Natural history museums serve as accessible places for popular science education. For our Museum, we use the exhibits and our outstanding educational programs to connect people with nature, our Mission. Behind the public face of most museums lies the world of collections. In our case, more than 15,000 artifacts are stored below the exhibit floor representing a variety of scientific disciplines; zoology, paleontology, botany, entomology, anthropology, and human culture. Collections universally are the foundation for research on evolution, ecology, climate change, biogeography, and native people.
In addition to preserving collections for science, all natural history collections are concerned with information, identity, and comparison. Natural history collections together form a large library of scientific data about what organisms have lived or are living on Earth. Scientists use collections as sources of information to guide their investigations. Every investigation begins with the real object – the specimen – that must be correctly identified as to species or kind and also accurately placed in space and time; where it was collected, when, how and by whom. A specimen without a label is almost useless; a specimen with its label of accurate and up-to-date information is a mine of information for those who can comprehend it. Specimens collected over time can provide clues to patterns of the past and present to help predict the future. With the loss of biodiversity and degradation of ecosystems locally and worldwide, collections represent a permanent record of the occurrence of organisms in an area. Collections can contain records for a species across its range or can show variation of a given species over time in a given locality. The importance of collections and the work of collection-based scientists continue to grow.
A measure of success for natural history collections is growth in numbers of specimens. Growth of collections is dependent upon an increase in collection resources, both financial and in terms of expertise. Not only are financial resources becoming more and more scarce to support collections, the number of trained professionals available for a collections position within museums is declining. Another challenge for museums is to find new opportunities to engage the public with the research use of collections. The use of computer-based access to information, improved collecting efforts and technologies for preservation, and improved opportunities for new modes of public access to collections are ways museums are meeting growing public interest in collections.
The collections presently under the care of the Santa Cruz Museum Association (SCMA) officially belong to the city of Santa Cruz. One of the many goals within the Strategic Plan for our Museum is to inventory and assess the collections. Museum Research Associate, Frank Perry, is now working to identify those artifacts that do not fit within the mission of the Santa Cruz Museum Association, especially those that clearly fall outside of a natural history collection. These artifacts will be removed from our collections and transferred to build strengths within other institutions and museums where they can be best cared for and maintained. Once transferred, the city will transfer ownership of these collections to the SCMA. Then, our Museum will be prepared to build our collections, make best use of these artifacts in exhibits and in expanded educational opportunities, and support a growing interest in research focused on our regional and biodiversity.
Do you have a question about the future of our collections? Ask in the comment section below!
Hi Dan:
I am so glad that you are now in the position of Executive Director at the Natural
History Museum. I am sorry that I have not phoned or dropped by sooner to
congratulate you and have a chance to talk about Natural History in general
and areas where we might collaborate in the future. I have been a long time
supporter of the Natural History Museum and its role in our community. I try
to stay in touch with Frank Perry and others there, and use it, promote it, and
enjoy it when ever I can. I usually include a stop to the museum and field trip
there and in the fossil beds with Frank Perry in my UCSC Natural History of the
Santa Cruz Mountains Class just so the UCSC students can learn what a natural
history research and educational resource we have at the museum. I hope to do
so again this year in summer session II.
I really wanted to respond to your stimulating article about The Challenge of
Collections. It was very inspiring to me to hear some one articulating the values
of natural history collections and discussing the opportunities and challenges
faced with digital natural history collections. I am so amazed by the changes
occurring in this area in terms of the evolving digital technology from digital
still and video cameras, i-pods, i-phones, i-pads, remote audio and video
devises of all sorts. For me, it has changed the way I think about, teach about,
practice, document the world of natural history. The ever increasing, new, digital
technological devises not only change the way that we make and use natural
history observations but it changes which phenomenal in nature we can start to
keep track of and interpret their history, (natural history). Digital observations
in astronomy and electron microscopy have been so important and useful in the
recent past. We can now attempt to tell the story, the natural history, of things
like galaxies, black hole, molecules, cells, the universe its self. In addition we
can actually begin to observe and have digital collections of specimens like the
sounds of populations of birds, insects, all sorts of animals, as well as sound -
scapes of communities and ecosystems in various stages of development and
times of the year (Like Bernie Krause).
As wonderful, mind boggeling, and amazing as all of this is, it still presents
some big challenges and opportunities for you, the staff, and our Santa Cruz
Natural History Museum as you update the collections and begins to make
bridge between old specimens and new digital forms of documentation. I am
very interested in continuing to work with state park docents and many other
natural history interpreters in making observations that document the changes in
our local Santa Cruz Mountains Natural History, especially with the challenges of
global climate change. I hope we can collaborate in the new year.
Congratulations again on your new position.
Fred