I posted awhile ago about how we had secured funding for an assessment of our collection and our building. We were busy preparing for that to happen in early June, and now we’re busy dealing with the results! First, I should acknowledge that the process has been SUPER helpful – inspiring even. We met with administrators, folks in charge of the building, etc. and learned a lot about collections, architecture, and engineering. I haven’t seen the draft report yet, but it will undoubtedly help us prioritize future directions!
Second, one of the most surprising outcomes was the collection assessor’s criticism of our use of polyvinyl acetate– (PVAc-) and shellac-based adhesives in certain specimen preparations. Wh-wh-wh-wh-whaaaaaaat?!?!?! But these are industry standards!
OK, here’s some context: Most people are familiar with how we pin insects. A steel (preferably stainless) pin is pushed through the thorax of the specimen:
The steel pin allows us to pick up the specimen (from the top, by the pin head) without damaging it, and it serves to hold labels with the specimen’s data: where and when it was collected, what species it is, etc. This works for relatively large insects, like those >1 cm long, but smaller insects are typically glued to a point, made from Bristol board, which is the skewered on a pin:
A tiny spot of adhesive is put on the tip of that point, to affix the insect to the point, which is connected to the pin and the specimen’s data, for perpetuity. You can imagine that the choice of adhesive is critical, and a lot of thought and trial and error has been applied to these decisions. We use an acid free PVAc dispersion or shellac (see our SOP on specimen preparation) for our point mounts, and these adhesives are apparently either not archival, not reversible, or both. But these are used by the vast majority of entomologists!
Well, I’ve been inspired to dig into this deeper, and we will present the results at the next ECN annual meeting. I surveyed the ECN community for what they use and what adhesive properties they consider to be critical (archival vs. reversible, vs. safe, etc.). I’ve also dug into the art conservation, paleontology, and archeology literature for insights into which adhesives are considered appropriate for museum objects. Stay tuned, but I think (I hope!) there will be a big change in the way entomologists prepare small specimens. In the mean time we have a lot of experimentation to do …
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