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，并为保护，保护国家资源，发现新物种，农业和医学等广泛应用提供了重要信息。收藏品也是教育和外联的重要资源。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世纪世纪最杰出的植物学家之一的私人植物标本馆获得了35，000份地钱标本。苔类植物是一小群陆地植物，与我们更熟悉的苔藓密切相关。它们在我们对植物进化的理解中起着至关重要的作用，并且具有生态意义。最近的这次收购使菲尔德博物馆的苔类收藏超过220，000个标本，是美国最大的收藏品，也是世界前四名。最近收购的地钱收藏由于其条件差，急需治疗。有一些重要的模式材料，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收藏品作为国家资源保存下来，供子孙后代使用。该项目还让青少年了解收藏品在促进科学发现中的作用。家庭、学生和公众也可以作为公民科学家参与，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、推广和教育组件，将改善科学教学和学生学习，利用博物馆资源。主要目标是策划最近获得的私人植物标本馆，其中估计有35，000个已故鲁道夫M.舒斯特，这门学科历史上最杰出的苔藓植物学家之一。目前的收藏状况，从原始报纸和棕色纸袋中的标本到原始收集包，需要广泛的策展。苔藓研究界已经等待了几十年才能完整地访问这一重要的收藏品，因为许多重要的标本仍然在私人住宅中，无法获得。有一种重要的类型材料需要紧急注意。主要目标包括所有标签数据和选定标本的管理、条形码、数据库和成像。 这些馆藏改进活动的时机将利用国家数字化工作和国际研究计划，并与之协同。数字化工作将为这些收藏提供数字访问，为科学解锁新的分布记录和新物种，并为GBIF，The Plant List和EOL等国际数据库活动做出贡献。 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获得。 将向主要来自资源不足但生物多样性丰富区域的来源国分发复制的样本材料，这些国家将提供宝贵的参考材料。

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.