THE FUTURE OF THE PAST

In recent decades, improvements have been made regarding the acquisition, care, and composition of the paleontological collections found in public institutions. Recently, for example, there has been considerable debate concerning ethical issues related to the legal ownership of specimens and their source. However, many other problems persist with little recognition or efforts to resolve them by the paleontological community. This lack of action results in the continuing degradation of many collections which in turn undermines the research potential of an enormous amount of existing material. Fossils collected in the past or in the future should be viewed as non-renewable resources that need to be properly housed and documented once removed from the ground. Most of this material is irreplaceable regardless of the time and cost that may be expended to acquire further specimens. In vast areas of the country many of the localities, that historically were the source of older collections, no longer exist. Among the most important issues remains orphan and “disappeared” collections. While some prominent orphan collections have been identified and adopted in recent years, the scope of this problem could be enormous. Interest in preserving orphan collections is frequently retroactive in nature following announcements that a collection is being considered for disposal. However, there should be efforts to identify unwanted collections earlier to prevent degradation or loss of information. Some iinstitutions do not dispose of their collections even though they no longer have any interest in them and make little or no effort to maintain them. Numerous historical collections, which have been listed in North American directories from as far back as the 19^th century have “disappeared” and their host institutions have no record of their current disposition. A comprehensive effort to document the fate of these resources needs to be undertaken. Other Issues of concern cover a wide range of topics such as deaccession standards, improving documentation, ethics of use, comprehensive organization strategies, establishing cross referencing relationships of specimens, preservation of thesis material, compilation of missing type specimens or collections, and sampling standards.