jedgar
Junior Aurelian
Posts: 73
Country: U.S.A.
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Post by jedgar on Sept 10, 2016 3:25:17 GMT
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Post by nomad on Sept 10, 2016 7:53:35 GMT
Very nice they are super Papilio homerus. If you do not mind me asking why do you put quite large copyright stamp on your images?
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Post by cabintom on Sept 10, 2016 13:45:36 GMT
This... . ... is a really nice drawer. But, you've got Bebearia mixed in among your Euphaedra... though perhaps you weren't aiming to sort them by genus. Also, you've got three along the top there that I don't recognize as African species... could be the small size /angle of the picture though.
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jedgar
Junior Aurelian
Posts: 73
Country: U.S.A.
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Post by jedgar on Sept 10, 2016 15:22:10 GMT
Very nice they are super Papilio homerus. If you do not mind me asking why do you put quite large copyright stamp on your images? I like the P. homerus specimens a lot also thanks. I don't mind you asking about the copyright stamp at all. Very simple reasons really. Among other things I've been a professional photographer for over 40 years. There have been many instances where a photo I took winds up being used by someone who has not only not paid for the use of my work, but doesn't give me credit. The knowledge I use to take the photos took decades of training and effort to acquire. My camera equipment is expensive. Like anyone else I like to be paid for my work or at least receive credit I've seen my photos turn up on individual's web sites from the USA to Brazil to Russia to Europe. I've seen them turn up on chain emails. I've had magazine publishers rip me off, use my work, not pay me for it or even give me credit. I've had people copy images from my website (I used to have quite a few on my website at low resolution), make crummy, pixelated prints of them and then sell the prints on eBay. So I slap the watermark of my publishing company on each and every one of my photos so if it is re-used folks will at least see the company logo. Best Regards, Jim
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jedgar
Junior Aurelian
Posts: 73
Country: U.S.A.
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Post by jedgar on Sept 10, 2016 16:21:48 GMT
This... . ... is a really nice drawer. But, you've got Bebearia mixed in among your Euphaedra... though perhaps you weren't aiming to sort them by genus. Also, you've got three along the top there that I don't recognize as African species... could be the small size /angle of the picture though. I'm glad that you like that case. I understand your concerns about the arrangement of the specimens in it. At this point in time I have been on this job for 2 1/2 months. In that span of time the main concern of my boss has been to have me "perform triage" on the May Natural History Museum's enormous collection of many, many thousands of insects. Maintaining the collection by regularly adding fumigant, doing essential repairs to damaged specimens and such proved an almost impossible task for the family who has also been maintaining a 950 acre ranch and large campground. The collection needed my help. At this time my boss is not concerned with re-organizing the cases. He is not concerned with correcting all the old and incorrect nomenclature. That will all be done in time and I'm making notes about corrections that need to made as I go along. I suspect it will take years to make all the corrections that I would like to see done. Less than 1/4 of the collection is on display in the museum. The specimens in the cases are arranged just as they were by the late John M. May. He was less concerned with organizing his collection according to genus and location collected and much more concerned in arranging specimens in eye-catching displays to please the public. Here's more of the story. The originator of the huge collection, J.F. May, passed away in 1956. His son, John M. May (who passed away in 2007), took the collection on the road traveling around America with his family and it in a large Fruehauf trailer they pulled behind a truck. They would set the collection up at county fairs and other such events, charge admission and delight the public. In 1952 at a county fair in Sedalia, Missouri the brick building that the collection was on display in was struck by tornado. The walls of the building collapsed, dropping the ceiling onto the insect filled, glass-topped cases. As you may well imagine a great deal of damage was done. Many specimens were destroyed forever. The specimens that could be salvaged were, but in the haste to save them in the dark of night from the pounding rain and winds they were hastily pinned, pell-mell, into cases that had escaped damage. Specimens were separated from their tags and jammed tightly into the remaining cases. J.F. May was so despondent over learning of the disaster that the "Sedalia cases" went untouched, without being re-organized, and today remain as they were 64 years ago. They have remained unseen by the public all that time. Reorganizing the "Sedalia Cases" and re-uniting the insects with their correct name tags is but one of the tasks I am faced with. I don't expect it will be possible to match insects with tags showing date and location of collection, but I will be able to get their scientific names back with the specimens. My job to date has been to open all the hundreds of cases, repair damaged specimens (gluing back antennae, wings, pieces of wings, abdomens etc.) to restore them to museum presentability. To add fumigant (paradichlorobenzene or naphthalene depending upon the storage means), killing any living Dermestid beetles through fumigation, cleaning all the Dermestid frass out and generally making the cases look much more presentable. In time new cases will be built, the "Sedalia Cases" straightened out, all the damaged specimens repaired, the museum will be upgraded, nomenclature corrected (a lot of the issues with taxonomy are the result of the age of the specimens and the fact that the nomenclature has changed a lot since they were collected). For instance, so far the oldest insect I have located in the collection is from 1888. The most recent was collected in 1986. I intend to create case groupings by families, genus, locations collected and such. Eventually a research facility will be set up in the are where I'm working so that entomologists from around the world will be able to come here and utilize this amazing resource for research. I could not begin to tell you which of the cases of insects in the collection is my favorite. They are all, each and every one amazing. I am very happy to be able to help the descendants of John May preserve this amazing collection for posterity. So you see I have a lot of tasks ahead of me, but the end results will be well worth it for everyone who appreciates insects. Jim
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Post by trehopr1 on Sept 10, 2016 17:35:04 GMT
I do hope that the supersize cases you have worked so diligently on are not passed on to the public environs of the museum. That would be a pity. I have a fellow collector friend who visited there about 5 years ago. He only saw the public area of that building but, took lots of pictures. Lots of goose-necked incandescent lamps throughout the museum as testament to the countless hundreds of ruined specimens (due to light damage). Plenty of other broken or poorly re-glued non-leps present as well as evidence of the traveling road show mentality that once prevailed. Hopefully, whatever else remains out of the public eye will remain there, be properly curated, be kept out of light, fumigated, and be of some scientific as well as aesthetic value ! On a side note, I personally dis-agree with the idea of re-glueing anything back on to the individual specimens. Too much chance of attaching something that does not belong. Instead, you should be placing any parts (which are positively associated with a specimen) into a small glassine envelope which is than placed on that specimens pin. Any other stray parts throughout any drawer are then placed into a medium or large glassine envelope and pinned into the corner of the drawer (if you wish). This is the professional approach if one day it is hoped researchers will come to view the material. Travel costs researchers or their institutions and they won't recommend anyone else visit if what they see is lil' Billies half baked attempts at "saving" his bug collection.
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jedgar
Junior Aurelian
Posts: 73
Country: U.S.A.
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Post by jedgar on Sept 10, 2016 18:26:27 GMT
Here's a shot of just one of the May Natural History Museum's cases I worked on back in June. This is one not on display in the museum, but it is one that I think will be appreciated here. Yes, I know the case is a hodge-podge of specimens of many different genera from may different parts of the world. My boss just wants repairs done and fumigant added at this time. Organization will come later. I expect that since this is a forum for entomologists the identity of each of these specimens is well known. Jim www.grafixnpix.com/insects/16_6_30-1.jpgAttachments:
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jedgar
Junior Aurelian
Posts: 73
Country: U.S.A.
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Post by jedgar on Sept 10, 2016 18:39:02 GMT
I do hope that the supersize cases you have worked so diligently on are not passed on to the public environs of the museum. That would be a pity. I have a fellow collector friend who visited there about 5 years ago. He only saw the public area of that building but, took lots of pictures. Lots of goose-necked incandescent lamps throughout the museum as testament to the countless hundreds of ruined specimens (due to light damage). Plenty of other broken or poorly re-glued non-leps present as well as evidence of the traveling road show mentality that once prevailed. Hopefully, whatever else remains out of the public eye will remain there, be properly curated, be kept out of light, fumigated, and be of some scientific as well as aesthetic value ! On a side note, I personally dis-agree with the idea of re-glueing anything back on to the individual specimens. Too much chance of attaching something that does not belong. Instead, you should be placing any parts (which are positively associated with a specimen) into a small glassine envelope which is than placed on that specimens pin. Any other stray parts throughout any drawer are then placed into a medium or large glassine envelope and pinned into the corner of the drawer (if you wish). This is the professional approach if one day it is hoped researchers will come to view the material. Travel costs researchers or their institutions and they won't recommend anyone else visit if what they see is lil' Billies half baked attempts at "saving" his bug collection. I am meticulous at re-attaching only the correct parts to the insect from which they came. If there is any question then the parts don't get re-attached. I use a microscope to match antennae parts to be certain they are going on the correct specimen. Abdomens, legs and heads are a lot easier to match but I am certain of which Arthropod they belong with before they are reattached. I am well aware that if they are mismatched anatomically they are of little use scientifically. Having been an avid entomologist since 1957 I actually have learned a little. Learned more in undergraduate and graduate school. The collection has had some tough years. They are over now and the collection is on its way to being the world class collection it should be. The lights are now LED lights. There are no windows in the museum for UV to penetrate and the part of the collection away from the public is kept dark. By the time it is ready for researchers everything will be as it should be. Jim
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Post by trehopr1 on Sept 10, 2016 20:04:16 GMT
I wish you well in your endeavors jedgar. I'm sure the part of the collection (out of the public eye) still holds many nice treasures. The specimens you have shown us all seem to be quite nice. Look forward to any future photos of your curation work. Sorry, for the pessimistic opinion of the public collection but, I have unfortunately seen several collections in varying states of neglect, poor storage, and general dis-interest. A travesty really to the individuals who took the time in their life to care about something oblivious to most people.
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jedgar
Junior Aurelian
Posts: 73
Country: U.S.A.
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Post by jedgar on Sept 10, 2016 20:31:29 GMT
I wish you well in your endeavors jedgar. I'm sure the part of the collection (out of the public eye) still holds many nice treasures. The specimens you have shown us all seem to be quite nice. Look forward to any future photos of your curation work. Sorry, for the pessimistic opinion of the public collection but, I have unfortunately seen several collections in varying states of neglect, poor storage, and general dis-interest. A travesty really to the individuals who took the time in their life to care about something oblivious to most people. Thanks. It isn't that the family who has inherited this amazing collection is dis-interested, it is more like it been tough for them to maintain it and take care of the rest of their duties. I believe they are also trepidatious about handling the insects, at all. It is outside the realm of all of their expertise and they worry about damaging them. Because of the way some of the cases were made the family could not open them to easily place fumigant inside. They instead dropped the paradichlorobezene crystals through a 1/2 inch copper pipe soldered in the side of the cases near the top. As the crystals fell through the case damage to the fragile insects was inevitable. These cases were constructed of sheet metal and the glass was sealed in with window putty so except for the copper pipe they were quite airtight. John May had them built that way for when the collection was at Weeki_Wachi Springs in Florida back in the 50s. The copper pipes were connected to rubber hoses that went to a dehumidifier. I figured out how to remove the glass from these cases so for the first time in almost 60 years these cases have been carefully cleaned and the specimens cared for. I am very happy to be able preserve this collection and honor the collector who assembled it. Jim
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Post by cabintom on Sept 10, 2016 20:34:04 GMT
So you see I have a lot of tasks ahead of me, but the end results will be well worth it for everyone who appreciates insects. Hey, thanks for sharing the history of the collection. Very interesting!
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jedgar
Junior Aurelian
Posts: 73
Country: U.S.A.
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Post by jedgar on Sept 10, 2016 21:05:43 GMT
Has anyone any advice to offer as to why some links I posted a few days ago in a thread on Lycaenids work, but none that Ive placed in posts on this thread will work at all? Frustrating. I have a lot of great photos I've taken while working at the May Natural History Museum to share. Jim
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jedgar
Junior Aurelian
Posts: 73
Country: U.S.A.
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Post by jedgar on Sept 10, 2016 21:20:54 GMT
I wish you well in your endeavors jedgar. I'm sure the part of the collection (out of the public eye) still holds many nice treasures. The specimens you have shown us all seem to be quite nice. Look forward to any future photos of your curation work. Sorry, for the pessimistic opinion of the public collection but, I have unfortunately seen several collections in varying states of neglect, poor storage, and general dis-interest. A travesty really to the individuals who took the time in their life to care about something oblivious to most people. Thanks trehopr1. Right now links to photos I've uploaded to my server won't work on this thread. I don't know why. So it is going to be one photo at a time of some of the amazing insects at the May Natural History Museum until I get the link issue figured out. Here's one you won't see every day. This specimen was collected back in the 30s. Jim
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Post by wollastoni on Sept 10, 2016 21:22:21 GMT
Jim, you need to use the picture icon (not the link one) to display several pictures in your post
See the FAQ for more detail
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