Renovation of Vertebrate Fossil Collections of the University of Nebraska State Museum

内布拉斯加州大学的脊椎动物化石收藏构成了北美大平原脊椎动物，特别是新生代哺乳动物进化的最重要记录之一。它很大（超过一百万个标本），具有重要的历史意义（143个全模），并且被活跃的策展人员和众多访问科学家大量使用。然而，两个严重的问题阻碍了这一独特资源的研究潜力得到充分实现。首先，至少有三分之一的藏品被存放在距离大学校园内博物馆研究设施40英里的不安全、没有照明、没有暖气的临时避难所。大学官员意识到这个问题，已经在校园内一个更现代化的建筑中腾出了空间，并同意翻新8500平方米。这些濒危动物大多是未经准备的、具有研究质量的新近系哺乳动物材料，这些材料是20世纪30年代由联邦政府资助的实地项目收集的。该项目提供资金用于将这些材料运送到新设施，并用于其初步准备和稳定。该项目解决的第二个需求是升级已经安置在大学校园一个优秀的现代化设施中的活跃的研究收藏。目前，只有约1/3的藏品存放在功能性金属柜中；其余的物品排列在不同程度的难以接近的地方，在老化的木柜里或堆放在纸箱里。该项目为重新组织和显著提高这些收藏的有用性提供了资金。

The vertebrate fossil collection of the University of Nebraska constitutes one of the most important records of vertebrate evolution, especially of Cenozoic mammals, in the Great Plains of North America. It is large (more than one million specimens), historically important (143 holotypes), and is heavily used by an active curatorial staff and numerous visiting scientists. Two serious problems, however, prevent the research potential of this unique resource from being fully realized. First, at least one-third of the collection is stored in insecure, unlit, unheated temporary shelters 40 miles from the Museum's research facility on the University campus. University officials, cognizant of the problem, have made space available in a more modern building on campus and have agreed to renovate 8500 sq. ft. of this facility for the reception of the endangered collection, much of which is unprepared, research-quality Neogene mammal material collected through federally-funded field programs in the 1930s. This project provides funds for transporting this material to the new facility and for its initial preparation and stabilization. The second need addressed by the project is for upgrading the active research collection already housed in an excellent modern facility on the University campus. Only about 1/3 of this collection is currently stored in functional metal cabinets; the remainder is arrayed, in various degrees of inaccessibility, in deteriorating wooden cabinets or stacked in cardboard boxes. This project provides funds to reorganize and markedly enhance the usefulness of this collection.