How to... curate an old collection

[chrisis21]

Dear All,

Since this is my first post in the forum, let me tell you a bit about myself. I am currently acting as the curator of the entomological collection at the Zoological Museum of the University of Athens. The truth is that this 'job' just found me and although I have a great passion for insects, insect collecting, curating and databasing, my experience in all taxa is rather limited. My expertise is ants (Formicidae) but the collection is also comprised of Coleoptera, Lepidoptera and a few other taxa. It is not a big collection but it is probably the oldest insect collection in Greece. Although there are many specimens from Greece, there are also specimens from other European countries (mainly Germany due to the history of the collection...), south America, and a few from Africa (all mixed in the drawers...!). 

This is all nice but... there are several problems with this collection:

1. The collection has probably old, obsolete and erroneous identifications. This seems to be OK (I mean, that's what I am here for...) but the state of the specimens is such that new identifications will probably be reeeealy difficult (if not impossible - see below...)
2. Most of the specimens (mostly Coleoptera) are in a medium/bad state (broken legs, antennae, moldy, eaten by Dermestidae, etc). There are specimens for example with just the elytra pinned (no prothorax/head...).
3. Most of the specimens have little (if any...) labels and metadata. I don't know what good is a butterfly with a label saying: Brazil, 1880. leg. Smith. Or, just having a beetle (in a bad state...) with no label...

The truth is that the only thing that I did so far is spray (the hell out of...) the cabinets and insert camphor bricks in every drawer (some of these drawers have not been opened probably for more than 50 years...). I have also photographed all the drawers as to register their 'status quo' before I start working on them. 

I do have some ideas on how to proceed but I would like first to hear your opinions since (as far as I know and understand) there are no texts on the methodology of 'what to do with crappy specimens'.

Thank you in advance for your ideas and hope that this is the first of many posts to come...

[cabintom]

I don't have any experience curating collections, so I can't really be helpful, but I did want to wish you the best of luck in what seems to be a daunting challenge. I should add that we have a number of specialists in African leps here, so we can probably help with IDs concerning those specimens.

I'm curious to read what our more experienced members might advise you.
I'm guessing they'll probably tell you to also stick the drawers in the freezer for a few days.

[nomad]

You will have to deep freeze every drawer. Any data is better than no data.

[exoticimports]

Welcome!

Athens is a great city.


Keep all original labels. Never, ever discard labels. If you must correct a name, add a label.

As said, stop further damage, freeze every drawer.

Repairing is a tough decision. If you can find the correct part, use superglue. You have the make a judgement decision based on the rarity of the specimen, the quality, the level of repair required, and how much time it will take.

How to collate the collection is subjective. I, like most museums, have a vast majority by order/family. However, I also, like some museums, have regional collections together for quick reference. For example, all of my papilios are together except for those from Solomon Islands, which are mixed in with other leps in drawers by island.

Chuck

[jhyatt]

Material from the 1800's quite commonly has only a country of origin, and perhaps a collection date and collector's name, as the data. Such material is generally worth keeping, despite the paucity of data and poor condition.

Enjoy the project,
jh

[chrisis21]

Thank you all for your thoughts. So, what I'll probably do (after conferring with other colleagues too) is to first deep freeze the drawers (-20C?) although I am pretty sure that after all this spray we gave in and around the cabinets with insect killer as well as the camphor sticks in each drawer probably killed off any remaining damaging insects...
Then, I will 'sort' out the specimens with no labels at all and keep some of them for the exhibition hall of the museum. The really damaged ones, I will photograph (not anything fancy like automontage techniques...) and their labels, I will database them (give them a specimen code), take them off the pin and keep them in small zip-lock bags in boxes (again with camphor inside). As nomad states, any data is better than no data, plus these specimens might be used for molecular work in the future.
I believe than about 50% of the collection can be stored in that way and more space will be available for future material. As far as I know, I am the first curator in Greece to implement the unit tray system and I'll go on using unit trays inside the old drawers too (I measured them and they seem to fit in with very few space left out). BTW, does anyone have any contacts for plastic unit trays? I have seen them before and they looked really cool! Transparent plastic with plastazote bottom and in really small sizes too!
Anyway, thank you for all your ideas and I'll keep you posted with news on the process. If any of you like to see some pictures of the Museum and a few drawers you can visit this FB page www.facebook.com/Zoological-Museum-of-the-University-of-Athens-ZMUA-554134558046884/.
Thank all once more!

[Paul K]

Entosphinx has plastic trays .
I would only use those as carton once are not rectangular/square .
www.entosphinx.cz/en/140-vnitrni-krabicky-do-krabic-unit-system-plast

Paul

[Adam Cotton]

To be certain to kill all pests you need to freeze the draws (-20C is fine) for at least 2-3 days, then let them thaw out for about a week and freeze them again. This will kill any larvae that hatch from eggs which are resistant to freezing. Ideally the draws should be sealed in plastic bags before freezing to prevent condensation immediately after taking them out of the freezer. You should leave the draws sealed inside the plastic bags for at least 24 hours after removing them from the freezer, so that the contents have returned to room temperature before opening the plastic bag.

Similarly spraying the contents of the draw with insecticide will not kill the eggs of any pests, so this needs to be done twice too for any draws that are not frozen, at least a week apart. Camphor sticks will not kill any pests already inside the draws, only repel insects outside from entering.

Adam.

[exoticimports]

If you want inexpensive unit pinning trays, try Bioquip. They have "assemble them yourself" kits which is easy and a lot less expensive for shipping.

1026A Cornell Unit Tray, Folding, 7-5/16" pack of 100 $38.65 Qty 10+ $36.70 (other sizes as well)


Chuck