Skeleton Crew: Professor Helps Preserve Collection for Future Scholars

尘土飞扬，是的，而且常常无法辨认. 如果丹尼尔·布莱克本能找到一个约会对象，他是幸运的.

But 布莱克本 has since identified each specimen in the treasure trove of skeletons and models that he uncovered at the Albert C. Jacobs Life Sciences Center when he arrived at Trinity as an assistant professor of biology in the late 1980s.

这些收藏品摆满了他教室的书架和陈列柜, 溢出到相邻的储藏室, 也是他教授脊椎动物学的工具.

Facing both the specter of his own retirement and the likelihood of a building renovation, 布莱克本 recently met with 全球十大网赌正规平台 archivists to discuss how to reconstruct history of the collection.

So many of the pieces are irreplaceable, 布莱克本说, as he surveyed the group. 现在，无论花多少钱，很多都无法合法购买.

“这些标本很脆弱，”托马斯. 约翰逊杰出生物学教授. “The intrinsic worth of such specimens is widely recognized from a biodiversity standpoint, 而现在，这种多样性正以惊人的速度消失.”

20世纪初^th century, few prominent liberal arts colleges could boast of a natural history museum. Both Amherst College and Wesleyan University had such collections, as did Trinity.

Once photographed in all their splendor at Trinity’s 博德曼自然历史馆, the world-class collection was used in the early education of students. Boardman stood in the middle of what is now Gates Quad from 1900 until it was demolished in 1971.

收藏品中最古老的一件, 标着1888年, 甚至比那栋旧建筑还要早, 布莱克本说. And the northern fur seal on an upper shelf was nearly extinct in the early 1900s, 在它卷土重来之前.

在房间里走来走去, 布莱克本 reeled off the names of the largest skeletons: an Indian elephant, 马, 和骆驼. A Nile crocodile skull is from one of the largest of the land vertebrates. 亚马逊吼猴, 儒艮头骨, and a rare echidna from New Guinea are displayed near the more locally common snapping turtle, 摩尔, 和火蜥蜴.

Each partial or full skeleton reveals a story of evolution, or locomotion, or diet.

“你知道吗?你可以通过一头狮子的头盖骨来判断它的性别?” 布莱克本 asked pointing to the African lion skeleton before pivoting to another display. “I can tell this is a snapping turtle skull because of the size of [space for] the jaw muscle in its head.”

在他的课程中, 布莱克本, a past a winner of the Thomas Church Brownell Prize for Teaching Excellence, 把他的学生置于进化的道路上. Any bone in the human body can be equated to a bone in the body of another mammal, 他说. 例如, the clavicle in humans exists as a vestigial bone in cats and dogs because evolution determined the quadruped runners would not benefit, 他说. “功能和进化都体现在骨骼本身.”

When Boardman Hall was torn down, some of the collection was apparently dispersed. The geology collection was donated to other museums, said Amanda Matava, Trinity’s digital archivist.

Images and an old paper trail led Matava to locate some of the Boardman Hall items at the University of Connecticut and Yale Peabody Museum.

其他藏品的位置尚未确定. Two of the models pictured in popular black-and-white 图像s of the Boardman Hall interior, 例如, 还没有发现:巨型地懒和巨型犰狳, 都来自更新世.

多年来，更多的作品陆续出现.

有一天,, 布莱克本 arrived at the Department of Biology to find a wired skeleton of a human hand in his mailbox. Someone reportedly found the piece on Broad Street and turned it over to Trinity. Separately, 布莱克本 accepted a wallaby skeleton from someone in Western Connecticut. 最初在eBay上上市, 澳大利亚小袋鼠没有找到任何买家, 所以主人同意把它捐给学院.

Inventorying the skeletons with written records that are accompanied by photos of the items, 为子孙后代保存藏品是否至关重要, 根据档案管理员的说法.

Sarah Raskin, associate dean for faculty development and Charles A. 达纳心理学和神经科学教授, discussed the plan for the collection during the expected renovation. 所有物品都将仔细清点, 包装, 存储, and then brought back to the newly renovated Jacobs Life Sciences Center, 她说.

The collection will continue to be used in courses that cover comparative anatomy and evolution.

“我们必须让我们的学生为他们将继承的世界做好准备,布莱克本说。, 他还说, “我倒愿意这样想，等我干完了我的骨架, 我喜欢在这样的实验室里闲逛.”