Boyce, Do you have such a template for use with Excel or know where one might be found? Failing that, what information, from most critical to least, would you want to see kept for material in a private collection? Thanks, Steve On 1/16/2014 4:57 PM, Boyce Tankersley wrote: > Hi All: > > Several years ago (about 8 if memory serves) Jane McGary, Robert Pries, Jim > Shields and I informally discussed the challenges of incorporating private > plant collections into botanic gardens and/or the NAPCC. The challenges > identified back then are still valid today - and they have done an > excellent job of elucidating them. The point that Dennis Kramb makes about > the longevity of his collections related to their hardiness in his climate > has corollaries in the botanic garden world as well. Non-hardy > containerized plants are more susceptible to over/under watering and > heating systems that break down in winter, as well as other environmental > factors critical to survival, and for this reason Chicago Botanic Garden > (and I believe most if not all of the other NAPCC collection holders) have > avoided them (Paul Licht, can you think of any exceptions?). > > The American Public Gardens Association organized and maintains the North > American Plant Collections Consortium. It is the closest thing we have to > the British National Collections in the USA and Canada. An important part > of the collection application requires the legal commitment of the Board of > Directors to provide the resources needed to maintain the Collections > indefinitely or until they can pass the collection onto another > institution. The absence of the equivalent of a Board of Directors for > private collection holders is not an issue that can be easily overcome. > > As a result of the discussions with Jane, Rob and Jim, I mentored several > private collection holders in an effort to create the kind of documentation > that needs to be passed onto future care holders. Most of them did not > have the resources (time, interest and/or knowledge of computer > databases/spreadsheets) necessary to create these records. The missing > piece of the puzzle wasn't the scientific or biological value of the > collections or the knowledge of the critical information about each > accession but rather an individual who was interested and able to work with > the collection holder over a period of time to get all of the information > recorded on their behalf. > > A database for this purpose doesn't have to be fancy. In fact, for most > private collections, I would recommend using a spreadsheet application like > Excel. From my perspective, the *critical* point is that all private > collection holders must utilize a template that incorporates the names for > the fields (columns) that is current usage in the botanic garden/biological > collections world. This insures that if an opportunity presents itself in > the future to more formally recognize these collections and make their data > available to the scientific community the information would be easily > transmissible. > > Best wishes to all from a very snowy and cold Chicago. > > Boyce Tankersley > Director of Living Plant Documentation > Chicago Botanic Garden > > > > > On Wed, Jan 15, 2014 at 6:06 PM, Jane McGary <janemcgary@earthlink.net>wrote: > >> Robert Pries wrote >>> There is a new initiative occurring in the American Public Gardens >>> Association. It is a system of National Collections similar to the >>> British System. These collections are meant to preserve the genetic >>> diversity within the nation. The USA is far behind in this effort, >>> compared to the British. A major component of the system is a will >>> that allows for the transfer of a collection to another new or >>> existing National Collection Holder. Many years ago I tried to talk >>> with the Association of Botanic Gardens and Arboretums. They were >>> not interested in working with private plantsmen. I believe this is >>> partly due to a vocal scam artist who was milking plantsman at the >>> time for plants he could sell in his nursery by claiming to run a >>> National Collection System. >> The aforementioned person also contacted me, but I found him so >> annoying that I turned him away. >> >> I'm sure our British members will have things to say about the >> National Collections program. I've heard a lot about it and also have >> a book on it. I know that some of the British National Collections >> are wonderful, well-curated resources, but I've also encountered >> people who had, or wanted to have, a National Collection but seemed >> not to know enough about what they were collecting. Such a program is >> vulnerable to various kinds of conflict. >> >> On the other hand, the idea of a database of private collections has >> been discussed previously on this forum. I wouldn't mind contributing >> my data to a project like that. >> >> Jane McGary >> Portland, Oregon, USA >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> pbs mailing list >> pbs@lists.ibiblio.org >> http://pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php >> http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/ >> > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.ibiblio.org > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/