I Bid Fossils Adieu

[jkfoam]

In my advancing years I have been contemplating how to dispose of my fossil collection. For many years my wife and I have collected primarily Texas fossils and purchased other fossils that caught our interest. While our children, in their youth, avidly helped us collect fossils their interest did not extend into adulthood. Likewise, our grandchildren have little interest in fossils.

 

Fortunately, I found that my alma mater, Sam Houston State University, located in Huntsville, Texas, has recently started a museum, the Sam Houston State University Natural History Collections. I contacted Dr. William Godwin, Curator for the museum. He told me that their paleontology collections were woefully inadequate and they would be happy to accept my collection and maintain and curate it. As a result of my discussions with Dr. Godwin I have transferred my entire collection collection to them. All my specimen were labeled as to age, formation, location found, and genus/species.

 

I must say that as I prepared the fossils for transfer, reviewing labels, cleaning specimen, making new labels as necessary, ect, I recalled many happy memories of the family collecting trips and findings. I was amazed at some of the specific memories of fossil finds I could recall from as long ago as 50 years.

 

Well, so much for nostalgia. If others here on the Forum are contemplating dispersing their collections I can recommend the Sam Houston State Natural History Collections. I think they would welcome any and all collections.

 

JKFOAM

[FossilDAWG]

I want to applaud your generosity.  You have consistently been a source of excellent information for Forum members over the years, and I’m sure your collection will be similarly useful in its new home.

 

I hope you don’t mind that I removed Dr Godwin’s phone number.  Unfortunately publishing phone numbers in public forums makes them targets for spammers.  I’m sure Dr Godwin’s contact info can be easily obtained by contacting the museum.

 

Don

[grandpa]

The value of the memories is never lost.  Thanks for your generosity!

[JohnJ]

Having seen a portion of this collection, Dr. Godwin is in for a treat. 

 

Jim, as well documented as your collection is, they should be constantly whispering compliments about you.    Curation should be as easy as it gets for a large collection.

 

Thank you for sharing your knowledge and experience.

[Herb]

Well done Sir!

[Yoda]

Good to hear that you have found a good home for your collection. 

 

I have told my SO that if something were to happen to me, she should to sell my collection. 

It's all common types - not really museum worthy 

[Denis Arcand]

It seems that you became a member of TFF on June 25, 2007. I encourage you to continue visiting our forum, even though you have decided to part ways with your collection.

 

At present, I am in the process of organizing my own collection and have plans to donate certain items in order to create more space. Nonetheless, I am determined to persist in the delightful pursuit of fossil hunting, which is sure to generate new and cherished memories. 

[JBkansas]

On 6/19/2023 at 12:29 PM, jkfoam said:

Fortunately, I found that my alma mater, Sam Houston State University, located in Huntsville, Texas, has recently started a museum, the Sam Houston State University Natural History Collections. I contacted Dr. William Godwin, Curator for the museum. He told me that their paleontology collections were woefully inadequate and they would be happy to accept my collection and maintain and curate it. As a result of my discussions with Dr. Godwin I have transferred my entire collection collection to them. All my specimen were labeled as to age, formation, location found, and genus/species.

Thanks for the recommendation, I'll make sure to see your collection when visiting family in Houston.

Edited June 20, 2023 by JBkansas

[siteseer]

On 6/20/2023 at 12:20 AM, Yoda said:

Good to hear that you have found a good home for your collection. 

 

I have told my SO that if something were to happen to me, she should to sell my collection. 

It's all common types - not really museum worthy 

 

That brings up an interesting point.  A museum might not want a personal collection.  It's possible the people there might not want common fossils but what they really don't want are fossils with poor locality data.  The label can't have just a state or county as site info.  It has to be rather exact.  It's going to be up to a researcher how useful the info is.  I think with fossils that weather out or are dug out of a general area, it might be enough to say something like "Five miles north of Bakersfield" especially if the formation and/or member are given.  At some sites you can collect from more than one formation.

 

In the case of the TX university, it might be one of those great situations in which an institution doesn't have much of a collection and is looking to add to it especially local specimens and then an experienced amateur offers such material with informative labels.  That kind of donation is something the museum can build on.

[Yoda]

12 hours ago, siteseer said:

 

That brings up an interesting point.  A museum might not want a personal collection.  It's possible the people there might not want common fossils but what they really don't want are fossils with poor locality data.  The label can't have just a state or county as site info.  It has to be rather exact.  It's going to be up to a researcher how useful the info is.  I think with fossils that weather out or are dug out of a general area, it might be enough to say something like "Five miles north of Bakersfield" especially if the formation and/or member are given.  At some sites you can collect from more than one formation.

 

In the case of the TX university, it might be one of those great situations in which an institution doesn't have much of a collection and is looking to add to it especially local specimens and then an experienced amateur offers such material with informative labels.  That kind of donation is something the museum can build on.

I guess it depends on what the museum would want them for 

 

If it's a new museum as in this case wanting items to just display to the public, exact locality data isn't crucial

If it's for research purposed, then it obviously would be 

[North]

3 hours ago, Yoda said:

I guess it depends on what the museum would want them for 

That is true. For example museum here, does not have real fossils or only few if I remember right. Mostly casts, so museums without real deals would want more of those than one with large collection.

[jkfoam]

23 hours ago, siteseer said:

 

That brings up an interesting point.  A museum might not want a personal collection.  It's possible the people there might not want common fossils but what they really don't want are fossils with poor locality data.  The label can't have just a state or county as site info.  It has to be rather exact.  It's going to be up to a researcher how useful the info is.  I think with fossils that weather out or are dug out of a general area, it might be enough to say something like "Five miles north of Bakersfield" especially if the formation and/or member are given.  At some sites you can collect from more than one formation.

 

In the case of the TX university, it might be one of those great situations in which an institution doesn't have much of a collection and is looking to add to it especially local specimens and then an experienced amateur offers such material with informative labels.  That kind of donation is something the museum can build on.

You make some interesting and true points.

 

Museums , both public and private, and University collections may have very specific interests.  Some Universities even have committees to vet fossils before they are added to their permanent collections.  Also, as in my case, where a large number of fossils are involved (2000-2500 individual species) there is a significant expense and time involved in cataloging the items into their inventory as well as providing storage space.  Public viewing space is a whole other consideration.  University collections are generally reference and working collections.

 

jkfoam

[ClearLake]

That is fantastic!  And having utilized a number of your posts over the years as a good reference, I am sure SHSU will be thrilled with what they are getting especially as they are just starting out in the paleo collections world. We all should keep this in mind when looking to dispose of our collections, sure maybe the Smithsonian is not interested, but there are likely to be smaller museums or universities that may be. This is a great example!  

[Mike from North Queensland]

Firstly I applaud you for donating your collection to a scientific institution.

This is an issue that affects us all as we get older what to do with our collections. Some of us have children / grandchildren or some other relation that would love our collection. As it stands at the moment I have a daughter who would happily take a select few of the better display specimens but that is it. This is not so much of an issue for me as a lot of the bigger display specimens I have found are already in a museum on display near where they were found. A lot of the smaller specimens of scientific value have already been donated to be used for research papers. The problem for me is I still enjoy the fun of the hunt so I still collect and prep my fossils but my labelling has lagged of late but luckily I only collect from two localities. In the end most likely a lot of my specimens may end up at the grandchildren's schools where I hope they may encourage a new generation of collectors. As mentioned above labelling is extremely important if there is to be any scientific relevance to our specimens. As origin unknown is not useful in an academic situation so can only be useful as a curiosity in a display elsewhere.