Keep Calm and Bird On: About Our Collections
“If you don’t look, you don’t see. You have to go and look.”
-Edith Andrews
It’s human nature to collect things. The urge for a trophy, totem or souvenir, in actual or symbolic form, goes deep in every culture from the dawn of human history. But it also has a dark side. Starting in the 15th century, Europeans plundered the New World. Before photography, a specimen was the only proof a thing existed.
The development of western science in the 17th century only improved the excuses. By the 19th century, Natural History collections were all the rage. Nantucket whalemen brought back many “curiosities” for the Atheneum when Maria Mitchell was librarian.
But collections are truly important to science. They were part of the nascent Maria Mitchell Association from its founding. Plant and bird specimens which had been previously collected were early gifts. Properly preserved, a specimen reduces or eliminates the need for more killing.
With Edith Andrews, the ornithology collection was vastly expanded by salvaging birds found dead from window strikes or caught by cats. Herbarium, insect, mammal and fish specimens also grew.
The collections now include over 7,000 plant, 800 algae, 1,200 bird, 90 mammal, 150 fish, 26 reptile,10 amphibian, and over 1,600 insect specimens.
These are not just dusty relics. Since dawning environmental awareness in the 20th century, older collections have become increasingly useful to ecologists.
With new technologies such as DNA and stable isotope analysis, they represent a window into the past, a basis for comparison. It is as if they are books in a library of life we are just learning how to read. Researchers use our collections along with others. This Big-data availability far outshines anything even the largest museum could do on its own. As the collections are digitized, and are more widely available, they become ever more useful and important.
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