Collection Improvement for the Mammal Collection at the Burke Museum, University of Washington

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9709442 Kenagy This collection improvement project will assist a mammal collection that has experienced rapid growth (to a total of 40,000 specimens) in the past 15 years and has recently obtained strong new institutional commitments for activation of its programs of research and curation. Both physical and curatorial improvements are required to catch up with the growth in the size of the collection. Major accessions include 14,000 specimens from forest surveys, mainly in old growth forests, in Washington, Oregon, and Alaska; 6,500 specimens from the private collection of Ernest Booth; and 4,500 specimens from the Walla Walla College collection. Funds will be used to physically integrate all specimens into a systematic sequence and to catalog the 28,000 recent acquisitions. Seven large new specimen cases will be purchased to replace substandard cases and provide new holding space. Access to the specimens and their associated information, as well as the ongoing curation of the collection, will be greatly facilitated both by the physical integration and cataloging of the entire collection into an already established computerized data-base. The utility of the Burke Museum's mammal collection to the local research community and to regional and international scientists will be greatly enhanced by the proposed improvements. This project is funded by a partnership among the University of Washington, state and federal agencies, and the NSF.