scholarly journals Future Challenges in Digitisation of Private Natural History Collections

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luc Willemse ◽  
Emily van Egmond ◽  
Veljo Runnel ◽  
Hannu Saarenmaa ◽  
Ana Rubio ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Natural History ◽  
Pilot Project ◽  
Communication Strategy ◽  
Sensitive Data ◽  
Natural History Collections ◽  
Raising Awareness ◽  
Private Collection ◽  
Future Challenges ◽  
Collection Data ◽  
Private Collections

Specimens held in private natural history collections form an essential, but often neglected part of the specimens held worldwide in natural history collections. When engaging in regional, national or international initiatives aimed at increasing the accessibility of biodiversity data, it is paramount to include private collections as much and as often as possible. Compared to larger collections in national history institutions, private collections present a unique set of challenges: they are numerous, anonymous, small and diverse in all aspects of collection management. In ICEDIG, a design study for DiSSCo these challenges were tackled in task 2 "Inventory of content and incentives for digitisation of small and private collections" under Workpackage 2 "Inventory of current criteria for prioritization of digitization". First, we need to understand the current state and content of private collections within Europe, to identify and tackle challenges more effectively. While some private collections will duplicate material already held in public collections, many are likely to fill more specialised or unusual niches, relevant to the particular collector(s). At present, there is little evidence about the content of private collections and this needs to be explored. In 2018, a European survey was carried out amongst private collection owners to gain more insight in the volume, scope and degree of digitisation of these collections. Based on this survey, all of the respondents’ collections combined are estimated to contain between 9 and 33 million specimens. This is only the tip of the iceberg for private collections in Europe and underlines the importance of these private collections. Digitisation and sharing collection data are activities that are overall considered important among private collection owners. The survey also showed that for those who have not yet started digitising their collection, the provision of tools and information would be most valuable. These and other highlights of the survey will be presented. In addition, protocols for inventories of private collections will be discussed, as well as ways to keep these up to date. To enhance the inclusion of private collections in Europe’s digitisation efforts, we recognise that we mainly have to focus on the challenges regarding the ‘how’ (work-process), and the sharing of information residing in private collections (including ownership, legal issues, sensitive data). Where necessary, we will also draw attention to the ‘why’ (motivation) of digitisation. A communication strategy aimed at raising awareness about digitisation, offering insight in the practicalities to implement digitisation as well as providing answers to issues related to sharing information, is an essential tool. Elements of a communication strategy to further engage private collection owners will be presented, as will conclusions and recommendations. Finally, digitisation and communication aspects related to private collection owners will need to be tested within the community. Therefore, a pilot project is currently (2018-2019) being carried out in Estonia, Finland and the Netherlands to digitise private collections in a variety of settings. Preliminary results will be presented, zooming in on different approaches to include data from private collections in the overall (research) infrastructures.

scholarly journals Digitisation of private collections

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luc Willemse ◽  
Veljo Runnel ◽  
Hannu Saarenmaa ◽  
Ana Casino ◽  
Karsten Gödderz
Keyword(s):  
Natural History ◽  
Communication Strategy ◽  
Data Management System ◽  
Specific Knowledge ◽  
Management Tools ◽  
Data Infrastructure ◽  
Natural History Collections ◽  
Private Collection ◽  
Collection Data ◽  
Private Collections

Results are presented of a study investigating solutions and procedures to incorporate private natural history collections into the international collections data infrastructure. Results are based on pilot projects carried out in three European countries aimed at approaches on how to best motivate and equip citizen collectors for digitisation: 1) In Estonia, the approach was to outline tools for registering, digitising and publishing private collection data in the biodiversity data management system PlutoF. 2) In Finland, the functionality of FinBIF, a portal offering a popular Notebook Service for citizens to store observations has been expanded to include collection specimens related to a field gathering event. 3) In the Netherlands private collection owners were approached directly and asked to start digitising their collection using dedicated software, either by themselves or with the help of volunteers who were recruited specifically for this task. In addition to management tools, pilots also looked at motivation, persons undertaking the work, scope, planning, specific knowledge or skills required and the platform for online publication. Future ownership, legality of specimens residing in private collections and the use of unique identifiers are underexposed aspects effecting digitisation. Besides streamlining the overall process of digitising private collections and dealing with local, national or international challenges, developing a communication strategy is crucial in order to effectively distribute information and keep private collection owners aware of ongoing developments. Besides collection owners other stakeholders were identified and for each of them a roadmap is outlined aimed at further streamlining the data from private collections into the international infrastructure. In conclusion recommendations are presented based on challenges encountered during this task that are considered important to really make significant progress towards the overall accessibility of data stored in privately held natural history collections.

THE CATALOG OF THE MINERALOGICAL COLLECTION OF THE EMPEROR LEOPOLD II (1747–1792): COLLECTING AND LEARNING IN EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY EUROPE

2019 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 173-203 ◽  
Author(s):  
ANNARITA FRANZA ◽  
ROSANNA FABOZZI ◽  
LETIZIA VEZZOSI ◽  
LUCIANA FANTONI ◽  
GIOVANNI PRATESI
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Economic Evaluation ◽  
Natural History ◽  
Metal Content ◽  
Natural History Museum ◽  
History Museum ◽  
Historical Archive ◽  
Natural History Collections ◽  
Private Collection ◽  
The University

ABSTRACT The Collectio Mineralium (1765) currently preserved at the Historical Archive of the Natural History Museum of the University of Firenze, is the unpublished catalog of the mineralogical collection that belonged to Emperor Leopold II (1747–1792). The catalog is a 110-page register, with the golden emblem of the House of Habsburg at the center of the binding, containing information about 242 mineralogical samples. Each specimen is carefully described (i.e., habit, metal content, product value) and its locality given. The interpretation of the text has also returned information on most of the mining deposits in the Austro-Hungarian territories in the eighteenth century. Therefore, the interpretation of this catalog—that on the basis of the literature appears to be the first catalog of a collection belonged to a Habsburg emperor—represents an important step toward enhancing our understanding of Habsburg natural history collections and reflected the transition from wonder-rooms to commodity collecting. Leopold's private collection was no longer an ‘instrument of wonder’ but it became representative of scientific collecting characterized by the establishment of systematic mineralogy, and by a careful economic evaluation of the mineralogical samples collected as a symbol of the power of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

scholarly journals Linking and the Role of the Material Citation

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeremy Miller ◽  
Donat Agosti ◽  
Marcus Guidoti ◽  
Francisco Andres Rivera Quiroz
Keyword(s):  
Natural History ◽  
Dna Sequences ◽  
Pilot Project ◽  
Natural History Collections ◽  
Darwin Core ◽  
History Of ◽  
Related Group ◽  
Data Elements ◽  
Project Data

Citing the specimens used to describe new species or augment existing taxa is integral to the scholarship of taxonomic and related biodiversity-oriented publications. These so-called material citations (Darwin Core Term MaterialCitation), linked to the natural history collections in which they are archived, are the mechanism by which readers may return to the source material upon which reported observations are based. This is integral to the scientific nature of the project of documenting global biodiversity. Material citation records typically contain such information as the location and date associated with the collection of a specimen, along with other data, and taxonomic identification. Thus, material citations are a key line of evidence for biodiversity informatics, along with other evidence classes such as database records of specimens archived in natural history collections, human observations not linked to specimens, and DNA sequences that may or may not be linked to a specimen. Natural history collections are not completely databased and records of some occurrences are only available as material citations. In other cases, material citations can be linked to the record of the physical specimen in a collections database. Taxonomic treatments, sections of publications documenting the features or distribution of a related group of organisms (Catapano 2019), may contain citations of DNA sequences, which can be linked to database records. There is potential for bidirectional linking that could contribute data elements or entire records to collections and DNA databases, based on content found in material citations. We compare material citations data to other major sources of biodiversity records (preserved specimens, human observations, and material samples). We present pilot project data that reconcile material citations with their database records, and track all material citations across the taxonomic history of a species.

scholarly journals First report of the rare arboreal grasshopper Bactrophora dominans Westwood, 1842 (Insecta, Orthoptera, Caelifera, Romaleidae) from Brazil

Check List ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 895-903
Author(s):  
Daniela Santos Martins Silva ◽  
Gustavo Costa Tavares ◽  
Marcos Fianco ◽  
Jorge M. Gonzalez
Keyword(s):  
Natural History ◽  
South America ◽  
Central America ◽  
New Records ◽  
Web Based ◽  
First Report ◽  
Natural History Collections ◽  
Collection Data ◽  
Northern South America ◽  
Amazonian Region

The genus Bactrophora Westwood, 1842 comprises only two species known from Central America and northern South America, with a notable scarcity of collected specimens. Herein, we provide the first records of the presence of this genus in Brazil. These new records, based on entomological collection data and photographic records, extend the known distribution of Bactrophora dominans Westwood, 1842 to include the Brazilian Amazonian region. Both records emphasize the importance of natural history collections and the significance of the iNaturalist web-based application as an instrumental tool in this discovery.

scholarly journals Visualizing natural history collection data provides insight into collection development and bias

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vaughn Shirey
Keyword(s):  
Natural History ◽  
Large Body ◽  
Aggregated Data ◽  
Natural History Collections ◽  
Natural History Collection ◽  
Drexel University ◽  
Collection Data ◽  
Spatial Domains ◽  
Life On Earth ◽  
Insight Into

Natural history collections contain estimated billions of records representing a large body of knowledge about the diversity and distribution of life on Earth. Assessments of various forms of bias within the aggregated data associated with specimens in these collections have been conducted across temporal, taxonomic, and spatial domains. Considering that these biases are the sum of biases across all contributing collections to aggregate datasets, the assessment of bias at the collection level is warranted. Interactive visualization provides a powerful tool for the assessment of these biases and insight into the historical development of natural history collections, providing context for where sources of bias may originate and developing historical narratives to clarify our understanding of our own knowledge about life on Earth. Here, I present a case study on using Sankey diagrams to illustrate the development of the entomology type collection at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania with the hope that extensions of these practices among individual natural history collections are modified and adopted.

Joseph Sidebotham: vicissitudes of a Victorian collector

2015 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 197-210 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laurence M. Cook
Keyword(s):  
Natural History ◽  
Species Limits ◽  
Clear Cut ◽  
Natural History Collections ◽  
As Species ◽  
Scientific World

Joseph Sidebotham (1824–1885) was a Manchester cotton baron whose natural history collections are now in the Manchester Museum. In addition to collecting he suggested a method for identifying and classifying Lepidoptera and investigated variation within species as well as species limits. With three close collaborators, he is credited with discovering many species new to Britain in both Lepidoptera and Coleoptera. A suspicion of fraud attaches to these claims. The evidence is not clear-cut in the Lepidoptera, but a possible reason is suggested why Sidebotham, as an amateur in the increasingly professional scientific world, might have engaged in deceit.

Restoration of two great auk (Pinguinus impennis) eggs: Bourman Labrey's egg and the Scarborough egg

2020 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 392-401
Author(s):  
T. R. Birkhead ◽  
G. Axon ◽  
J. R. Middleton
Keyword(s):  
Black Light ◽  
Private Collection ◽  
Different Types ◽  
The Media ◽  
Media Reports ◽  
Public Museums ◽  
Private Collections ◽  
Time Of Collection ◽  
Extensive Damage

Most of the approximately 75 known eggs of the extinct great auk ( Pinguinus impennis) are in public museums, with a few in private collections. A small number of these eggs has sustained damage, either at the time of collection or subsequently, and two of these eggs are known to have been repaired. The two eggs suffered rather different types of damage and were subsequently restored using different techniques. The first, known as Bourman Labrey's egg, sustained extensive damage sometime prior to the 1840s, when the shell was broken into numerous pieces. This egg was repaired by William Yarrell in the 1840s, and when it was restored again in 2018, it was discovered that Yarrell's restoration had involved the use of an elaborate cardboard armature. This egg is currently in a private collection. The second egg, known as the Scarborough egg, bequeathed to the Scarborough Museum in 1877, was damaged (by unknown causes) and repaired, probably by the then curator at Scarborough, W. J. Clarke, in 1906. This egg was damaged when one or more pieces were broken adjacent to the blowhole at the narrow end (where there was some pre-existing damage). The media reports at the time exaggerated the extent of the damage, suggesting that the egg was broken almost in two. Possible reasons for this exaggeration are discussed. Recent examination using a black light and ultraviolet (UV) revealed that the eggshell had once borne the words, “a Penguin's Egg”, that were subsequently removed by scraping.

The Banksian natural history collections of the Endeavour voyage and their relevance to modern taxonomy

1981 ◽  
Vol 1981 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-70
Author(s):  
H. B. Carter ◽  
Judith A. Diment ◽  
C. J. Humphries ◽  
Alwyne Wheeler
Keyword(s):  
Natural History ◽  
Natural History Collections

Correspondence between Adolphe Brongniart and Robert Schomburgk: trading natural history collections for honours

2002 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 333-336
Author(s):  
PIOTR DASZKIEWICZ ◽  
MICHEL JEGU
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Natural History ◽  
Dominican Republic ◽  
Southeast Asia ◽  
Herbarium Specimens ◽  
British Guiana ◽  
Natural History Collections ◽  
History Of ◽  
Source Of Information ◽  
German Naturalist

ABSTRACT: This paper discusses some correspondence between Robert Schomburgk (1804–1865) and Adolphe Brongniart (1801–1876). Four letters survive, containing information about the history of Schomburgk's collection of fishes and plants from British Guiana, and his herbarium specimens from Dominican Republic and southeast Asia. A study of these letters has enabled us to confirm that Schomburgk supplied the collection of fishes from Guiana now in the Laboratoire d'Ichtyologie, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris. The letters of the German naturalist are an interesting source of information concerning the practice of sale and exchange of natural history collections in the nineteenth century in return for honours.

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