Curatorial Upgrade and Computerization of the Cornell Ornithological Collection

这笔赠款支持康奈尔大学鸟类学收藏的改进和计算机化。藏品的重要性主要在于它的年代和来源，因此，它记录了自19世纪中期以来栖息地的变化、物种分布、特殊形态等，以及它的著名鸟类学研究的凭证记录(自1915年以来获得270个研究生学位)。收集的45,600个标本(36,800张皮肤，4,000具骨架，1500只酒鬼，2000枚卵子，1000只坐骑，300个巢)在纽约和北美物种中特别强大，是大平原和墨西哥杂交区最好的样本之一。部分藏品将被重新安置在新的橱柜中，以缓解拥挤和帮助保护；整个藏品将使用MUSE进行计算机化，MUSE是康奈尔大学在NSF支持下开发的一个藏品数据库包。这些改进将使这些收藏品从近乎孤儿的状态中拯救出来，并将使其更容易被用于鸟类学和鸟类生物学历史的研究和教育。

This grant supports improvements to and computerization of the Cornell University ornithology collection. Much of the importance of the collection lies in its age and sources and, therefore, its record of change in habitats, species distributions, particular morphologies and so on since the middle 1800s as well as its voucher record of celebrated ornithological research (270 graduate degrees since 1915). The collection of 45,600 specimens (36,800 skins, 4,000 skeletons, 1500 alcoholics, 2000 egg sets, 1000 mounts, 300 nests) is particularly strong in New York and North American species, with one of the best samples of hybrid zones in the Great Plains and Mexico. Part of the collection will be rehoused in new cabinets to alleviate crowding and aid conservation; the entire collection will be computerized using MUSE, a collection database package developed at Cornell with NSF support. These improvements will save the collection from a nearly orphaned status, and will make it much more accessible for research and education in the history of ornithology and the biology of birds.