| Abstract: | The value of museum natural history collections is commonly poorly explained to, and therefore commonly misunderstood by, the general public. This is an increasingly dangerous situation at a time of tight fiscal constraints; if natural history collections are to survive, those charged with their care will have to do more to broadcast their value as both resources for research and public education. Research values include documenting biotas no longer available and present and past biogeographic distributions, housing type, voucher specimens, and (perhaps most importantly) serving as fertile places for scientific discovery and inspiration. Public values include serving as resources for identification of unknown specimens, hands-on education and the support of systematics, and (perhaps most importantly) as the depository for the final physical evidence for the history and diversity of life on Earth. |
