Labling Collections

[Guest Cris]

A recent topic talked about labling your finds, keeping notes, etc, so as not to forget where they were collected.... I wanted to ask the members how they label their finds, what kinds of notes they keep.... Do you photograph the fossil or write a number on a label and stick it to it? I think it'd be interesting to hear about the different methods you guys have... I don't thiink this topic has been addressed on the forum, yet... Not since we lost the posts on the forum crash a while back..

[Desmond]

I use clear plastic jewlery bags from hobby lobby 1.99 / 100 in various sizes. Each one has one or more fossils of the same type, i.e. Liospira vitriosa, and a identification card.

On the ID card one side has the Taxonomy from phylum down to species, because my fossils are sometimes loaned out for study / demonstrations. The other side has the specimen ID#, Collections Site #, Period, Epoch, Member, Date of find and a comment tab. Since I have about 1100-1200 fossils at the moment I do tend to lump multiple finds of the same species at the same site in the same bag and in comments put a general abundance note. Then in my PC I keep a log of all ID#'s and a copy of my Site log, which is kept with my field kit.

I know I over do it a bit but since I can't collect frequently I spend some time on organization more or less just to get them out of the box haha.

Desmond

[Uncle Siphuncle]

Since I try to collect every weekend collection management is definitely and issue. I tend to write site number on each keeper specimen or if I have lots of small specimens from the same site I just put them all in a clear plastic tackle box with one label on the box with formation and site number. Basically I manage it all by site number, and each site in my log details directions to the site, GPS numbers, formation, significant finds from the site, and general notes such as productive zones, optimum conditions for collecting, etc. By maintaining this site based log if I find lots of specimens in a short period I can prep them, label them, photograph, and store them before the next wave of fossils hits my garage (God bless my wife for allowing this to happen on a regular basis!)

I capture site number and taxonomy in the way I name my picture files, so I feel that I have a fairly complete system that suits me just fine with minimum effort. Other folks may have systems that work for them better. What may benefit new collectors in tracking specimens by site though is that it is easy to misidentify formation or taxonomy early in the game. If you've recorded site info only you can confirm formation and taxonomy later on once you build your expertise.

[LanceH]

I've only been actively hunting for 2.5 years and haven't needed to keep a journal, yet. My earliest finds were not documented as far as date and place but they were all within a few miles and it's easy to tell which formation they came from. Now I document everything and keep them in a zip baggie with a peice of paper inside with relevant info: location, date, and geo formation. Then I keep bags of the same formation in a plastic box with the formation labeled on the outside (see pic). Yesterday I finally got all the loose fossils off the floor and onto shelves (see pic). The more productive hunting days and group hunts I have documented in pictures and text on my website.

[geofossil]

Great topic and excellent info so far. Lance Hall has a good system in place and he'll appreciate his efforts now for when he gets to my age and almost a fossil himself.

Curation is one of my priorities. I have about 30,000 fossils and can pinpoint any one of them in the collection at any time. The first couple years of collecting I was a bit slack and things would get away...fossils here and there and bits and pieces that needed clean up, etc. I used to spend as much time moving boxes, working around 'stuff' as it would as it would take to simply sit down and do the job correctly in the first place.

My curation starts in the field. I've learned to only collect specimens that will actually end up in the collection. Usually this means free of matrix, specimens on the smaller side and so on. Some of my fossils are in matrix but, for the most part, 90% are complete individual specimens. No 'bits and pieces'.

I always clean everything up, wash, glue if necessary, within a couple days of bringing them home. I'll even do this in a motel room, etc. if we are travelling. 'In general' I assign a curation number to each unique speciment...that means if a unique species or, if from a unique location, formation, so on. If I collect 50 brachiopods of the same type from the same locale they all have the same number....the same with 20 raptor teeth and so on. 'If' it's unique in some way or has a pathology or some other quirk then I'll assign an individual number.

I add a new file in the computer for the fossil including relevent information. If it's a larger fossil I take a sticky white dot and write the number on it and then stick it to the fossil. If small (as a shark tooth, etc.) I'll put it in a clear zip jewellers bag or clear box and put the number on the bag. I also print out a collection info tag and store the fossil in a 'Plano' brand plastic box with the tag underneath. Plano boxes are labeled by collecting site, age or type of fossil....for example I have plastic boxes with only 'Cretaceous echinoids' or 'Carboniferous shark teeth', etc,' Larger fossils I have on display have curation numbers usually on the opposite side from view. Some very small vertebrate fossils I store in binders using silver dollar collector's cards. Fossils too large for Plano boxes but not on display I put in square tupperware-type clear boxes...consistent in size and stackable.

What I don't have are cardboard boxes, etc. squirreled away....fossils lingering in dark cellars, bits here and there and so on. Nothing 'waiting' to be cleaned up or prepared 'someday'...my experience is that someday never comes before the next collecting loot piles up.

I put most of my collection in Plano (a brand) storage boxes (about 150 or so)... for easy viewing: Also, what's really handy is having a few empty plastic boxes and moving the fossils one at a time to corresponding slots if doing some type of catalogue update...this is just more insurance against stuff from getting 'mixed up'.

This way I can store the boxes for easier access:

and find groups of fossils to examine ( for example these 6 boxes are Eocene mollusca)

Some small fossils (micro shark teeth, some small vertebrates into coin binders)

And others are numbered and go in one of the several displays:

or such as: etc.

There's lots of systems but what's essential is to get your fossils catalogued quickly and use some method to store them that is consistent and easy for efficient access. Print out your collection info or keep it on back up disks in case your computer crashes or formats change (they will!). Now that I have a digital camera my next step is to open up each storage box and take a photo of the contents. This will just add a function of easy viewing when at the keyboard

[Gatorman]

Wow I really like your system, I want to do something similar with mine. I want a database setup for my fossils each one in my collection will have a picture and then all known information, that will be the computer based side of my set up anyway. For the rest i may do the plano boxes for small fossils and stands for large ones. Right now i'm planning on building a glass topped coffee table to fill with fossils

[Uncle Siphuncle]

My system is quite similar to Geo's as well. I prep everything out as quickly as possible, even if we are talking hundreds of specimens per trip. Ideally I like to have all the new stuff prepped, photographed, and put away before the next weekend's trip. I like the ammonite display. I have thought about similar custom floor to ceiling displays covering an entire wall in my house. The 50+ pounders would obviously line the floor level, with the shelves above for smaller specimens. Getting a wife to agree to this type of decor is nearly impossible in a house the size of mine though. Then I'd like to be allowed to display all the mammoth material.

[Gatorman]

Well I live in a single wide trailer for now, so I know how it is not to have room for anything. Currently my fossils inhabit one corner of my bedroom and I only have room for so many. I guess its a good thing I dont find as many good fossils as you do Dan

[ebrocklds]

i follow a similar labeling method, only not as religiously. i seem to never get everything prepared. mostly just the stuff that i intend to keep long term. the stuff i trade out and give away gets prepped on demand. the identification part is what kills me. you guys have it easy. one of my trips was to a green river formation insect quarry. i dare anyone to id hundreds of insects before hunting the next weekend. so far i have been able to id about 20%. 3-4 of which are undescribed and i sent thm to a friend/ entomology professor to write papers on. the others i am still trying to get the appropriate literature to id. i don't recomend bugs for someone who can't stand having things not labeled and stored quickly.

(Dan, you need to keep trying to convince the wife. eventually it may work. in my case i convinced my parents to redo their kitchen and entry floors using polished fossil fish plates from wyoming. it is going to be awsome)

Brock

[geofossil]

Ebrockids. that's a challenge you have. But to make it easy what I do is take a couple minutes and get out the wet saw and cut away all the superfluous matrix and make the 'bugs' or whatever into thin-depthed 2" squares to fit my collection boxes. A hundred pounds of collected rock can quickly be reduced to a couple at most I don't wait for a full identification to curate. It gets curated with a number, the relevent age, location, etc. A taxonomic label can always be added as the I.D. is known, if ever. It's a lot easier to work with insects, leaves, graptolites, etc. if you can lift a lid and look at 24 specimens or whatever. In contrast, if they are wrapped in paper, put in boxes, etc. then I find they get 'lost in the shuffle' or just become a pain to unwrap, find a specific specimen, etc.

Danwoehr: 50 pounders! I know what you mean. I don't keep them that big but in general have my heavier guys on the basement floor level shelf and build up to lighter specimens. I use a full 1" MDF board or full 1" fir Plywood to prevent any sag over the length of the shelf. A friend of mine spray paints industrial steel shelving he scrounges and it looks quite classy.

[ebrocklds]

geo,

cutting the rocks to store them works great on many of the specimens. unfortunately (or fortunately depending on how you look at it) many of the rocks have insects all over them. i have several plates that are 10 inches by 8 inches that are solid bibionid flies, although not that well preserved most of the time. other rocks have nice associations as well so they stay the larger size also. i do think that getting locality/ formation info with them is a good idea and will do that asap.

thanks for the info.

nice collection and storage method by the way.

Brock

[Uncle Siphuncle]

It is hard to just leave big ammonites where you find them. My heaviest is 90 LB and my largest is 22.5 inches diameter. I still need to sneak the latter in from the garage and place it "inconspicuously". I have a couple 19 inchers above my kitchen cabinets. I'm wondering when I'll get a call from work that the cabinets have crashed onto the counters.

[kauffy]

Great topic and excellent info so far. Lance Hall has a good system in place and he'll appreciate his efforts now for when he gets to my age and almost a fossil himself.

Curation is one of my priorities. I have about 30,000 fossils and can pinpoint any one of them in the collection at any time. The first couple years of collecting I was a bit slack and things would get away...fossils here and there and bits and pieces that needed clean up, etc. I used to spend as much time moving boxes, working around 'stuff' as it would as it would take to simply sit down and do the job correctly in the first place.

My curation starts in the field. I've learned to only collect specimens that will actually end up in the collection. Usually this means free of matrix, specimens on the smaller side and so on. Some of my fossils are in matrix but, for the most part, 90% are complete individual specimens. No 'bits and pieces'.

I always clean everything up, wash, glue if necessary, within a couple days of bringing them home. I'll even do this in a motel room, etc. if we are travelling. 'In general' I assign a curation number to each unique speciment...that means if a unique species or, if from a unique location, formation, so on. If I collect 50 brachiopods of the same type from the same locale they all have the same number....the same with 20 raptor teeth and so on. 'If' it's unique in some way or has a pathology or some other quirk then I'll assign an individual number.

I add a new file in the computer for the fossil including relevent information. If it's a larger fossil I take a sticky white dot and write the number on it and then stick it to the fossil. If small (as a shark tooth, etc.) I'll put it in a clear zip jewellers bag or clear box and put the number on the bag. I also print out a collection info tag and store the fossil in a 'Plano' brand plastic box with the tag underneath. Plano boxes are labeled by collecting site, age or type of fossil....for example I have plastic boxes with only 'Cretaceous echinoids' or 'Carboniferous shark teeth', etc,' Larger fossils I have on display have curation numbers usually on the opposite side from view. Some very small vertebrate fossils I store in binders using silver dollar collector's cards. Fossils too large for Plano boxes but not on display I put in square tupperware-type clear boxes...consistent in size and stackable.

What I don't have are cardboard boxes, etc. squirreled away....fossils lingering in dark cellars, bits here and there and so on. Nothing 'waiting' to be cleaned up or prepared 'someday'...my experience is that someday never comes before the next collecting loot piles up.

I put most of my collection in Plano (a brand) storage boxes (about 150 or so)... for easy viewing: Also, what's really handy is having a few empty plastic boxes and moving the fossils one at a time to corresponding slots if doing some type of catalogue update...this is just more insurance against stuff from getting 'mixed up'.

This way I can store the boxes for easier access:

and find groups of fossils to examine ( for example these 6 boxes are Eocene mollusca)

Some small fossils (micro shark teeth, some small vertebrates into coin binders)

And others are numbered and go in one of the several displays:

or such as: etc.

There's lots of systems but what's essential is to get your fossils catalogued quickly and use some method to store them that is consistent and easy for efficient access. Print out your collection info or keep it on back up disks in case your computer crashes or formats change (they will!). Now that I have a digital camera my next step is to open up each storage box and take a photo of the contents. This will just add a function of easy viewing when at the keyboard

Really like your method Geo!

I think its a really good way to sort and store all those little fossils, and they also look great!

Your fossils are amazing too, thanks for sharing those pictures...

For now my fossils are stored in about 20 boxes under my desk, as soon as the house is renivated I can get them all out and figure out a way to store and display them. I was thinking of drawers? with each draw assignmed to a different age or locality? not to sure but I was thinking of having one or two of each species (the nicest ones) in different sized (according to size of fossil) fold out boxes, with a piece of paper showing a number which refers to a locality in my field book then species genus ect ect... like museum storage draws... i would put the smallest ones in plastic tackle box things like you have geo.

What do you guys think? the thing is I have very small fossils but also very large slabs and need a way to store them together...

any suggestions?

[Guest N.AL.hunter]

Geofossil, really appreciated the pics you posted on this topic. The idea of using mylars for coins to hold your small fossils is brilliant. I have a lot of those left over from my coin collecting days and never once thought of another use for them. Thanks.

I have to admit that I am really behind on labeling my collections, but hope to remedy that soon when we move into our new home. However, some of the above comments did bring up a topic that I have never seen addressed before. The collecting of partial specimens from a site when you have complete specimens available. I'll open up another topic for this discussion.

[Roz]

Wow, everyone is so organized and so many ways to store, display, and label.

I will have to admit, this area is currently my downfall. I realize the importance

of it all and don't have an excuse as I have the formation labels I can use.

I now empty my backpack completely and try to place fossils in baggies, placing

in pockets is a bad idea as I have lost fossils that way. In the past ,when I have

picked up really small items that I was not sure were even fossils, everything

went in my backpack. After several days of hunting, I decided to clean my

backpack. Well, one small rock turned out to be one of the best crabs I have

found (while in Arkansas). I am lucky those sites were all late cretaceous because

I will never know with certainty if it came from a creek or a quarry I used to go to.

The other best crab I have found so far, I could point out within a foot, where it

was found.

I guess my post would be a good, what not to do.

Lots of great ideas up there... a lot to aspire to

[geofossil]

. The idea of using mylars for coins to hold your small fossils is brilliant. I have a lot of those left over from my coin collecting days and never once thought of another use for them. Thanks.

Not my idea but that of a collecting friend. Sometimes dollar stores, flea markets, etc. sell coin holders for a few cents.

Here's another way to store coin holders in the Plano boxes. They just fit in the squares nicely. One can stack ten or so in each square. I lifted a couple groups on edge to give perspective. These are Devonian shark teeth. 'If' I want to remove them from the coin holder it's easy to do with a staple remover.....then restaple with a small staple size (looks neater than a big staple). Again, the idea is the convenience of being able to find, and examine specimens quickly and with ease.

I'm starting to sound like a commercial for these boxes but another advantage is if you are taking your boxes somewhere. Stuffing a bit of Kleenex in each department and closing the lid keeps the specimens 'snug' so they don't jostle around and perhaps break.

[MB]

Nice topic !!!

I have almost my collection numbered and labeled, but fisrt of all, I have the database, I use TRILOBASE, it permit store all the information you want and manage it.

Then all the fossils are numbered if the size permit it, and further, carton boxes or plastic boxes for store them. Each carton or plastic box are labeled as well, and the number are 1 for species/number for taxon and A for ammos, C for crabs T for sharks E for echinoids etc.

When the size permit it, I store all of them in the drawers.

Others are in the showcase

[geofossil]

MB: I wish I could reach through the screen and examine some of your great fossils.

I like your idea of puting a letter in front of a taxon. In the 1980's I used a program called 'Filemaker' on my old Macintosh SE....unfortunately I never updated it and had to redo everything on 'Excel' when I got a PC. If I had a letter in front of the numbers (or some code) it would have been easier.

Another point on the actual physical labels. To call my handwriting poor is an understatement...chicken scratch would insult chickens. Even, however, if someone has clear writing there can be issues. I use to examine specimens from Britain, Italy, etc. and often could not figure if it was a letter 'a' or 's'. etc. We often take our handwriting for granted either because we recognize it or it is the norm in our particular culture. LOTS of mistakes have been made in journals, etc, because of editing issues over wrongly interpreted labels and notes. In our lab everything was in print and upper case block letters. Today, it's much less of an issue if labels are printed out in some standard script. If sending specimens it's good to always print out the label and include a separate sheet with a list of all specimens.

[Gatorman]

Trilobase is a nice program I had tried it out before maybe now I should go ahead and buy it its only $19 he excepts trades for it but I have nothing of value.

[MB]

Trilobase is a nice program I had tried it out before maybe now I should go ahead and buy it its only $19 he excepts trades for it but I have nothing of value.

Hi all,

Geofossil: the TRILOBASE in fact is a excel program and you can cross all the fields with information you have there.

The letter before the number was just a personal option I took, but museums, for example, took only the numeration 1 to infinite.... and for the handwritting, not problem, the trilobase can print the label with or without photo, it works, sure, but the most important are to make the copy of the database, and printing sometimes the fossil list you have there (program make this...)

And thankyou for the compliments, some of the fossils that you saw on drawers are in my website, so you can see them there.

I agree with Anson, 19 $ is not so much money, and a part of this money go to the humanitary help.

I think.

Have a good day

[Guest solius symbiosus]

Well I'm just coming into the digital age , but I use an acquisition number followed by a locality number. I keep a brief description in my note book. It is a simple system, but I can look at a specimen and immediately know from where it came.

[Gary]

I give each of my specimens a sequential number, this is written on the specimen itself. then details for that specimen are recorded in a catalog. My original catalog consisted of a simple notebook, then I used record cards. Back in the 1980's I bought my first home computer (32k!!) and used a very simple database. Now I use a database I have written myself in MS Acceses. it records all the basic info about a specimen, location , age , identification etc.. and allows for images to be stored as well. each location is also described in a separate databse record and specimens linked to locations. A label is printed out for each specimen and stored with it.

[Gary]

The fossils are stored in drawers with better specimens on display in cabinets and larger fossils on shelves.

I am fortunate to have an old house and here in the UK old houses have basements in which I keep the collection.

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t=1451:gwfossilroom4.jpg]

[Guest solius symbiosus]

Nice collection. Those Ammonites are humongous in that last one.

[Gary]

Thanks, I was fortunate to collect from quarries many years ago that are now filled in. in my garden I have half a dozen even larger ammonites.