Guidelines for the Documentation and Care of Invertebrate Fossil Collections

Abstract

COLLECTIONS OF invertebrate fossils are commonly maintained in museums, at universities, and by individual researchers and interested private collectors. Twenty years ago, the Committee on North American Resources in Invertebrate Paleontology (CONARIP) estimated that there more than 550 institutions housed invertebrate paleontological macro- and micro- fossil collections (Glenister, 1977). Historically, collections have been developed, managed and maintained by paleontologists as a resource for their research (e.g., museum curator or university faculty) (Hebda, 1985). Since the early 1970s, the field of collection management has evolved and the increased professionalization of collection manager positions has been instrumental in improving the management and preservation of invertebrate fossils as well as other natural history collections (Cato, 1991; Simmons, 1993; Simmons, 1995).