Museums at the Forefront of the History and Philosophy of Geology: History Made, History in the Making

Natural history museums have evolved over the past 500 years to become vanguards of science literacy and thus institutions of democracy. Curiosity about nature and distant cultures has proven to be a powerful lure, and museums have progressively improved public engagement through increasingly immersive exhibits, participation in field expeditions, and research using museum holdings, all facilitated by new technology. Natural history museums have dispersed across the globe and demonstrated that public fascination with ancient life, vanished environments, exotic animals in remote habitats, cultural diversity, and our place in the cosmos is universal. This volume samples the story of museum development and illustrates that the historical successes of natural history museums have positioned them to be preeminent facilitators of science literacy well into the future.
Digitization reveals and remediates challenges to research on dispersed museum collections from Florissant fossil beds, Colorado
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Published:November 27, 2018
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CiteCitation
Gwen S. Antell, 2018. "Digitization reveals and remediates challenges to research on dispersed museum collections from Florissant fossil beds, Colorado", Museums at the Forefront of the History and Philosophy of Geology: History Made, History in the Making, Gary D. Rosenberg, Renee M. Clary
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ABSTRACT
Florissant fossil beds ranks among the best documented Cenozoic fossil deposits in the world in number of scientific publications and named species. The history of geoscience research on the Upper Eocene Florissant Formation spans nearly one and a half centuries. New excavations and transfers of historic collections have spread Florissant fossils to nearly 30 natural history museums during that period. The history of acquisition, conservation, and taxonomic study of each museum’s collection is unique, so Florissant collections provide examples of how taxonomic diversity, physical conservation, and public exhibition of collections vary with provenance.
Dispersal of fossils among museums, including...