Collection Improvement and Computerization of the Pullen Herbarium (MISS), University of Mississippi

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The Pullen Herbarium of the University of Mississippi was founded in 1963 and is the largest public herbarium in the state. It contains over 62,000 accessioned vascular plant specimens and a backlog of over 40,000 specimens including bryophytes, lichens and myxomycetes. A majority of the specimens are from Mississippi and the southeastern United States. The recent reinvigoration of botanical studies in the departments of Biology and Pharmacognosy and in the Thad Cochran National Center for Natural Products Research has led the University of Mississippi to invest in faculty, research infrastructure and curricula in the plant sciences. In order to meet these challenges and serve as a repository for research vouchers, the Pullen Herbarium requires the installation of a mobile storage compactor system to increase collections storage, new cabinets to fill the compactor and to replace damaged cabinets, and the equipment, supplies and personnel to mount and accession the backlog. Several hundred historically important collections from the turn of the century will also be conserved and digitally documented. These collection improvements will increase total herbarium storage, allowing expansion. Due to the dearth of information on the flora of Mississippi when compared to most other states, funds are also requested to computerize collection data from Pullen Herbarium specimens. Personnel and equipment are required to enter specimen data into a relational database and build a searchable, multi-user platform on the World Wide Web, allowing information to be readily available for research, education, and public knowledge. An integrated three-year plan for collection improvement and computerization is presented that will stimulate research on the plants of Mississippi, encourage interdisciplinary contact, train students in curation and plant taxonomy, make important data readily available for research, and conserve the Pullen Herbarium for the future.