This post is a continuation of our series in celebration of National Volunteer Month. Here, we relate the story of an extended effort by the Invertebrate Zoology (IZ) department’s curatorial staff (and volunteers!) to fully catalogue and update the inventory of tens of thousands of specimens from around the world, in preparation for the relocation of IZ’s collection to a new floor in the National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) building. This piece specifically focuses on the coral collection and two long-term volunteers.
In preparation for a future renovation of the current IZ collections space, the department is gearing up to relocate its extensive dry collection from the third floor of NMNH to the second floor. While this may sound trivial, the effort actually entails an extensive cataloguing effort in preparation for transport. Volunteers have been working hard to ensure that every specimen in IZ’s collection has an individual record in the Smithsonian’s Electronic Museum (EMu) database. Not only does EMu serve as a repository for important specimen information and research records within IZ, but the catalogue is entirely searchable to the public, which includes both the external research community and science-curious individuals.
As part of this move, the current arrangement of coral by world region (among other factors) will be revised to an alphabetical arrangement by genus and species. Hence, it is critical that every specimen be properly accounted for, including those already entered in EMu. Volunteers are also heavily involved in other associated cataloguing efforts, which include creating EMu records for specimens catalogued before electronic records existed and identifying and cataloguing several cases of previously unidentified specimens. Clearly, with so many specimens to cover, some of which are the size of boulders and weigh about as much, this is no small task!
Steve Cairns, the Curator of Corals in IZ, and Museum Specialist Tim Coffer are leading the cataloguing and relocation efforts. However, central to the success of this overarching project is a group of “Behind-the-Scenes” volunteers. This group includes four professionals and retirees. Recently, Tim has recruited a larger group of students, whose majors range from museum studies to biology, to help with the actual relocation project.
Some of these volunteers have been involved in the coral cataloguing effort for more than two years – why do they continue contributing their time? Passion for their work in IZ plays a major role, as you will see below.
Meet two long-term coral collection volunteers
Mary Mellott is a retired NASA science program manager with a background in the physical sciences. Even so, working behind the scenes at NMNH has been one of Mary’s lifetime goals. “I wanted to be somewhere that I could hold what I was working on in my hands,” says Mary.
Mary’s focus as a volunteer has been specimen cataloguing and the creation of digital records in EMu. Mary has made major headway on this portion of the coral collection project. Within the past five years, the relatively small team has managed to audit approximately 75% of the coral collection, which contains tens of thousands of specimens. Mary says that she thinks her volunteer work is “very cool,” which is part of why she chooses to volunteer in IZ as many as five days a week!
Volunteer Tom Kamasky finds that this type of collections work is a perfect fit for his background as an accountant. Tom originally learned about the “Behind-the-Scenes” volunteer program from a friend, a retired U.S. Navy aviator who was volunteering in the O. Orkin Insect Zoo here at NMNH. Based on positive feedback from his friend, Tom decided to look for a position that might utilize his strengths in electronic databases and records management. Tom has now been an IZ collections volunteer for two years. “There’s no database that I can’t handle,” says Tom.
During this time, like Mary, Tom has progressively worked through the coral collection, case by case, and drawer by drawer, ensuring that every specimen is catalogued in EMu. Sometimes, Tom notes that he must take this work a step further. For example, occasionally the field reclassifies an organism; within the museum, any specimens of this organism must then be reclassified, as well. Hence, a few times, Tom has had to update the records of an entire drawer of specimens, which can take a day or more.
Tom recollects that one of his favorite moments was finding a set of specimens with catalogue numbers in the 100s. These tiny corals, which are mounted on beveled mahogany bases, were recovered from the Smithsonian’s first major expedition, the 1838-1842 U.S. Exploring Expedition, led by U.S. Navy Lieutenant Charles Wilkes. With millions of specimens from around the world, the Smithsonian’s collection has grown by more than four orders of magnitude since its early days.
IZ also has several cases that contain specimens waiting to be catalogued, many of which were donated by private collectors or other researchers and hence may not have been prioritized when first brought into IZ. With the impending move, however, it is highly important that each of these specimens is officially catalogued and moved into the general collection.
Volunteers also help maintain the active research collection via management practices
Of course, not every coral specimen has “survived” the cataloguing effort. Occasionally, a collection audit identifies a specimen that is of limited scientific value. Modern expeditions often collect extensive amounts of data with each new specimen, such as precise latitude and longitude, depth information, and other values like salinity or oxygen level. Hence, sometimes, older specimens that may have comparatively little associated information are deemed unnecessary.
Even though this is an important aspect of collections management, and has been a component of the volunteers’ work in the coral collection, Tim says that in the past 5-6 years, only 1% of specimens have been released. It is worth noting that this process is important on many levels, not simply from the perspective of maintaining a large collection. For example, many of the specimens that IZ releases from its scientific collection have been donated to schools, where they can be utilized for a variety of teaching purposes.
Interested in hiring a volunteer?
When Mary initially approached the Office of Visitor Services, she was unsure how her interests would best fit within the institution. However, she credits her fit in IZ to Volunteer Recruitment Specialist Noel Burton, whose catalogue-like knowledge of the departments and programs at the Smithsonian makes him an excellent resource in terms of matching volunteers with available opportunities.
by Liz Boatman
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