BUILDING A NATIONAL COMMUNITY OF NATURAL HISTORY COLLECTIONS

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Building a National Community of Natural History
Collections
A Research Coordination Network
L. Alan Prather Michigan State University
Herbarium Tim White Peabody Museum, Yale
University
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SCOPE OF NATURAL HISTORY COLLECTIONS

• Thousands of natural history collections in the
  U.S.
• Natural history specimens estimated to number
  820,000,000 (Heritage Preservation 2005).
• Natural history specimens document the diversity
  of life and provide a continuous record of biotic
  changes over the last few hundred years

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BUILDING A COMMUNITY OF NATURAL HISTORY
COLLECTIONS

• Identify the institutions and people that define
  natural history collections community and
  facilitate dialogue about how best to serve
  needs of collections and researchers
• Identify major challenges and opportunities in
  the current environment and foreseeable future
  and develop a strategic plan for the future of
  collections research
• Determine how to strengthen and modernize the
  role of collections in education and outreach
• Identify the primary needs of collections
  regarding care, curation, storage and
  accessibility

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RCN INITIAL STEERING COMMITTEE
Alan Prather Michigan State University alan_at_msu.e
du
James Woolley Texas A M UniversityJamesWoolley
_at_tamu.edu
Meredith Blackwell Louisiana State
Universitymblackwell_at_lsu.edu
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PARTNER ORGANIZATIONS

• Society for the Preservation of Natural History
  Collections
• Natural Science Collections Alliance
• American Institute of Biological Sciences

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THE ROLE OF SPNHC

• Appoint a person to the core participants in the
  first year of the RCN
• Assisting in design and implementation of the
  register of curatorial expertise
• Hosting a symposium on best practices
• Managing best practices interns

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COLLECTIONSWEB THE RCN WEBSITE

• Catalogue of Collections (database)
• Survey of the Status of Collections
• Register of Curatorial Expertise
• Inventory of Innovative Educational Programs
• Workshop schedule reports
• Web resources relevant to NHC

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WORKSHOPS

• Opportunities and Challenges of Small
  Collections
• Strengthening Connections Between NHC and
  Databasing Initiatives and Programs
• New Research Opportunities Emerging from
  Integrating Data Across Disciplines
• Developing New Strategies for Integrating
  Collections into Education
• Enhancing the Interface between Collections and
  Systematists
• Enhancing the Interface between Collections and
  Stakeholders

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SYMPOSIA

• Best practices symposium at SPNHC meeting
• Symposium on strengthening connections among
  database initiatives and collections at NSCA
  meeting
• Additional symposia/workshops at professional
  society meetings to discuss outcomes

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STUDENT INTERNSHIPS

• Student research internships on best practices
  managed by SPNHC
• Student research internships on novel approaches
  to specimen-based research, managed by the
  Steering Committee

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BROADER IMPACTS

• Concerted effort to increase diversity of
  participants in RCN activities and broaden
  participation in natural history collections
  generally
• Recruit participants for workshops, internships,
  symposia from minority serving institutions with
  natural history collections
• Education/Outreach workshop will recruit teachers
  from inner city schools and other minority
  communities

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

• Funding for the RCN is generously provided by
  the US NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION (NSF-0639214
  to Michigan State University)
• Disclaimer This material is based upon work
  supported by the National Science Foundation
  under Grant No. 0639214. Any opinions, findings,
  and conclusions or recommendations expressed in
  this material are those of the authors and do not
  necessarily reflect the views of the National
  Science Foundation.

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