Dear Conchlers,
 
 We (Doug Shelton and Andrew Rindsberg) continued our discussion of the
 Alabama Museum of Natural History and made some phone calls, and here is
 the result: Conch-L has once again made the world a better place to live.
 We should emphasize that these are informal findings, not official museum
 policy, since neither of us are staff members of that institution.
 
 The Alabama Museum of Natural History, which has not had a mollusk
 collection since about 1978, will rebuild its collection on a smaller
 scale. The emphasis will be to put together a reference collection,
 particularly of native species, including freshwater and terrestrial forms
 as well as marine ones. Voucher specimens will also be preserved. The
 collection will not stand on its own, but be part of the Aquatic
 Invertebrate Collection curated by Dr. Thomas Hopkins under the auspices of
 the Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alabama. Dr. Hopkins
 is adamant that the public must have ready access to the collections. A
 reference set would greatly aid the work of collectors and researchers. At
 present, there are several active malacologists on campus, including Dr.
 Charles Lydeard and his grad students, Wally Holznagel and Russ Minton,
 whose work emphasizes molecular biology; and Stuart McGregor, who performs
 baseline studies of freshwater mussels in Alabama rivers.
 
 Concerning the ability of this Museum to handle donations and make them
 accessible to the public, we have our reservations due to its chronic
 underfunding and understaffing, but we are willing to give it a try.
 (Someone has to be the first.) The Museum is currently undergoing a
 turnover in management, and it is impossible to say exactly what will
 happen when the new directors are installed in office, but we are guardedly
 optimistic about the invertebrate collection. The fact that mollusks are
 excellent indicators of environmental health and biodiversity is becoming
 well known, making the need for a reference set apparent. It's unusual for
 a museum to attempt to rebuild a collection for reasons other than war,
 fire, or weather damage--and refreshing for a museum to buck the current
 dismal trend.
 
 Potential donors should communicate directly with Dr. Thomas S. Hopkins
 (Dept. of Biological Sciences, Box 870344, University of Alabama,
 Tuscaloosa, AL 35487, USA.
 
 Andrew K. Rindsberg
 Geological Survey of Alabama
 P.O. Box O
 Tuscaloosa, AL 35486-9780
 USA
 
 and
 
 Douglas N. Shelton
 Alabama Malacological Research Center
 2370-G Hillcrest Road #236
 Mobile, AL 36695
 USA