Curation and Conservation of the Mapes Collection at the AMNH: The Continuing Saga of the Ammon-knights

As the weeks pass, we have continued on our quest to catalog them all. Overcoming pyrite disease and overflowing boxes, we have conquered the obstacles in our way to being the very best ammon-knight masters.

The Ammon-knights (L-R Spencer, Ashley, Kat, Nick, Sara, Kate)

This post marks the end of our sixth week. Our work this summer has passed swiftly. Currently, we are on track to meet and even (dare I say it) surpass our goal for the summer.

So what does this work look like?

This work is done in a setting which has a tendency to look like very controlled chaos.

Each specimen is given a catalog number that is adhered to the specimen or to a box. This number is then input into the database along with all the information about the specimen.

This photo shows specimens after being rehoused
(in clear plastic boxes) and before rehousing (dark vials)

Specimens are placed in drawers, which are then labeled based on the locality and age.

Along with the drawers, each cabinet gets its own label, which is color coded according to time period from the International Chronostratigraphic Chart. So a cabinet of Cretaceous material gets a different color than material from the Triassic.

Green is Cretaceous; Purple is Triassic

Tour of the week

This week we visited ornithology. Our wonderful tour guide showed us the ins and outs of the department, including their amazing collection of specimens. We had an exciting opportunity to see many unique birds, including some that were collected in the 1800s.