ACQUISITION AND CURATION OF THE MICHAEL BERNSTEIN INVERTEBRATE PALEONTOLOGY COLLECTION AT THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY DURING THE COVID 19 PANDEMIC

The Michael Bernstein Invertebrate Paleontology collection arrived at the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) in November of 2021. The collection comprises 550 specimen lots of invertebrate fossils from several localities in New Jersey. There are three major phases in the curation and conservation process currently underway: specimens are rehoused in archival quality material, catalogued, and digitized. To ensure accessibility to the collection, the specimen data will be uploaded onto online databases, providing worldwide access to researchers, students, and the general public.

The Bernstein collection was acquired during peak Covid 19 pandemic time. Coordinating its arrival and curation proved to be a challenge due to widespread logistical delays and staff shortages. In particular, the volunteer program, which the Invertebrate Paleontology department depends on to move curation projects such as this one forward, was suspended from spring 2020 to late fall 2021. Curation of this project began earlier this year when volunteers were reinstated. By the end of summer 2022, we aim to complete the rehousing and cataloging of all specimen lots using volunteer help. Databasing the specimens will begin soon thereafter.

The collection material documents and preserves unique fauna from New Jersey localities that, in some cases, no longer exist. Often the most difficult part of databasing collections is capturing accurate locality information. This is true of this collection where many of the localities no longer exist or are no longer accessible. We plan to obtain voice recordings from interviews with the donor, completing and/or generating missing or additional locality information relevant to this collection and incorporating this data into the museum online database. In addition, detailed locality maps are to be housed with the collection to ensure the preservation of the most accurate specimen information through time.