Gotta catalog 'em all!

This week our behind-the-scenes tour brought us to exhibitions where Dina Langis showed us the scale model used to design the Dinosaurs Among Us exhibit currently on display at the museum, and gave us a sneak peek of the upcoming Cuba exhibit. We saw people making very realistic models for the exhibit, and it was interesting to learn about the months of preparation spent designing an exhibit for visitors, including the planning and then creation all the structures, models, and art. It definitely looks like it will be a spectacular exhibit so we'll be sure to come back in the fall when it opens!

Walking through the exhibition department.

The scale model for the Dinosaurs Among Us special exhibit.

Back in the basement, we've been steadily making progress on the Mapes collection. Our work requires us to rehouse (1/3 of) the over 500,000 specimens, most of which appear to be ammonites, by transferring them to new trays, and then to catalog them by assigning catalog numbers and adhering labels to the fossils. Lastly, we enter all this information into a massive database for a researcher to use should they want to look at particular fossils (thank goodness for control+F). So far we've cataloged ammonites from Nevada, Texas, and Oklahoma from the Triassic and Carboniferous periods.

So so many fossils.

It hasn't been completely smooth sailing, however. We've had to make several adjustments to the data we record as we continue to figure out what procedures work best and how to be most efficient with our time. Next week, Royal Mapes himself will be at the museum to assist us and answer any questions we have about his collection.

Everyone hard at work rehousing and cataloging the fossils! I promise they didn't pose for this.

Until next time!