Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections September 2019 - 28

Features
finished, Waller's analyses will be completed, and a report
will be provided to the CM staff. Using the detailed report,
we will prioritize the identified risks and develop reasonable
strategies to reduce them. This project will inform the next
strategic plan, which is currently under development for CM.
Our biggest challenges have been to coordinate consultations
with collections staff according to the original schedule. It
has been important to ensure that the gatekeeper understands
the CPRAM and the agents of deterioration because she is the
key to applying data to the workbooks in a meaningful way.
For this reason, we made arrangements for our gatekeeper
to take three on-line classes from Museum Study, LLC. The
classes included Preservation Principles for Cultural Institutions, Assessing Risk to Cultural Property 1, and Assessing
Risk to Cultural Property 2. Additionally, it was necessary to
evaluate the amount of time the first few workbooks took to
complete. Once this timing was understood, schedule adjustments were made.
We are indebted to the IMLS for their support of this project.
IMLS has underwritten the cost of having a full-time gatekeeper dedicated to this project as well as the involvement of
Protect Heritage Corp. We are confident that the final report
will provide substantial information about our collections and
the risks that should be acted upon.
Suzanne B. McLaren. Mammology. Carnegie Museum of
Natural History

Introduction
Compared to vertebrate zoology collections, those of mollusks and other invertebrates such as worms and insects
generally comprise larger numbers of smaller containers. The
average jar size is below 8 ounces (240 ml) and many lots
can fit into 6 or 4 dram vials (22-14 ml). With the exception
of large cephalopods, very few specimens require a jar larger
than one gallon (3.8 L).
Historically, the large number of very small specimens has
encouraged the consolidation of multiple lots within larger
jars (often called "carousels"). This facilitates conditionchecking and reduces costs, but there are critical trade-offs in
terms of long-term stability, ability to extract uncontaminated
DNA, vulnerability to closure failure, and accessibility.
The fluid-preserved mollusk collection at the Academy of
Natural Sciences of Drexel University in Philadelphia is one
of the oldest in the United States, comprising roughly 50,000
cataloged lots and representing more than 1.5 million specimens. Its previous housing dates to 1976 when containers
were placed in front-to-back lanes between wooden dividers
on steel shelves (Fig. 1) and arranged by catalog number as
opposed to systematic sequence. In late 2013 it was decided
to fully rehouse the collection to modern standards with condition assessments and database updates for every lot. Several
large bodies of uncataloged material would be added to the
databased sequence at the same time, and the project would
include a redesign of the storage equipment to make more
efficient use of the limited space. At the same time it was

mclarens@CarnegieMNH.org

SPNHC LEAFLET: An improved design for the storage of fluid-preserved specimens in small to medium-sized containers
Paul Callomon
Abstract
A system of metal trays for storage of fluid-preserved specimens was designed for the Malacology collection at the
Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia (ANSP) to
more efficiently use the collection space, increase ease of
handling, and shorten maintenance cycles. A detailed breakdown of materials and finishes is provided, together with a
generic specification drawing.
28 * SPNHC Connection

Fig. 1. The collection in its former state. Bottles are arranged in lanes, with numbers reading front- to-back and
left-to-right. Note: the large headroom required by the
presence of a single gallon jar on the top shelf.

Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections September 2019

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