Re: paleonet Storing collections

[Lukas Hottinger <lukas.hottinger@xxxxxxxxx>]

Dear Andy,
There can not be an answer to your question. The value of larger or
smaller collections of fossils depends on the history of their use
during many decades if not centuries. In this sense, the collections are
(and must be recognized by the public) as "Kultur-Gut", as much as Art
collections or Architecture. A collection is used, if others have used
iz before. Well and often used collections are known to the specialists
needing them and publishing materials from them. All other points are
secondary. In my personal work, the most needed material was topotypes
of published taxa or material from places difficult to get to.
"Difficult" regions change with time according to politics as these days
the Middle East or by the growth of human agglomerations. However, the
scientific questions change, and with them the materials needed, except
for specimens representing a taxon one way or the other.
Moving collections from one place to the other means in most cases
destroying them. We will never get enough manpower to pack or unpack
them. The Museum Basel had constructed its underground storage facility
with the argument that the famous geological collections of Munich put
into wooden crates for protection during world war II will be unpacked
with the available manpower in about 300 years time. To my knowledge,
the collections from Utrecht's Oude Gracht were never unpacked since the
moving of the geological Institute to its new quaters on the outskirts
of town. No means tu use it in my lifetime. The moving of the
collections from the geologicfal Institute to the Museum in Basel was
possible only because the drawers were standart  for both places and
therefore exchangeable. There are not, unfortunately, between the swiss
museums.
For public display, no originals are used any more. The replicas are soo
good or even better than the originals, that the question of collections
does not have an impact for all problems of public display.
Keeping in mind the restriction of scientific and technical manpower
available these days for geological collections, we have to concentrate
our efforts to use the material with as little as possible effort to
organise the collections. Keep them as they were originally organised by
the collector, as they have grown over the decades, but try to know (and
make known) what kind of material there is for further use.
Museums with large collections have basically the same problems as
marine stations: An uptodate and interesting research program of the
institution attracts active scientists to use the facilities of this
institution and to contribute, directly or indirectly to its program.
The problem is simply one of scientific leadership.
Regards Lukas


Andy Rindsberg schrieb:

>  Dear All,I'd like to hear your thoughts on this question: What are
> the advantages and disadvantages of storing a large collection from
> one site in one institution, or in two or more widely separated
> institutions?Cheers,Andrew K. RindsbergGeological Survey of Alabama