Yale Bulletin and Calendar

February 18, 2000

Volume 28, Number 21

Gifts make Peabody's collections more accessible

The Peabody Museum of Natural History has received gifts supporting its marine life, invertebrate paleontology and herbarium collections.

Marine specimens

The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) has awarded the Peabody a Conservation Project Support of $49,955 to help preserve its collections of marine specimens.

The grant, which will be matched by the University, will enable the museum to provide a better environment for its collection of marine gastropods, echinoderms and soft corals -- including starfish, sea urchins and sea fans -- by purchasing and installing new storage cabinets and acid-free trays.

The Peabody's collection consists of nearly 300,000 marine, fresh water and terrestrial shells acquired in connection with research conducted by Yale faculty and graduate students over the course of the museum's history. This collection is both irreplaceable and worldwide in scope, and includes material of historical importance -- such as thousands of specimens from the landmark collection amassed by the U.S. Fish Commission along the Atlantic seaboard in the late 19th century.

According to Richard L. Burger, director of the Peabody Museum and professor of anthropology, "The IMLS grant provides much needed support to increase accessibility of the collections for teaching and research purposes as well as to ensure their preservation for the next century."

Invertebrate paleontology

The Peabody Museum has also been awarded a Charles A. Ross and June R.P. Ross Endowment in support of invertebrate paleontology.

The endowment allows the museum to revitalize its efforts to showcase the significance of the collections and to bring in scholars for their study and research. The Rosses have also given the museum an "impressive" collection of invertebrate materials, including related printed documents, says Burger, noting that the endowment and related gift will make a "substantial and long-lasting impact on the important work of the Division of Invertebrate Paleontology."

Herbarium collection

The Peabody has also been given $8,695 by the Bay Foundation to acquire and curate the S. Wildfield Herbarium Collection.

The Wildfield collection was originally acquired by Charles H. Bissell, an early Connecticut botanist who died in 1925. Bissell was one of the founding members of the Connecticut Botanical Society and many of his specimens are now housed in the Yale Herbarium

"This excellent historical and scientifically valuable botanical collection, featuring specimens collected in the early 1900s, complements and enhances the present collection in the Yale Herbarium at the Peabody Museum of Natural History," says Burger.

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