“ORPHAN” IS AN incongruous word to apply to something dead for millions of years. But there is no better term to describe the state of an invertebrate paleontology collection whose guardian can no longer care for it. The numbers of specimens in invertebrate fossil collections do not set them apart from other natural history collections; however, add weight and volume, and it is obvious why adopting these orphans pose special problems. The workshop coordinators divided the discussion of orphaned collections into those held by industry and governmental agencies (see Allmon, Chapter 4, this volume) and those housed by institutions and individuals addressed here. Topics discussed at this session of the workshop included: the definitions of orphaned and endangered collections, why collections become orphans, which collections are most vulnerable, and what, if anything, can be done to prevent orphaned collections in the future. I have attempted to present an objective report of the discussions and proposed suggestions, but my bias as curator of a collection housed within an academic department may have crept in.
Peer Review #1 of "The Global Museum: natural history collections and the future of evolutionary science and public education (v0.2)"
