Curatorial Improvements to the Entomological Collection, Bernice P. Bishop Museum

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9423814 Miller The Bishop Museum arthropod collections are a unique assemblage of specimens mainly from the Pacific and its source areas. The collections experienced enormous growth in the last 40 years as over 13 million specimens were added almost entirely by project-based collecting. The collections now rank among the three largest entomological collections in the U.S.. This project will complete the improvements to collections begun in 1986 with the installation of 60% of a compactor system and consolidation of the scattered collections onto a single floor. A second phase included the elevation of curatorial levels to loanable units for the Coleoptera, Diptera and Lepidoptera. This project will complete the elevation of curatorial levels for the remainder of the collection, focusing on the Hymenoptera, Heteroptera, Homoptera, Orthopteroidea and the smaller orders and groups (Mallophaga and Thrchoptera), and including the subclasses Acari. Visiting scientists will curate the collections to loanable units (Smithsonian curatiorial level 3). Before the visit of the specialist, the technical staff of Bishop will consolidate the group and presort the specimens. During the specialist's visit a technician will help the specialist as well as complete any tasks remaining after the specialist leaves. This strategy saves the visitor's time and provides for a more efficient visit. Another fund-extending strategy that has worked will and one also proposed for use here, is taking advantage of travel schedules to piggyback a Honolulu visit. In some cases, exceptional curators were able to work on the collections by timing their visits with their travel schedules, supporting a Honolulu leg to their trip, for example. The completion of the proposed project has long term cost benefits as staff and visitors will not have to sift through multiple drawers of specimens looking for members of the group of their interest. Collections management tasks will be streamlined. Over time, as the studied m aterials are returned, the collection as a whole will become a much stronger reference collection permitting speedier and better identifications. Properly organized collections set the stage for the use of computers in their management and for the dissemination and manipulation of data associated with the specimens. All leading to much better documentation and understanding of the biodiversity of the region.