>But what happens if the data sheets are not donated along with the
>collection.  Does the collection lose all value to the museum
>or university other than respresentation of species?

I would think that the answer to the second question would be yes, unless
the data are available somewhere else. For example, you can tell a museum
you are depositing some shells with them, get a catalogue number, publish a
paper with the data & the catalogue number, & then send the shells (but not
the data) to the museum. But why would anyone want to do it that way?

I think museums get rid off donations without location data unless it is a
rare species restricted to one well-known location.

The curators on the list can provide a better answer to this question.

Aydin

>-----Original Message-----
>From: Mary E. Canada [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
>Sent: Tuesday, October 30, 2001 10:28 AM
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: Numbering systems
>
>
>But what happens if the data sheets are not donated along with the
>collection.  Does the collection lose all value to the museum
>or university
>other than respresentation of species?  I'm sorry to be so
>thick-headed, but
>I'm trying to understand how the archiving of these collections works.
>Mary
>