In support of Charlie and Art (see below).
 
I also believe that there are many museums that will accept shell
collections.  I urge those who wish to donate to chose a place that will
accession and catalogue the specimens in a timely fashion.  If this is done
the specimens can then be used by specialists and the information
diseminated via publication, etc.   Otherwise specimens will languish in a
back storage room for decades and the "data" associated with them will
languish as well.  It's one thing to accept the huge responsibility of
taking in what may be somebody's lifetime of work, but it's another to
accept it and make it available for future generations.  Backlogged,
uncatalogued collections do not serve anyone's interest.   So take the time
to get to know the institution and it's curatorial history before placing
your lifetime's work there.  Some considerations:
 
1.  The size and name of the museum is less important than the stability of
the institution.  In fairness, the big-name museums are stable, but the
size and activity of the staff in curating specimens is not always in
proportion to the name recognition.  Stability and activity are very
important.
 
2.  Placing restrictions on what can be done with the specimens, limits
their usefulness to a museum.  It really should be left to the curator to
decide what goes in to the collection and what is used for exhibits,
exchange, etc.  Understand that that is the way it is and be comfortable
that the museum and curator you choose will "do the right thing".
 
3.  The "timely fashion"  for curating and databasing mentioned above is
relative.  Unless funds are associated with the donation of the shells,
don't call a week later and ask if your collection has been computerized
yet.  One way to help the process along is to have some sort of
"electronic" text file/database that is donated along with your collection.
It doesn't really matter that much the program or database that you use as
long as it is well documented.  We have enough "techies" around that can
transfer files and make them useable.  If you are in the same town as the
recipient museum you may work out an arrangement to work them in yourself!
 
4.  Associated data are important, but not absolutely essential.  You may
have a specimen that is now extinct that will have value regardless of the
data.  Having said that, data are extremely important. My laundry list
would include (with an aquatic bent of course):  WATER BODY (river, lake,
ocean, etc.), COMMON LOCATION (i.e.,. 4 miles (or kilometers) SW of Chicago
at U.S. Rt. 66), COUNTY (also Parish, district or any other political
subdivision), STATE (see previous), COUNTRY, DATE (day, month and year,
preferably spelled out.  prevent the ambiguity of abbreviated order),
COLLECTORS.  With the electronic age additional locality data from a GPS
unit in UTM coordinates or Lat/Long are very useful.  Township, Range and
Section data (for those living where those are used is also very helpful).
 
There are many other thing to consider, but I've rambled on long enough.  I
have specimens to curate! (in lieu of other work I should be doing like
papers, reports......).  A potential resource:
 
http://www.inhs.uiuc.edu/cbd/collections/mollusk_links/museumlist.html
 
Kevin Cummings
 
>Date:    Wed, 14 Jan 1998 21:51:47 -0500
>From:    Charles Sturm <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Re: Answer to ... just chuck it all...
>
>Replying to...Museums don't want the collections...I can speak with
>limited authority.  Often they do.  There are several caveats.  The first
>one is that museums must be able to handle the collection to best fit
>their needs.  It is difficult to accept a collection that has to be kept
>together as a whole.  If an institute has 20 or 30 separate collections
>finding all the samples of one species is much more difficult than if the
>museum collects all similar species of a given group and puts them
>together in several drawers.  The institue has to be able to break the
>collection up.  At the Carnegie I always put a card identifying the donor
>in with a tray so that one knows the source of the specimens.
>
>The shells may wind up in different areas of a collection.  If there is
>any type material in the collection, this would be incorporated into the
>institutions type collection.  Other shells may go into the general
>systematic or research collection and others may be earmarked for displays
>or for outreach programs to schools.
>
>Do museums want our collections, Yes!~  Just make sure you are donating it
>to an institution that wants it.  I do know of museums that have refused a
>collection because it did not fit their needs.  Other institutes might
>want it.  We just accepted such a collection.  In the past 7 years I have
>worked on accessioning 4 collections donated to the museum from
>collectors.  The smallest collection was about 100 lots, the largest about
>1000 lots and I'm still working on it.  Being a research assoc. there may
>be some fine points that I overlooked and I leave it to curators such as
>Gary, Tim and Andrew to expound on any areas that I might have slighted in
>this posting.
>
>Charlie Sturm, Jr
>Clinical Instructor - Family Medicine
>  University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
>Research Associate - Section of Invertebrate Zoology
>  Carnegie Museum of Natural History
 
>Date:    Wed, 14 Jan 1998 22:15:38 -0500
>From:    MR ART WEIL <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Internet Message
>
>This is just a comment.
>    You are right about picking the right museum. If you want to
>donate a shell collection, you must be sure the museum is interested
>in shells. The Delaware Museum is. The Cincinnati Museum was----but
>isn't anymore. Data is more important than substance. Stuff collected
>on vacations in Florida without data is most valuable as driveway
>material. Data authenticates. Data hooks up with other data. Data
>lives.
>                              Art
 
Kevin S. Cummings
Illinois Natural History Survey
607 E. Peabody Drive
Champaign, IL 61820
217/333-1623
[log in to unmask]
http://www.inhs.uiuc.edu/cbd/collections/mollusk.html