Charlie Sturm wrote,
> Similar to Carole's tale, I picked up a collection for the Carnegie a
number of years ago. The estimate was 10-15,000 lots. All specimens were
carefully numbered, and if too small, in vials that were numbered. Yes, as
you may guess, there were labels with only a few lots (about 1000-1500) and
when the person who put this collection together died, the note books were
discarded before a family member was able to pick up the collection. Thus, a
collection 30 years in the making was reduced to mere curios with a single
decision made by someone cleaning out his library.

Yeah, my great aunt's genealogical records were thrown away before I could
ask for them, too. Oh, well, they may not have been very accurate anyway.
She thought we were descendants of Isaac Newton, who died childless.

This underscores the need to keep two copies of the catalog in different
places, and, as you said, one of them should be within the collection, not
in the library.

It's a good idea to keep one's eyes open when going through old libraries
connected with old collections. A collector may check off items in dealers'
brochures, for instance, things that the collector already has, wants, or
intends to buy. Truman Aldrich used a system of O's and +'s in the margins
of books that he owned on fossil faunas. These marks are only informative by
comparison to his collections.

Incidentally, long runs of dealers' brochures are among the first things
that children going through an inherited collection will discard as
valueless, and indeed they have little monetary value. But it seems to me
that the great malacological libraries might like to receive them, since
they can be very informative about collecting habits a hundred years later.
If everyone throws them away, then they will be very difficult to find
later. I would like to emphasize that LONG, COMPLETE runs are most useful to
librarians, not a random set of individual or high-graded brochures.

Andrew K. Rindsberg
Geological Survey of Alabama

----------------------------------------------------------------------
[log in to unmask] - a forum for informal discussions on molluscs
To leave this list, click on the following web link:
http://listserv.uga.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=conch-l&A=1
Type your email address and name in the appropriate box and
click leave the list.
----------------------------------------------------------------------