Published: March 26, 2025 Committees, Wiki Home
About The Publications Committee is responsible for the wide range of publications, including text and general information books, Collection Forum (the journal of SPNHC), and the SPNHC Newsletter, which benefit and assist the natural history collections community. The committee evaluates the future direction of these publications in order to best serve the community. Committee Members…
Published: March 26, 2025 Committees, Wiki Home
Contents 1 About 2 Committee Members 3 Travel Grants 4 Workshops 5 DemoCamp 6 Mentorship 7 White Papers and Relevant Sites About The Professional Development Committee facilitates development needs for audiences of museum professionals, from those starting in the field to established professionals seeking continuing educational opportunities. When appropriate, it supports the planning, organization and delivery of workshops, democamps and mentorship activities.…
Published: March 26, 2025 Botanical Collections, Conference Proceedings, Cryogenic Collections, Field Collecting, Specimen and Material Type, Wiki Home, Zoology Collections
Contents 1 About 2 Contributors 3 Specimen Preparation Types by Collection Type 3.1 Botany 3.2 Herpetology 3.3 Ichthyology 3.4 Ornithology 4 Links 4.1 Community Standards About These links and documents contain information about best practices for the preparation of different types of natural history specimens. Contributors Content generated during The American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists (ASIH) Annual Joint Meeting – 2016, during an…
Published: March 26, 2025 Conference Proceedings, Wiki Home
Contents 1 Statement of Purpose 2 Poster Guidelines & Sharing 3 2022 Gallery 4 2020 Gallery 5 2019 Gallery 6 Contributors 7 References Statement of Purpose This page offers SPNHC members a permanent place to share and expand the reach of posters shared at SPNHC events such as our yearly conference. Otherwise, posters tend to be ephemeral. Poster content aggregates a LOT…
Published: March 26, 2025 Digitization and Imaging, Wiki Home
Contents 1 Statement of Purpose 2 Introduction 3 What is a Persistent Identifier? 4 Types of Identifiers 5 Assigning PIDs 6 Contributors 7 Further Reading 8 References Statement of Purpose This page was originally created to expand the scope of content from the section on Persistent Identifiers as they relate to Numbering Natural History Collections. Introduction As we increasingly digitize specimens and share digital…
Published: March 26, 2025 Archaeology and Ethnographic Collections, Best Practices, Botanical Collections, Collection Management Policies, Collection Transactions, Field Collecting, Legislation and Regulations, Wiki Home, Zoology Collections
Contents 1 Statement of Purpose 2 Contributors 3 Introduction 4 Permitting Checklist for Researchers 4.1 When Preparing for a Collection Trip 4.2 While on a Collection Trip 4.3 After the Conclusion of a Collecting Trip 5 Tracking Permits Associated with Specimens 6 Categories of Legal/Compliance Documentation 6.1 Access and Benefit-Sharing Agreement 6.2 Authorization to Possess 6.3 Collecting Permit 6.4 Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild…
Published: March 26, 2025 Best Practices, Curation Practices, Specimen and Material Type, Wiki Home
Contents 1 Statement of Purpose 2 Contributors 3 Introduction: Paper as an element of natural history collections 4 Definition of Paper 4.1 Permanent and Archival Papers 4.2 Highlights in the history of papermaking 4.3 Fibers Used in Papermaking 4.4 Considerations Regarding Removal/Replacement of Historical Papers 4.5 References Statement of Purpose Paper is frequently associated with natural history collection and herbaria specimens. It can be…
Published: March 26, 2025 Best Practices, Cryogenic Collections, Field Collecting, Specimen and Material Type, Specimen and Object Preparation, Wiki Home, Zoology Collections
Contents 1 Statement of Purpose 2 Contributors 3 Introduction 4 Study Skin Preparation 5 Skeleton Preparation 6 Fluid-specimen Preparation 7 Spread Wing Preparation 8 Preparation Procedure Resources 9 References Statement of Purpose These links and documents contain information about ornithology specimen preparation. Contributors Emily Braker Introduction Bird specimens are prepared in multiple formats depending on anticipated collection needs and utility. Study skins are the…
Published: March 26, 2025 Best Practices, Collection Management Policies, Curation Practices, Wiki Home
Contents 1 Statement of Purpose 2 Introduction 3 Catalog Numbers 3.1 Best Practices 3.2 Legacy Numbering Systems 3.3 Lot-based Systems 3.4 Numbers for Specimens Prior to Accession 4 Accession Numbers 5 Persistent Identifiers 6 Barcodes 7 Contributors 8 References Statement of Purpose These links and documents contain information about numbering systems for natural history collections. This content was generated after several email threads on Nhcoll-l indicating…
Published: March 26, 2025 Collection Management, Curation Practices, Wiki Home
Contents 1 Statement of Purpose 2 Back to Basics Skillshare Symposium, Edinburgh June 2022 3 Contributors Statement of Purpose This page offers SPNHC members a place to share techniques, protocols, and workflows. Content formally presented at the SPNHC 2022 meeting in Edinburgh during the Back to Basics: Museum Techniques Skillshare Symposium is indicated when applicable. Back to Basics…
Published: March 26, 2025 Digitization and Imaging, Wiki Home
Contents 1 Statement of Purpose 2 Introduction 3 Keywords 4 Methods 5 Equipment 6 File Formats 7 Novel Uses 8 References Statement of Purpose This page will provide an overview of the utility for microtomography in a museum setting, considerations for specimens and considerations for destructive sampling, and resources for further information. Introduction Micro-computed tomography (micro-CT or microtomography) is a non-destructive imaging technique…
Published: March 26, 2025 Botanical Collections, Curation Practices, Geology and Paleontology Collections, Wiki Home, Zoology Collections
Contents 1 Statement of Purpose 2 Notes on Application 3 Mounting Media Considerations 4 Conservation Problems to Address 5 References Statement of Purpose These links and documents contain information about best practices for microscope slide curation. Notes on Application Especially small invertebrate specimens like worms, insects, crustaceans, and mites are mounted as whole mounts on microscope…
Published: March 26, 2025 Archaeology and Ethnographic Collections, Botanical Collections, Collection Management, Geology and Paleontology Collections, Health and Safety, Preventative Conservation Book, Specimen and Material Type, Wiki Home, Zoology Collections
Introduction See description of Mercury chloride, (I) Hg2Cl2 and (II) HgCl2 (sublimate) on Biocides page. Links http://www.conservation-wiki.com/wiki/Health_%26_Safety:_Heavy_Metals,_their_Salts,_and_other_Compounds http://www.conservation-wiki.com/wiki/Tin-Mercury_Amalgam_Mirrors#Health_.26_Safety
Published: March 26, 2025 Committees, Wiki Home
About The Membership Committee is responsible for activities that promote membership growth and diversity, and encourage the retention of existing members. Committee Members Up-to-date membership for committee. Committee Documents Membership Committee Description from the Leadership Manual
Published: March 26, 2025 Committees, Wiki Home
About The Long Range Planning Committee is responsible for developing, reviewing, and updating the Society’s five-year strategic plan, and for presenting the plan to Council for approval. Committee Members Up-to-date membership for committee. Committee Documents Long Range Planning Committee Description from the Leadership Manual
Published: March 26, 2025 Collection Management, Collection Management Policies, Collection Transactions, Legislation and Regulations, Wiki Home
Contents 1 Statement of Purpose 2 Introduction 3 Contributors 4 Loan Protocols 4.1 Outgoing Loans 4.2 Incoming Loans (Borrows) 4.3 Internal Loans 4.4 Tracking loans 5 Community Standards Statement of Purpose These links and documents contain information about best practices for loaning natural history collections between and within institutions. Introduction An institution typically lends and borrows collection items for the purpose of research/study,…
Published: March 26, 2025 Committees, Wiki Home
Contents 1 About 2 Committee Members 3 Links 4 Committee Documents About The Legislation and Regulations Committee acts as SPNHC’s clearinghouse for information and events related to laws, regulations, permits and related issues affecting the collection, possession, ownership and transportation of natural history specimens. Committee Members Up-to-date membership for committee. Links Category:Legislation and Regulations Committee Documents Legislation and Regulations…
Published: March 26, 2025 Archaeology and Ethnographic Collections, Best Practices, Botanical Collections, Cryogenic Collections, Curation Practices, Specimen and Material Type, Wiki Home, Zoology Collections
Contents 1 Contributors 2 Introduction 3 Setting the Stage: Types of Standards 4 Identifying Material Standards 4.1 Labeling Substrates 4.1.1 Paper 4.1.1.1 Preservation Issues 4.1.2 Coated Paper 4.1.2.1 Preservation Issues 4.1.3 Synthetic Papers 4.1.3.1 Polyethylene – Tyvek® 4.1.3.2 Spun-Bound Polyester 4.2 Ink and Printing Technologies 4.2.1 Manual Marking 4.2.1.1 Pens 4.2.1.2 Stamps 4.2.1.3 Pencils 4.2.2 Printing Technologies 4.2.2.1 Inkjet Printing 4.2.2.2 Key Requirements 4.2.2.3 Laser Printing (and Photocopiers) 4.2.2.4 Key Requirements and Tests 4.2.2.5 Thermal Transfer Printing 4.3 Attaching…
Published: March 26, 2025 Curation Practices, Specimen and Material Type, Wiki Home, Zoology Collections
Contents 1 Statement of Purpose 2 Contributors 3 Restoration/renovation 3.1 Rehydration 3.2 Deaccessioning 4 Labels and systems for printing 5 Identification and sorting of collected material 5.1 Accessioning 5.2 Georeferencing 5.3 Cataloging 5.4 Collection organization 6 Storage in collection 6.1 Preservation types 6.2 Sensitive and rare specimen handling/preserving 6.3 Fluid preserved invertebrate handling and storage 6.3.1 Clear glass, screw-top jars 6.3.1.1 Types of glass 6.4 Plastic Containers 6.5 Vials Containing Whole Specimens 6.6 Stainless…
Published: March 26, 2025 Best Practices, Curation Practices, Wiki Home
Contents 1 Statement of Purpose 2 Contributors 3 Guidelines for curation and management 4 Processing of Specimens 4.1 Acquisition and accession 4.2 Handling of type material 4.2.1 Primary types 4.2.2 Secondary types 4.3 Labeling 4.4 Archiving collection documents 4.5 Data capture 5 Arrangement of Main Collection 6 Conservation of Specimens 7 Access and Use of Collections 7.1 Specimen use 7.1.1 Student or thesis collections 7.1.2 Teaching and exhibition 7.1.3 Loan policies 7.1.4 Destructive sampling…
Published: March 26, 2025 Additional Topics, Best Practices, Collection Management, Wiki Home
Contents 1 Statement of Purpose 2 Contributors 3 Collections and their Impact 3.1 Economy and trade 3.2 Changes over time 3.3 Environmental Quality 3.4 Food and agriculture 3.5 Public Health and Safety 3.6 National Security 3.7 Invasive Species 3.8 Scientific Treasures 3.9 Unanticipated Uses / New data 4 Who Uses Natural History Collections? 5 Consequences of Orphaned Collections 6 Links 7 Resources 8 References Statement of Purpose Our ability to understand the…
Published: March 26, 2025 Conference Proceedings, Digitization and Imaging, Field Collecting, Specimen and Material Type, Wiki Home, Zoology Collections
Contents 1 Statement of Purpose 2 Contributors 3 Recommended Equipment 4 Imaging specimens 5 Imaging Back-up Statement of Purpose These links and documents contain information about best practices for imaging live animals in the field. Contributors Content generated during The American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists (ASIH) Annual Joint Meeting – 2016, during an iDigBio sponsored workshop by the following…
Published: March 26, 2025 Best Practices, Wiki Home
Contents 1 Statement of Purpose 2 Links Statement of Purpose This page is produced by the IDEA Committee as a page of resources related to Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Access within the natural history community. If you know of any resources that would be of use that we should add, please contact the committee. Links A Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Reading List, with…
Published: March 26, 2025 Committees, Wiki Home
Contents 1 About 2 Committee Members 3 Links About IDEA stands for Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Access. This committee was officially founded in April 2021 as a full committee The function of the IDEA committee is the following: Committee Members Up-to-date membership for committee. Links For links and other aggregated resources related to inclusion, diversity, equity, and access…
Published: March 26, 2025 Field Collecting, Specimen and Material Type, Specimen and Object Preparation, Wiki Home, Zoology Collections
Contents 1 Statement of Purpose 2 Contributors 4 Fluid-Preservation Techniques 4.1 Preservation of tissue samples 4.2 Fixation and Preservation (Adult Fishes) 4.3 Formalin Fixation 4.4 Ethanol Fixation 4.5 Fixation and Preservation (Marine fish eggs and larvae) Statement of Purpose These links and documents contain information about ichthyology specimen preparation. Contributors Content generated during The American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists (ASIH) Annual Joint…
Published: March 26, 2025 Best Practices, Curation Practices, Geology and Paleontology Collections, Specimen and Material Type, Wiki Home
Contents 1 Statement of Purpose 2 Contributors 3 Restoration/renovation 3.1 Rehydration 4 Labels and systems for printing 5 Identification and sorting of collected material 5.1 Accessioning 5.2 Georeferencing 5.3 Cataloging 5.4 Collection organization 6 Storage in collection (containers) 6.1 Sensitive and rare specimen handling/preserving 6.2 Clear glass, screw-top jars 6.3 Glass Gasket jars 6.4 Plastic Containers 6.5 Vials Containing Whole Specimens 6.6 Stainless steel tanks Statement of Purpose These links…
Published: March 26, 2025 Field Collecting, Specimen and Material Type, Specimen and Object Preparation, Wiki Home, Zoology Collections
Contents 1 Statement of Purpose 2 Contributors 3 Fixation and Preservation 3.1 Preservation of tissue samples 3.2 Formalin Fixation Statement of Purpose These links and documents contain information about herpetology specimen preparation. Contributors Content generated during The American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists (ASIH) Annual Joint Meeting – 2016, during an iDigBio sponsored workshop by the following individuals participating in…
Published: March 26, 2025 Specimen and Material Type, Wiki Home, Zoology Collections
Contents 1 Statement of Purpose 2 Contributors 3 Restoration/renovation 3.1 Rehydration 4 Labels and systems for printing 5 Identification and sorting of collected material 5.1 Accessioning 5.2 Cataloging 5.3 Collection organization 6 Storage in collection (containers) 6.1 Sensitive and rare specimen handling/preserving 6.2 Clear glass, screw-top jars 6.3 Glass Gasket jars 6.4 Plastic Containers 6.5 Vials Containing Whole Specimens 6.6 Stainless steel tanks Statement of Purpose These links and documents contain…
Published: March 26, 2025 Curation Practices, Geology and Paleontology Collections, Specimen and Material Type, Wiki Home
Contents 1 Statement of Purpose 2 Contributors 3 Types of Geological Collections 4 Acquisition 5 Curation 5.1 Identification 5.2 Cataloging 5.3 Georeferencing 5.4 Labeling 5.5 Storage and Organization 6 Policies 6.1 Access 6.2 Health and Safety 7 Links 8 References Statement of Purpose Geological collections are extremely broad in scope and inlcude paleontological, petrological, mineralogical and many other types of materials. These collections are the foundation of our understanding of…
Published: March 26, 2025 Best Practices, Wiki Home
Contents 1 Statement of Purpose 2 Introduction 3 Developing Policies 3.1 Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) 3.2 Guide to operations 4 Funding and Budgets 5 Facility Management 5.1 Access and security 5.2 Space planning 5.3 Lighting 5.4 Flooring 5.5 Ventilation 5.6 Oxygen monitors 5.7 Backup precautions 6 Genetic and Genomic Collections Storage 6.1 Temperature considerations 6.2 Liquid nitrogen cryovats 6.3 Liquid nitrogen supply 6.4 Mechanical freezers and refrigerators 7 Operational Best Practice 7.1 Facility functions and services…
