Raw's private collection note

[Adolf Ceska]

Note: When I speak about collections, I have in mind botanical
collections, essentially herbarium specimens.

F. Christian Thompson wrote:

> WIDE DISSEMINATION OF SPECIMENS IS BEST, REGARDLESS OF
> OWNERSHIP

        I believe that specimens of one collector should be kept
together. It is duplicates that should be widely disseminated.

        [ICBN (8.3) definition of duplicates: "Multiple preparations
from a single gathering which are not clearly labelled as being part of
a single specimen are duplicates, irrespective of whether the source was
one plant or more than one." I have met a collection manager who was
dumping all specimens of those species that were already represented in
the herbarium by several specimens be it from other different
locations.]

> OUR BIGGEST PROBLEMS ARE NOT WHERE THE SPECIMENS ARE KEPT, BUT THE
> INCREASING GOVERNMENT RESTRICTIONS ON ACQUIRING SPECIMENS!

        I was a curator of botany in the British Columbia Provincial
Museum (renamed to the Royal British Columbia Museum [herbarium acronym
V]) from 1981 to 1995. I brought to the Museum my collections from 1969
to 1981, and altogether I ended up with about 30,000 specimens. After I
left the Museum, I curtailed my "bulldozer mentality," but collected
over 3,000 specimens. When I offered them to V, the Acquisition
Committee turned down my offer. Never mind that our collection (I have
to acknowledge the help of my wife) contains vouchers for several first
finds in the Province.

        I.e., sometime you have to keep your own private collection,
even if you don't want it.

All the best,

Adolf Ceska

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Adolf Ceska, Ph.D., Ceska Geobotanical Consulting
P.O. Box 8546, Victoria, B.C., Canada V8W 3S2
Phone: 250-477-1211; Cell: 250-216-1481
e-mail: aceska at telus.net or aceska at victoria.tc.ca
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BEN archive: http://www.ou.edu/cas/botany-micro/ben/
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