / This e-mail comes from an external sender. Hi Beth, Remember that EtOH is only a pseudo-fixative as it doesn?t really bring about a chemical change. Sorry to be such a pedant! With all good wishes, Simon Simon Moore MIScT, RSci, FLS, ACR Conservator of Natural Sciences and Cutlery Historian. www.natural-history-conservation.com [cid:part1.0JvNXeYT.J0R6mSIK at leibniz-lib.de] > On 23 Apr 2026, at 21:30, Elizabeth Wommack wrote: > > Hi Verity, > > One thing you could do is check to see if they have finished fixing in the 95% ETOH. Check to see if the concentration of the ETOH they are in is 95%. If it is less then they may still be exchanging water with the preservative, and you might want to put them in some fresh 95% ETOH for a bit longer. Once they are stable at 95% ETOH, I switch ETOH fixed material to 70% ETOH for long-term storage. > > cheers, > Beth > > Elizabeth Wommack, PhD > Curator and Collections Manager of Vertebrates > University of Wyoming Museum of Vertebrates > Berry Biodiversity Conservation Center > University of Wyoming, > Laramie, WY 82071 > ewommack at uwyo.edu > pronouns: she, her, herself > www.uwymv.org > UWYMV Collection Use PolicyFrom: Nhcoll-l on behalf of Dirk Neumann > Sent: Thursday, April 23, 2026 00:09 > To: nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu > Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] [EXTERN] Re: Best practices for ethanol-fixed specimens > ? This message was sent from a non-UWYO address. Please exercise caution when clicking links or opening attachments from external sources. > > Hi Verity, > > I would opt for 70%; 95% not only strongly dehydrates the specimens, but also causes a lot of osmotic pressure on tissue membranes, which might effect the usefulness of the specimens for morphological analysis. Tissue subsampling and subsequent storage of tissues in 95% for later molecular investigation might be better. > > Hope this helps > Dirk > > > Am 22.04.2026 um 22:50 schrieb Shoobs, Nate: >> >> >> Depends on what you want to use them for! >> Formalin is not a great long-term preservative, even though it's a great fixative. Since the tissue is fixed already, unless you want to post-fix for some specific purpose like histology, I'd leave them in ethanol. >> It's fine to keep things in 95% indefinitely, but if you think they will be used mainly for anatomical study, swapping the 95% for 70-75% is better for long term storage and will keep the tissues flexible. Some institutions use 80% as a compromise between genetic and anatomical preservation. If you typically voucher frozen material, I'd recommend taking your tissue samples and freezing them before stepping the lot(s) down in concentration. You could even chuck a whole individual in 95% into the freezer. >> >> Personally, I rarely if ever use graded ethanol series for going from high to lower concentration, especially for fresher material, I only bother when going from low-high, but I'm unsure how vertebrates typically handle. >> My 2 cents! >> -Nate >> -- >> >> Nathaniel F. Shoobs >> Curator of Mollusks >> College of Arts & Sciences Dept. of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology >> Museum of Biological Diversity, 1315 Kinnear Rd, Columbus, OH 43212 >> 614-688-1342 (Office) >> mbd.osu.edu/collections/invertebrates >> From: Nhcoll-l on behalf of Mathis,Verity L >> Date: Wednesday, April 22, 2026 at 4:38?PM >> To: nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu >> Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Best practices for ethanol-fixed specimens >> >> This Message Is From an External Sender >> This message came from outside your organization. >> Report Suspicious >> Hello all >> I am hoping to get feedback on the best practices for some recently fixed fluid specimens. During some recent field work, our lab fixed some rodent fetuses in 95% ethanol while prepping. I?m hoping for some advice on how best store them long-term now that they are back in the lab/collections. Do I keep them in 95% ETOH, re-fix them in formalin, or step them down to 70% ETOH for long-term storage? Or something else altogether? >> Thanks for any insight! >> Verity >> ****************************** >> Verity L. Mathis, Ph.D. >> Mammal Collections Manager >> Florida Museum of Natural History >> University of Florida >> 1659 Museum Road >> Gainesville FL 32611 >> Phone: (352) 273-2114 >> Email: vmathis at flmnh.ufl.edu >> Website: https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/mammals/ >> FM Mammal Collection Google Scholar: https://tinyurl.com/flmnh-mammals >> ????? Support Florida Museum Mammalogy ????? >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Nhcoll-l mailing list >> Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu >> https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l >> >> _______________________________________________ >> NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of >> Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose >> mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of >> natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to >> society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. >> Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. >> > > -- > **** > Dirk Neumann > Collection Manager, Hamburg > Postal address: > Museum of Nature Hamburg > Leibniz Institute for the Analysis > of Biodiversity Change > Dirk Neumann > Martin-Luther-King-Platz 3 > 20146 Hamburg > +49 40 238 317 ? 628 > d.neumann at leibniz-lib.de > www.leibniz-lib.de > -- > Stiftung Leibniz-Institut zur Analyse des Biodiversit?tswandels > Postanschrift: Adenauerallee 127, 53113 Bonn, Germany > > Stiftung des ?ffentlichen Rechts; > Generaldirektion: Prof. Dr. Bernhard Misof (Generaldirektor), Adrian Gr?ter (Kaufm. Gesch?ftsf?hrer) > Sitz der Stiftung: Adenauerallee 160 in Bonn > Vorsitzender des Stiftungsrates: Dr. Michael Wappelhorst > > -- > Stiftung Leibniz-Institut zur Analyse des Biodiversit?tswandels > Postanschrift: Adenauerallee 127, 53113 Bonn, Germany > > Stiftung des ?ffentlichen Rechts; > Generaldirektion: Prof. Dr. Bernhard Misof (Generaldirektor), Adrian Gr?ter (Kaufm. Gesch?ftsf?hrer) > Sitz der Stiftung: Adenauerallee 160 in Bonn > Vorsitzender des Stiftungsrates: Dr. Michael H. Wappelhorst > _______________________________________________ > Nhcoll-l mailing list > Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu > https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l > > _______________________________________________ > NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of > Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose > mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of > natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to > society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. > Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. -- **** Dirk Neumann Collection Manager, Hamburg Postal address: Museum of Nature Hamburg Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change Dirk Neumann Martin-Luther-King-Platz 3 20146 Hamburg +49 40 238 317 ? 628 d.neumann at leibniz-lib.de www.leibniz-lib.de -- Stiftung Leibniz-Institut zur Analyse des Biodiversit?tswandels Postanschrift: Adenauerallee 127, 53113 Bonn, Germany Stiftung des ?ffentlichen Rechts; Generaldirektion: Prof. Dr. Bernhard Misof (Generaldirektor), Adrian Gr?ter (Kaufm. Gesch?ftsf?hrer) Sitz der Stiftung: Adenauerallee 160 in Bonn Vorsitzender des Stiftungsrates: Dr. Michael Wappelhorst -- Stiftung Leibniz-Institut zur Analyse des Biodiversit?tswandels Postanschrift: Adenauerallee 127, 53113 Bonn, Germany Stiftung des ?ffentlichen Rechts; Generaldirektion: Prof. Dr. Bernhard Misof (Generaldirektor), Adrian Gr?ter (Kaufm. Gesch?ftsf?hrer) Sitz der Stiftung: Adenauerallee 160 in Bonn Vorsitzender des Stiftungsrates: Dr. Michael H. Wappelhorst _______________________________________________ Nhcoll-l mailing list Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l _______________________________________________ NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. _______________________________________________ Nhcoll-l mailing list Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l _______________________________________________ NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. -- **** Dirk Neumann Collection Manager, Hamburg Postal address: Museum of Nature Hamburg Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change Dirk Neumann Martin-Luther-King-Platz 3 20146 Hamburg +49 40 238 317 ? 628 d.neumann at leibniz-lib.de www.leibniz-lib.de -- Stiftung Leibniz-Institut zur Analyse des Biodiversit?tswandels Postanschrift: Adenauerallee 127, 53113 Bonn, Germany Stiftung des ?ffentlichen Rechts; Generaldirektion: Prof. Dr. Bernhard Misof (Generaldirektor), Adrian Gr?ter (Kaufm. Gesch?ftsf?hrer) Sitz der Stiftung: Adenauerallee 160 in Bonn Vorsitzender des Stiftungsrates: Dr. Michael Wappelhorst -- Stiftung Leibniz-Institut zur Analyse des Biodiversit?tswandels Postanschrift: Adenauerallee 127, 53113 Bonn, Germany Stiftung des ?ffentlichen Rechts; Generaldirektion: Prof. Dr. Bernhard Misof (Generaldirektor), Adrian Gr?ter (Kaufm. Gesch?ftsf?hrer) Sitz der Stiftung: Adenauerallee 160 in Bonn Vorsitzender des Stiftungsrates: Dr. Michael H. Wappelhorst -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: MA logo 2.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 25185 bytes Desc: not available URL: From neotieno at gmail.com Sat Apr 25 08:29:05 2026 From: neotieno at gmail.com (Nickson Otieno) Date: Sat, 25 Apr 2026 15:29:05 +0300 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] [EXTERN] Re: Best practices for ethanol-fixed specimens In-Reply-To: References: <81c2130a-eabd-4790-aa0a-d274f99f223b@leibniz-lib.de> <17CDFA0B-B042-4D5F-9B2B-C4AEF30FB1AF@btinternet.com> <4456ac4a-3da9-43ce-941d-2d9fb9c55003@leibniz-lib.de> Message-ID: Not explicitly with regards to isotopic analyses (I too struggled and failed to find suitable literature on this), but rather from results of my own trials following a tip from my graduate advisory team. The available literature is mainly wity regards to protein degradation in general when tissue is preserved in formalin or ethanol. Some of these include: ? LIANG ET AL 2024. Deep silicification?assisted long-term preservation of structural and genomic information across biospecies: From micro to macro. PNAS 124(42). https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2408273121 ? E. Sarot, et al 2017. Assessment of alternatives to environmental toxic formalin for DNA conservation in biological specimens. *Environ. Sci. Pollut. Res. *24, 16985?16993. ? S. M. Hykin, et al 2015. A method to recover genomic-scale DNA sequence data from formalin-fixed museum specimens using high-throughput sequencing. *PLoS One *10, 16 . ? Oosting et al. 2020. *DNA degradation in fish: Practical solutions and guidelines to improve DNA preservation for genomic research. Ecology and Evolution 10(16).* *https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.6558 * On Fri, Apr 24, 2026 at 5:43?PM John E Simmons wrote: > A correction needs to be made concerning the use of the term > ?pseudo-fixative.? > > > > Fixation has many meanings, but in general it refers to a chemical or > physical process that is used to prevent postmortem changes in tissue. From > a histological point of view, fixation also prepares tissues to be > receptive to staining, sectioning, or other treatments. There are dozens of > definitions of fixation in the literature, and dozens of recipes for > fixatives to produce particular results. Tissues can be fixed by > dehydration, heat, salts, acids, and other chemicals. Fixation has been > practiced for a very long time?histologists cite the year 1833 as the date > of the origin of modern fixation because that was when chromic acid came > into use as a hardening agent, well before formaldehyde had even been > discovered, but specimens were being fixed by various means well before the > 1833. The choice of fixative or fixation process depends on what organism > you are working with and what results you want. > > > > As discussed in detail in the second edition of *Fluid Preservation: A > Comprehensive Reference* (2025) the term pseudo-fixative is both > incorrect and misleading. It seems to have been coined by Stoddard to > differentiate between fixatives that form covalent bonds or crosslinks > (e.g., formaldehyde and gluteraldehyde) and fixatives that do not form > crosslinks. In fact, there is no such thing as a pseudo-fixative because > fixation cannot be defined by the formation of crosslinks. There are many > ways to fix tissue that do not form crosslinks. > > > > The specimens in question that were put into 95% ethanol have no doubt > been fixed, and as Dirk has correctly pointed out, that process has no > doubt resulted in osmotic damage to the tissues. Other treatments can still > be done on the specimens, including other fixation techniques, but to refer > to the use of 95% ETOH as a pseudo-fixative is incorrect. Fixation in > alcohol does, in fact, result in changes in the tissues in that it unwinds > and disorders proteins and alters the patterns of hydrogen bonding as the > tissue is dehydrated. > > --John > > John E. Simmons > US Fulbright Senior Scholar > Writer and Museum Consultant, Museologica > *and* > Research Associate, Earth and Mineral Sciences Museum & Art Gallery, Penn > State University > *and* > Investigador Asociado, Departamento de Ornitolog?a, Museo de Historia > Natural, Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Lima > > > On Fri, Apr 24, 2026 at 1:43?AM Dirk Neumann > wrote: > >> ... and that "once they are stable in 95%", but osmotic damage is done >> (which usually is irreversible and includes cell rupture, which makes the >> specimens less suited for histology and analysis of fine cell structures, >> embryos tend to be used for). >> >> With best wishes >> Dirk >> >> >> Am 23.04.2026 um 23:35 schrieb Simon Moore: >> >> ACHTUNG/ATTENTION: Diese E-Mail stammt von einem externen Absender. / >> This e-mail comes from an external sender. >> >> >> Hi Beth, >> >> Remember that EtOH is only a pseudo-fixative as it doesn?t really bring >> about a chemical change. >> Sorry to be such a pedant! >> >> With all good wishes, Simon >> >> Simon Moore MIScT, RSci, FLS, ACR >> Conservator of Natural Sciences and Cutlery Historian. >> >> www.natural-history-conservation.com >> >> >> >> >> > On 23 Apr 2026, at 21:30, Elizabeth Wommack >> wrote: >> > >> > Hi Verity, >> > >> > One thing you could do is check to see if they have finished fixing in >> the 95% ETOH. Check to see if the concentration of the ETOH they are in is >> 95%. If it is less then they may still be exchanging water with the >> preservative, and you might want to put them in some fresh 95% ETOH for a >> bit longer. Once they are stable at 95% ETOH, I switch ETOH fixed material >> to 70% ETOH for long-term storage. >> > >> > cheers, >> > Beth >> > >> > Elizabeth Wommack, PhD >> > Curator and Collections Manager of Vertebrates >> > University of Wyoming Museum of Vertebrates >> > Berry Biodiversity Conservation Center >> > University of Wyoming, >> > Laramie, WY 82071 >> > ewommack at uwyo.edu >> > pronouns: she, her, herself >> > www.uwymv.org >> > UWYMV Collection Use PolicyFrom: Nhcoll-l >> >> on behalf of Dirk Neumann >> >> > Sent: Thursday, April 23, 2026 00:09 >> > To: nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu >> >> > Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] [EXTERN] Re: Best practices for ethanol-fixed >> specimens >> > ? This message was sent from a non-UWYO address. Please exercise >> caution when clicking links or opening attachments from external sources. >> > >> > Hi Verity, >> > >> > I would opt for 70%; 95% not only strongly dehydrates the specimens, >> but also causes a lot of osmotic pressure on tissue membranes, which might >> effect the usefulness of the specimens for morphological analysis. Tissue >> subsampling and subsequent storage of tissues in 95% for later molecular >> investigation might be better. >> > >> > Hope this helps >> > Dirk >> > >> > >> > Am 22.04.2026 um 22:50 schrieb Shoobs, Nate: >> >> >> >> >> >> Depends on what you want to use them for! >> >> Formalin is not a great long-term preservative, even though it's a >> great fixative. Since the tissue is fixed already, unless you want to >> post-fix for some specific purpose like histology, I'd leave them in >> ethanol. >> >> It's fine to keep things in 95% indefinitely, but if you think they >> will be used mainly for anatomical study, swapping the 95% for 70-75% is >> better for long term storage and will keep the tissues flexible. Some >> institutions use 80% as a compromise between genetic and anatomical >> preservation. If you typically voucher frozen material, I'd recommend >> taking your tissue samples and freezing them before stepping the lot(s) >> down in concentration. You could even chuck a whole individual in 95% into >> the freezer. >> >> >> >> Personally, I rarely if ever use graded ethanol series for going from >> high to lower concentration, especially for fresher material, I only bother >> when going from low-high, but I'm unsure how vertebrates typically handle. >> >> My 2 cents! >> >> -Nate >> >> -- >> >> >> >> Nathaniel F. Shoobs >> >> Curator of Mollusks >> >> College of Arts & Sciences Dept. of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal >> Biology >> >> Museum of Biological Diversity, 1315 Kinnear Rd, Columbus, OH 43212 >> >> 614-688-1342 (Office) >> >> mbd.osu.edu/collections/invertebrates >> >> From: Nhcoll-l >> on behalf of Mathis,Verity L >> >> >> Date: Wednesday, April 22, 2026 at 4:38?PM >> >> To: nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu >> >> >> Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Best practices for ethanol-fixed specimens >> >> >> >> This Message Is From an External Sender >> >> This message came from outside your organization. >> >> Report Suspicious >> >> Hello all >> >> I am hoping to get feedback on the best practices for some recently >> fixed fluid specimens. During some recent field work, our lab fixed some >> rodent fetuses in 95% ethanol while prepping. I?m hoping for some advice >> on how best store them long-term now that they are back in the >> lab/collections. Do I keep them in 95% ETOH, re-fix them in formalin, or >> step them down to 70% ETOH for long-term storage? Or something else >> altogether? >> >> Thanks for any insight! >> >> Verity >> >> ****************************** >> >> Verity L. Mathis, Ph.D. >> >> Mammal Collections Manager >> >> Florida Museum of Natural History >> >> University of Florida >> >> 1659 Museum Road >> >> Gainesville FL 32611 >> >> Phone: (352) 273-2114 >> >> Email: vmathis at flmnh.ufl.edu >> >> Website: https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/mammals/ >> >> FM Mammal Collection Google Scholar: https://tinyurl.com/flmnh-mammals >> >> ????? Support Florida Museum Mammalogy ????? >> >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> >> Nhcoll-l mailing list >> >> Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu >> >> https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l >> >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> >> NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of >> >> Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose >> >> mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of >> >> natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to >> >> society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. >> >> Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. >> >> >> > >> > -- >> > **** >> > Dirk Neumann >> > Collection Manager, Hamburg >> > Postal address: >> > Museum of Nature Hamburg >> > Leibniz Institute for the Analysis >> > of Biodiversity Change >> > Dirk Neumann >> > Martin-Luther-King-Platz 3 >> > 20146 Hamburg >> > +49 40 238 317 ? 628 >> > d.neumann at leibniz-lib.de >> > www.leibniz-lib.de >> > -- >> > Stiftung Leibniz-Institut zur Analyse des Biodiversit?tswandels >> > Postanschrift: Adenauerallee 127, 53113 Bonn, Germany >> > >> > Stiftung des ?ffentlichen Rechts; >> > Generaldirektion: Prof. Dr. Bernhard Misof (Generaldirektor), Adrian >> Gr?ter (Kaufm. Gesch?ftsf?hrer) >> > Sitz der Stiftung: Adenauerallee 160 in Bonn >> > Vorsitzender des Stiftungsrates: Dr. Michael Wappelhorst >> > >> > -- >> > Stiftung Leibniz-Institut zur Analyse des Biodiversit?tswandels >> > Postanschrift: Adenauerallee 127, 53113 Bonn, Germany >> > >> > Stiftung des ?ffentlichen Rechts; >> > Generaldirektion: Prof. Dr. Bernhard Misof (Generaldirektor), Adrian >> Gr?ter (Kaufm. Gesch?ftsf?hrer) >> > Sitz der Stiftung: Adenauerallee 160 in Bonn >> > Vorsitzender des Stiftungsrates: Dr. Michael H. Wappelhorst >> > _______________________________________________ >> > Nhcoll-l mailing list >> > Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu >> > https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l >> > >> > _______________________________________________ >> > NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of >> > Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose >> > mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of >> > natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to >> > society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. >> > Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. >> >> >> >> -- >> >> ****** >> >> >> >> *Dirk Neumann* >> >> Collection Manager, Hamburg >> >> >> >> Postal address: >> >> *Museum of Nature Hamburg* >> Leibniz Institute for the Analysis >> >> of Biodiversity Change >> >> Dirk Neumann >> >> Martin-Luther-King-Platz 3 >> >> 20146 Hamburg >> +49 40 238 317 ? 628 >> >> *d.neumann at leibniz-lib.de * >> >> www.leibniz-lib.de >> >> >> >> -- >> Stiftung Leibniz-Institut zur Analyse des Biodiversit?tswandels >> Postanschrift: Adenauerallee 127, 53113 Bonn, Germany >> >> Stiftung des ?ffentlichen Rechts; >> Generaldirektion: Prof. Dr. Bernhard Misof (Generaldirektor), Adrian >> Gr?ter (Kaufm. Gesch?ftsf?hrer) >> Sitz der Stiftung: Adenauerallee 160 in Bonn >> Vorsitzender des Stiftungsrates: Dr. Michael Wappelhorst >> >> >> -- >> Stiftung Leibniz-Institut zur Analyse des Biodiversit?tswandels >> Postanschrift: Adenauerallee 127, 53113 Bonn, Germany >> >> Stiftung des ?ffentlichen Rechts; >> Generaldirektion: Prof. Dr. Bernhard Misof (Generaldirektor), Adrian >> Gr?ter (Kaufm. Gesch?ftsf?hrer) >> Sitz der Stiftung: Adenauerallee 160 in Bonn >> Vorsitzender des Stiftungsrates: Dr. Michael H. Wappelhorst >> _______________________________________________ >> Nhcoll-l mailing list >> Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu >> https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l >> >> _______________________________________________ >> NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of >> Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose >> mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of >> natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to >> society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. >> Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. >> > _______________________________________________ > Nhcoll-l mailing list > Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu > https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l > > _______________________________________________ > NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of > Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose > mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of > natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to > society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. > Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: MA logo 2.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 25185 bytes Desc: not available URL: From ajvandam at alcomon.com Sun Apr 26 08:11:31 2026 From: ajvandam at alcomon.com (ajvandam at alcomon.com) Date: Sun, 26 Apr 2026 13:11:31 +0100 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] [EXTERN] Re: Best practices for ethanol-fixed specimens Message-ID: <37380054-16FC-4C9C-B1C5-0299D410E1B3@alcomon.com> An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From jwoodward at oeb.harvard.edu Mon Apr 27 10:24:30 2026 From: jwoodward at oeb.harvard.edu (Woodward, Jon) Date: Mon, 27 Apr 2026 14:24:30 +0000 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] light damage to microscope slides? Message-ID: Hi all, We've gotten an exhibition loan request for some microscope slides which preserve the histological serial sections of a hagfish embryo. The slide prep was done (very nicely) in 1926. The stain was recorded as "Alum cochineal and Orange G." The sections are a little faint, and we're worried that putting them on display (on an LED light table) might result in further fading or other damage. The borrower proposes to put the light on a motion sensor, so the slides would only be lit when a visitor was nearby, rather than 24/7, which seems sensible. I would welcome anyone's thoughts about possible risks and mitigations. Thanks, Jon ------- Jon Woodward Digitization Manager, Collections Operations Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology 26 Oxford St. Cambridge, MA 02138 617-495-8205 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From couteaufin at btinternet.com Mon Apr 27 12:15:47 2026 From: couteaufin at btinternet.com (Simon Moore) Date: Mon, 27 Apr 2026 17:15:47 +0100 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] light damage to microscope slides? In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <62D877F4-3DF0-406E-992B-4FE03C834683@btinternet.com> Hi Jon, As an erstwhile histologist, I can remember these dyes well enough and the only problem I had with fading dyes was the actual mountant used which gradually changed composition or oxidised around the edge. Admittedly, my slides have been stored in the dark and are still fine - mounted in DPX since 1972. However, I think that the light motion sensor is a good idea to mitigator the problems of light damage. With all good wishes, Simon Simon Moore MIScT, RSci, FLS, ACR Conservator of Natural Sciences and Cutlery Historian. www.natural-history-conservation.com > On 27 Apr 2026, at 15:24, Woodward, Jon wrote: > > Hi all, > > We've gotten an exhibition loan request for some microscope slides which preserve the histological serial sections of a hagfish embryo. The slide prep was done (very nicely) in 1926. The stain was recorded as "Alum cochineal and Orange G." The sections are a little faint, and we're worried that putting them on display (on an LED light table) might result in further fading or other damage. The borrower proposes to put the light on a motion sensor, so the slides would only be lit when a visitor was nearby, rather than 24/7, which seems sensible. I would welcome anyone's thoughts about possible risks and mitigations. > > Thanks, > Jon > > > ------- > Jon Woodward > Digitization Manager, Collections Operations > Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology > 26 Oxford St. > Cambridge, MA 02138 > 617-495-8205 > _______________________________________________ > Nhcoll-l mailing list > Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu > https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l > > _______________________________________________ > NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of > Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose > mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of > natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to > society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. > Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. From kmkocot at ua.edu Mon Apr 27 12:55:36 2026 From: kmkocot at ua.edu (Kevin Kocot) Date: Mon, 27 Apr 2026 16:55:36 +0000 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] [EXTERNAL] light damage to microscope slides? In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Hi Jon, My sense is that Orange G is not particularly sensitive to photo bleaching but the cochineal might be. What are the sections mounted in? How long will the exhibit be up? Presumably the LED photo table produces little to no UV light and I think the motion activated light is a great idea. I think you don't have much to worry about for a short-term exhibit, but I'm not sure if anyone's going to be able to give you a confident answer. If you say yes, you might ask the borrower to regularly take pictures (even a quick macro photo of the slides in situ with one's phone using a camera app that forces all the same settings) and compare them over time to watch for signs of fading. Best, Kevin ________________________________ From: Nhcoll-l on behalf of Woodward, Jon Sent: Monday, April 27, 2026 9:26:04 AM To: Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu Subject: [EXTERNAL] [Nhcoll-l] light damage to microscope slides? Some people who received this message don't often get email from jwoodward at oeb.harvard.edu. Learn why this is important Hi all, We've gotten an exhibition loan request for some microscope slides which preserve the histological serial sections of a hagfish embryo. The slide prep was done (very nicely) in 1926. The stain was recorded as "Alum cochineal and Orange G." The sections are a little faint, and we're worried that putting them on display (on an LED light table) might result in further fading or other damage. The borrower proposes to put the light on a motion sensor, so the slides would only be lit when a visitor was nearby, rather than 24/7, which seems sensible. I would welcome anyone's thoughts about possible risks and mitigations. Thanks, Jon ------- Jon Woodward Digitization Manager, Collections Operations Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology 26 Oxford St. Cambridge, MA 02138 617-495-8205 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From jwtrimble at g.harvard.edu Mon Apr 27 13:16:01 2026 From: jwtrimble at g.harvard.edu (Trimble, Jennifer) Date: Mon, 27 Apr 2026 13:16:01 -0400 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] HIRING- Museum of Comparative Zoology, Malacology Department Message-ID: *https://us.smrtr.io/4HRtw * Job AD - Curatorial Assistant III - Malacology Department -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From jwoodward at oeb.harvard.edu Mon Apr 27 14:12:19 2026 From: jwoodward at oeb.harvard.edu (Woodward, Jon) Date: Mon, 27 Apr 2026 18:12:19 +0000 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] [EXTERNAL] light damage to microscope slides? In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Thanks all -- Kevin, the mountant is Canada balsam. The proposed term of the exhibition is (IIRC) between six months and a year. Regular pictures with a settings template is a good idea. --Jon ________________________________ From: Kevin Kocot Sent: Monday, April 27, 2026 12:55 PM To: Woodward, Jon ; Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu Subject: Re: [EXTERNAL] [Nhcoll-l] light damage to microscope slides? Hi Jon, My sense is that Orange G is not particularly sensitive to photo bleaching but the cochineal might be. What are the sections mounted in? How long will the exhibit be up? Presumably the LED photo table produces little to no UV light and I think the motion activated light is a great idea. I think you don't have much to worry about for a short-term exhibit, but I'm not sure if anyone's going to be able to give you a confident answer. If you say yes, you might ask the borrower to regularly take pictures (even a quick macro photo of the slides in situ with one's phone using a camera app that forces all the same settings) and compare them over time to watch for signs of fading. Best, Kevin ________________________________ From: Nhcoll-l on behalf of Woodward, Jon Sent: Monday, April 27, 2026 9:26:04 AM To: Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu Subject: [EXTERNAL] [Nhcoll-l] light damage to microscope slides? Some people who received this message don't often get email from jwoodward at oeb.harvard.edu. Learn why this is important Hi all, We've gotten an exhibition loan request for some microscope slides which preserve the histological serial sections of a hagfish embryo. The slide prep was done (very nicely) in 1926. The stain was recorded as "Alum cochineal and Orange G." The sections are a little faint, and we're worried that putting them on display (on an LED light table) might result in further fading or other damage. The borrower proposes to put the light on a motion sensor, so the slides would only be lit when a visitor was nearby, rather than 24/7, which seems sensible. I would welcome anyone's thoughts about possible risks and mitigations. Thanks, Jon ------- Jon Woodward Digitization Manager, Collections Operations Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology 26 Oxford St. Cambridge, MA 02138 617-495-8205 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From couteaufin at btinternet.com Mon Apr 27 18:23:32 2026 From: couteaufin at btinternet.com (Simon Moore) Date: Mon, 27 Apr 2026 23:23:32 +0100 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] [EXTERNAL] light damage to microscope slides? In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <564D66AF-4204-4508-90D4-AC9EBF16B1AD@btinternet.com> C. Balsam, despite being an archival mountant is nonetheless vulnerable to gradual oxidation. If it show any discolouration at the edges of the coverslip, this is usually what has happened and that can affect the colour of historical dyes. With all good wishes, Simon Simon Moore MIScT, RSci, FLS, ACR Conservator of Natural Sciences and Cutlery Historian. www.natural-history-conservation.com > On 27 Apr 2026, at 19:12, Woodward, Jon wrote: > > Thanks all -- > > Kevin, the mountant is Canada balsam. The proposed term of the exhibition is (IIRC) between six months and a year. > > Regular pictures with a settings template is a good idea. > > --Jon > > > > From: Kevin Kocot > Sent: Monday, April 27, 2026 12:55 PM > To: Woodward, Jon ; Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu > Subject: Re: [EXTERNAL] [Nhcoll-l] light damage to microscope slides? > Hi Jon, > > My sense is that Orange G is not particularly sensitive to photo bleaching but the cochineal might be. What are the sections mounted in? How long will the exhibit be up? > > Presumably the LED photo table produces little to no UV light and I think the motion activated light is a great idea. I think you don't have much to worry about for a short-term exhibit, but I'm not sure if anyone's going to be able to give you a confident answer. > > If you say yes, you might ask the borrower to regularly take pictures (even a quick macro photo of the slides in situ with one's phone using a camera app that forces all the same settings) and compare them over time to watch for signs of fading. > > Best, > Kevin > > > > > > > From: Nhcoll-l on behalf of Woodward, Jon > Sent: Monday, April 27, 2026 9:26:04 AM > To: Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu > Subject: [EXTERNAL] [Nhcoll-l] light damage to microscope slides? > > Some people who received this message don't often get email from jwoodward at oeb.harvard.edu. Learn why this is important > Hi all, > > We've gotten an exhibition loan request for some microscope slides which preserve the histological serial sections of a hagfish embryo. The slide prep was done (very nicely) in 1926. The stain was recorded as "Alum cochineal and Orange G." The sections are a little faint, and we're worried that putting them on display (on an LED light table) might result in further fading or other damage. The borrower proposes to put the light on a motion sensor, so the slides would only be lit when a visitor was nearby, rather than 24/7, which seems sensible. I would welcome anyone's thoughts about possible risks and mitigations. > > Thanks, > Jon > > > ------- > Jon Woodward > Digitization Manager, Collections Operations > Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology > 26 Oxford St. > Cambridge, MA 02138 > 617-495-8205 > > _______________________________________________ > Nhcoll-l mailing list > Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu > https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l > > _______________________________________________ > NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of > Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose > mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of > natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to > society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. > Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. From ellwoodlibby at gmail.com Tue Apr 28 09:55:29 2026 From: ellwoodlibby at gmail.com (Libby Ellwood) Date: Tue, 28 Apr 2026 09:55:29 -0400 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] 2026 Digital Data Conference Abstract Deadline is this Friday Message-ID: *Reminder:* The deadline for Abstract Submissions for the Digital Data Conference is this Friday, May 1st. This *FREE virtual event* will take place *June 2-4, 2026* using the Zoom Events platform. *We look forward to the opportunity to connect with everyone who has supported this conference and iDigBio in the past. *The Zoom Events experience expands opportunities to engage with colleagues by bringing sessions, networking, and informal conversations into one cohesive space. Features like chat, Q&A, breakout rooms, and attendee profiles make it easier to connect in real time, continue discussions beyond sessions, and discover shared interests. This integrated environment fosters more meaningful interactions and collaboration, whether participants join live or asynchronously. *Registration is required to submit an abstract.* Abstract submission links will be included in the ticket confirmation email. *Important Dates* April 1st: Abstract submissions & registration opens May 1st: Abstract submission deadline May 15th: Final agenda published June 2-4: Conference *Abstract Submissions* *Registration is required to submit an abstract. Abstract submission links will be included in the ticket confirmation email. Deadline: May 1st* *Oral presentation:* Presenters will have the option to present live or submit a prerecorded presentation. Presentations can be up to 12 minutes, 5 additional minutes will be given after the presentation for Q&A. All presentations will be recorded and shared publicly, unless otherwise stated. *Extended sessions: *This includes: workshop, discussion sessions, symposia, etc. Can be between 30 and 75 minutes. The structure should be determined by the organizers and panelists. These sessions may begin with a presentation or introduction followed by discussion or may be completely devoted to open discussion. No prerecording is required. *Poster presentation:* Presenters are required to submit a recorded presentation (5 minutes) with their poster. Prerecorded presentations and posters will be posted on the conference event page. *Exhibitor:* This year using Zoom Events we will be offering a virtual Expo where participants can virtually engage with booths. If you are interested in promoting a tool, institution, lab, company, or product, this is a great option! *Posters and Exhibitors will both be featured within the virtual Expo space. There will be times during the conference where participants will have the opportunity to engage with exhibitors attending live or submit questions for asynchronous engagement.* *Visit **https://idigb.io/h* to explore conference details, stay up to date on announcements and get the latest updates. *To view all of iDigBio's upcoming events, visit * *https://ufl.zoom.us/ze/hub/iDigBio* *.* If you have any *questions*, please contact Conference Organizer, Jill Goodwin at* jgoodwin at floridamuseum.ufl.edu * . -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From gnelson at floridamuseum.ufl.edu Tue Apr 28 10:49:40 2026 From: gnelson at floridamuseum.ufl.edu (Nelson,Gil) Date: Tue, 28 Apr 2026 14:49:40 +0000 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] This week's iDigBio webinar Message-ID: iDigBio is pleased to announce this week?s edition of our Sustaining Collections Digitization Beyond NSF Funding webinar series, focusing on the current state of digitization in mammalogy and where the field is headed next. From early catalog digitization efforts to today?s large-scale, data-rich initiatives, mammal collections have played a key role in shaping how biodiversity data are mobilized and used. This session will explore how that legacy continues to evolve, along with new opportunities on the horizon. Register and check out upcoming events here: https://ufl.zoom.us/ze/hub/iDigBio For past recordings, check out our YouTube!: https://www.youtube.com/@iDigBio/ April 30, 2026: Current State of Digitization in Mammalogy and Future Directions (2:00-4:00pm ET) Speakers: Bryan McLean Cody Thompson Emily Braker Nate Upham Noe de la Sancha Sharlene Santana Abstract: Beginning in the 1970s, mammal collections began the process of digitizing their paper catalogs using mainframe computers. By the 1990s, mammal collections shifted their specimen cataloging to electronic databases, which soon led to the phasing out of paper catalogs. Georeferencing and data aggregation efforts, such as the Mammal Networked Information System (MaNIS), soon followed, placing mammalogy and its natural history collections ahead of the digitization curve by the early 2000s. Recognizing the need for similar digitization efforts across all natural history collections, the National Science Foundation established the Advancing Digitization of Biodiversity Collections (ADBC) program and created iDigBio as the central coordinating organization, funding projects to digitize and mobilize data in many botanical and invertebrate collections. Because of the extent of their taxonomic diversity, these collections were prioritized over mammal and other vertebrate collections. As these biodiverse collections began to mobilize their specimen data, attention returned to vertebrate collections as ideas of the ?extended specimen? began take hold, leading to ambitious digitization projects, such as oVert, that reinvigorated some scientific fields (e.g., anatomy) and expanded collection use in others (e.g., biomechanics). Additional mammal-focused digitization efforts have focused on expanding the availability of x-ray computed tomography (CT) datasets (i.e., FuncQEE and BatPEN!) and lifting trait data (i.e., Ranges). These digitization efforts, along with long-term investments in maintaining rigorous taxonomic and database resources, have positioned mammalogy to be a leader in digital collections. However, as technology continues to develop, more opportunities to expand digitization efforts in mammalogy will arise. We hope to see you there! Best, Gil Gil Nelson PhD, Director Integrated Digitized Biocollections (iDigBio) Immediate Past President, Natural Science Collections Alliance (NSCA) Florida Museum of Natural History University of Florida gnelson at floridamuseum.ufl.edu [FM_logo_horizontal_CMYK] -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: image.png Type: image/png Size: 10269 bytes Desc: image.png URL: From gnelson at floridamuseum.ufl.edu Thu Apr 30 06:01:59 2026 From: gnelson at floridamuseum.ufl.edu (Nelson,Gil) Date: Thu, 30 Apr 2026 10:01:59 +0000 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Reminder: Mammal digitization webinar today! Message-ID: Please plan to attend today?s iDigBio webinar entitled Current State of Digitization in Mammalogy and Future Directions, featuring an all-star cast of presenters and leaders in mammal specimen digitization. This is the next installment in iDigBio?s Sustaining Collections Digitization Beyond NSF Funding webinar series, focusing on the current state of digitization in mammalogy and where the field is headed next. From early catalog digitization efforts to today?s large-scale, data-rich initiatives, mammal collections have played a key role in shaping how biodiversity data are mobilized and used. This session will explore how that legacy continues to evolve, along with new opportunities on the horizon. Register and check out upcoming events here: https://ufl.zoom.us/ze/hub/iDigBio For past recordings, check out our YouTube!: https://www.youtube.com/@iDigBio/ April 30, 2026: Current State of Digitization in Mammalogy and Future Directions (2:00-4:00pm ET) Speakers: Bryan McLean Cody Thompson Emily Braker Nate Upham Noe de la Sancha Sharlene Santana Abstract: Beginning in the 1970s, mammal collections began the process of digitizing their paper catalogs using mainframe computers. By the 1990s, mammal collections shifted their specimen cataloging to electronic databases, which soon led to the phasing out of paper catalogs. Georeferencing and data aggregation efforts, such as the Mammal Networked Information System (MaNIS), soon followed, placing mammalogy and its natural history collections ahead of the digitization curve by the early 2000s. Recognizing the need for similar digitization efforts across all natural history collections, the National Science Foundation established the Advancing Digitization of Biodiversity Collections (ADBC) program and created iDigBio as the central coordinating organization, funding projects to digitize and mobilize data in many botanical and invertebrate collections. Because of the extent of their taxonomic diversity, these collections were prioritized over mammal and other vertebrate collections. As these biodiverse collections began to mobilize their specimen data, attention returned to vertebrate collections as ideas of the ?extended specimen? began take hold, leading to ambitious digitization projects, such as oVert, that reinvigorated some scientific fields (e.g., anatomy) and expanded collection use in others (e.g., biomechanics). Additional mammal-focused digitization efforts have focused on expanding the availability of x-ray computed tomography (CT) datasets (i.e., FuncQEE and BatPEN!) and lifting trait data (i.e., Ranges). These digitization efforts, along with long-term investments in maintaining rigorous taxonomic and database resources, have positioned mammalogy to be a leader in digital collections. However, as technology continues to develop, more opportunities to expand digitization efforts in mammalogy will arise. We hope to see you there! Best, Gil Gil Nelson PhD, Director Integrated Digitized Biocollections (iDigBio) Immediate Past President, Natural Science Collections Alliance (NSCA) Florida Museum of Natural History University of Florida gnelson at floridamuseum.ufl.edu [FM_logo_horizontal_CMYK] -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: image.png Type: image/png Size: 10269 bytes Desc: image.png URL: From neotieno at gmail.com Thu Apr 30 08:06:58 2026 From: neotieno at gmail.com (Nickson Otieno) Date: Thu, 30 Apr 2026 15:06:58 +0300 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] 2026 Digital Data Conference Abstract Deadline is this Friday In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Hi Libby, I have registered and received an order ticket through mu email inbox but when I try to use the abstract submission form link provided in the ticket message so as to submit my abstract, I get a message that my browser cant use google drive. Doe the submission process/system for the conference insist on the use of a google drive? Please advice on what alternative pathway |I can sue to submit the abstract by the deadline date set Regards Nickson Nairobi KENYA On Tue, Apr 28, 2026 at 4:56?PM Libby Ellwood wrote: > > > *Reminder:* The deadline for Abstract Submissions for the Digital Data > Conference is this Friday, May 1st. > > This *FREE virtual event* will take place *June 2-4, 2026* using the Zoom > Events platform. > > *We look forward to the opportunity to connect with everyone who has > supported this conference and iDigBio in the past. *The Zoom Events > experience expands opportunities to engage with colleagues by bringing > sessions, networking, and informal conversations into one cohesive space. > Features like chat, Q&A, breakout rooms, and attendee profiles make it > easier to connect in real time, continue discussions beyond sessions, and > discover shared interests. This integrated environment fosters more > meaningful interactions and collaboration, whether participants join live > or asynchronously. > > *Registration is required to submit an abstract.* > Abstract submission links will be included in the ticket confirmation > email. > > *Important Dates* > April 1st: Abstract submissions & registration opens > May 1st: Abstract submission deadline > May 15th: Final agenda published > June 2-4: Conference > > *Abstract Submissions* > *Registration is required to submit an abstract. Abstract submission links > will be included in the ticket confirmation email. Deadline: May 1st* > > *Oral presentation:* Presenters will have the option to present live or > submit a prerecorded presentation. Presentations can be up to 12 minutes, 5 > additional minutes will be given after the presentation for Q&A. All > presentations will be recorded and shared publicly, unless otherwise stated. > > *Extended sessions: *This includes: workshop, discussion sessions, > symposia, etc. Can be between 30 and 75 minutes. The structure should be > determined by the organizers and panelists. These sessions may begin with a > presentation or introduction followed by discussion or may be completely > devoted to open discussion. No prerecording is required. > > *Poster presentation:* Presenters are required to submit a recorded > presentation (5 minutes) with their poster. Prerecorded presentations and > posters will be posted on the conference event page. > > *Exhibitor:* This year using Zoom Events we will be offering a virtual > Expo where participants can virtually engage with booths. If you are > interested in promoting a tool, institution, lab, company, or product, this > is a great option! > > *Posters and Exhibitors will both be featured within the virtual Expo > space. There will be times during the conference where participants will > have the opportunity to engage with exhibitors attending live or submit > questions for asynchronous engagement.* > > *Visit **https://idigb.io/h* to explore conference > details, stay up to date on announcements and get the latest updates. > > *To view all of iDigBio's upcoming events, visit * > *https://ufl.zoom.us/ze/hub/iDigBio* > *.* > > If you have any *questions*, please contact Conference Organizer, Jill > Goodwin at* jgoodwin at floridamuseum.ufl.edu > *. > _______________________________________________ > Nhcoll-l mailing list > Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu > https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l > > _______________________________________________ > NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of > Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose > mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of > natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to > society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information. > Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate. > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From prc44 at drexel.edu Thu Apr 30 11:55:53 2026 From: prc44 at drexel.edu (Callomon,Paul) Date: Thu, 30 Apr 2026 15:55:53 +0000 Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Revised instructions for searching the ANSP database on GBIF Message-ID: Accessing data and images from the Malacology and General Invertebrates collections of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University (ANSP) Overview Until late 2024, the ANSP Malacology collection had its own web site with a searchable database and links to images. This site is no longer in operation. Instead, all ANSP mollusk and general invertebrate data is available and searchable on the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF). It is updated weekly, including all images so far produced. The Academy's data for other invertebrate groups is also now appearing on GBIF, but currently within the Malacology Collection dataset. See below for revised instructions. How to access the ANSP Malacology and General Invertebrate data - In any Internet browser, go to www.gbif.org and choose "Datasets." In "Search" at top left, enter "Malacology Collection at the Academy of Natural Sciences..." (it will auto-complete after "collection"). Depending on your browser, you may be able to bookmark this page and thus skip this step in future. - Click on the green bar that shows a number (currently over 510,000) and the word "occurrences." - Now you can search the collection in the box at top left, using the scientific name, catalog number or any other part of the data. Note that you can use the option boxes below it to restrict things like the location, scientific name, country and so on. New: Catalog numbers must be preceded by a two-letter code specifying the higher taxon. These are: MO Mollusca AN Annelida BR Brachiopoda BZ Bryozoa CT Chaetognatha CN Cnidaria CR Crustacea CP Ctenophora EC Echinodermata EN Entoprocta NT Nematoda NA Nematomorpha NE Nemertea PH Phoridina PL Platyhelminthes PO Porifera SI Sipuncula TU Tunicata - Click on each resulting catalog item to expand it and see all data currently recorded for that lot, including type status and images where present. Click on each picture to zoom in. Questions concerning the material itself can be sent to prc44 at drexel.edu. Version 2.0, 30 April 2026 Paul Callomon Collection Manager, Malacology and General Invertebrates ________________________________ Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, Philadelphia callomon at ansp.org Tel 215-405-5096 - Fax 215-299-1170 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: