CSBR: Natural History: Critical Curation for a Critical Collection: The Schuster Herbarium at The Field Museum

博物馆和学术机构的自然历史标本收藏记录了物种多样性，并为从保护、保障国家资源、发现新物种到农业和医学等广泛应用提供了基本信息。藏品也是教育和宣传的重要资源。菲尔德博物馆的植物标本馆收藏了近300万份干燥的植物和真菌标本。2013年，博物馆从20世纪最杰出的植物学家之一的私人标本馆获得了3.5万个苔类标本。苔类是一小群陆地植物，与更常见的苔藓关系密切。它们在我们对植物进化的理解中起着至关重要的作用，具有重要的生态学意义。最近的收购使菲尔德博物馆收藏的超过22万个标本成为美国最大的收藏品，跻身世界前四名。最近获得的苔类收藏品由于条件较差，急需进行保管。有一些重要的类型材料，用于描述和命名新物种，需要紧急关注。该项目将确保将这些藏品作为国家资源保存下来，留给子孙后代。该项目还让青少年了解收藏在促进科学发现方面所起的作用。家庭、学生和公众也可以作为公民科学家参与，并通过访问http://microplants.fieldmuseum.org.帮助发现生物多样性该项目有强大的培训、推广和教育部分，将利用博物馆资源改善科学教学和学生学习。主要目标是管理最近获得的私人标本馆，其中包括已故教授鲁道夫·M·舒斯特(Rudolf M.Schuster)的约35,000个苔类植物标本。舒斯特教授是该学科历史上最杰出的苔藓学者之一。从原始报纸和棕色纸袋中的标本到原始收集包的标本，这些藏品的现状需要广泛的收藏。苔藓研究界几十年来一直在等待获取这一重要收藏品的全部信息，因为许多重要的标本仍留在私人住所，无法提供。有重要的类型材料需要紧急关注。主要目标包括对所有标签数据和选定的标本进行整理、条形码、数据库和成像。这些收集改进活动的时机将与国家数字化努力和国际研究计划相结合，并与之协同。数字化工作将提供对这些收藏的数字访问，向科学解锁新的分布记录和新物种，并为国际数据库活动，如GBIF、植物名录和EOL做出贡献。该项目产生的所有数据将与iDigBio(https://www.idigbio.org/)，)共享，以确保研究人员和教育工作者能够访问。复制的标本材料将分发给原产国，这些原产国将提供有价值的参考材料，主要来自资源不足但生物多样性丰富的地区。

Natural history specimen collections in museums and academic institutions document species diversity and provide essential information for broad applications ranging from conservation, securing national resources, discovery of new species, to agriculture and medicine. Collections are also an important resource for education and outreach. The Field Museum herbarium houses almost 3 million dried plant and fungi specimens. In 2013, the Museum acquired 35,000 liverwort specimens from the private herbarium of one of the most preeminent botanists of the 20th century. Liverworts are a small group of land plants that are closely related to the more familiar mosses. They play a critical role in our understanding of plant evolution and are ecologically significant. This recent acquisition makes The Field Museum liverwort collection, of over 220,000 specimens, the largest collection in the US and among the top four in the world. The recently acquired liverwort collection is in critical need of curation because of its poor condition. There is vital type material, used to describe and name new species, requiring urgent attention. This project will ensure the preservation of this collection as a national resource for future generations. The project also engages teens in understanding the role collections play in furthering scientific discovery. Families, students, and the general public can also participate as Citizen Scientists and help discover biodiversity by visiting http://microplants.fieldmuseum.org. The project has strong training, outreach and educational components that will improve science instruction and student learning, leveraging museum resources.The principal objective is to curate the recently acquired private herbarium of an estimated 35,000 liverwort (Marchantiophyta) specimens of the late Prof. Rudolf M. Schuster, one of the most preeminent bryologists in the history of the discipline. The current condition of this collection, ranging from specimens in original newspaper and brown paper bags to original collecting packets, necessitates extensive curation. The bryology research community has been waiting decades to access this important collection in its entirety as many significant specimens remained in private residence and were not made available. There is vital type material that requires urgent attention. The principal objectives include curating, barcoding, databasing and imaging all label data and selected specimens. The timing of these collection improvement activities will leverage and is synergistic with national digitization efforts and international research programs. The digitization effort will provide digital access to this collection, unlock new distribution records and new species to science, and contribute to international databasing activities such as GBIF, The Plant List, and EOL. All data resulting from this project will be shared with iDigBio (https://www.idigbio.org/), ensuring accessibility to researchers and educators. Duplicate specimen material will be distributed to countries of origin that would provide valuable reference material, mainly from under-resourced yet biodiversity rich regions.