CONFERENCE REPORT
WHY MUSEUMS MATTER:
Avian Archives in an age of Extinction
The Natural History Museum, British Ornithologists’ Club and BirdLife
International at Green Park, Buckinghamshire, 12-14 November 1999
by Jo Cooper
How often does a conference organiser confess in their opening speech
that their conference was, in all honesty, a bit of a gamble and that
nobody had been really sure whether it would work? After all, the meeting
was unprecedented in both its subject matter — the interface of bird
collections and biological research; and also in its geographic ambitions
— intending to bring together representatives from as many of Europe’s
major bird collections as possible, in addition to a more general
international turn-out. As it turned out, the gamble of the British
Ornithologist’s Union, The Natural History Museum, British
Ornithologists’ Club and BirdLife International paid dividends and the
confession had a distinct ring of relieved victory about it.
One of the key elements of the meeting’s appeal and subsequent
success was the diversity present in almost every aspect of its make-up.
Starting with the 120 or so delegates themselves, at least 24 countries
were represented, primarily European, but with a healthy presence from
further afield, including Australia, Mexico, North America and Uganda. In
terms of institutions, the scale ranged from the biggest collections in
the world, such as The Natural History Museum (UK) and Smithsonian
Institution (USA), through to comparatively small regional museums, such
as the Castle Museum, Norwich (UK). Curators, researchers and students
were all present, with a whole range of other interested parties thrown in
as well. It added up to a huge pool of expertise and experience that was
shared extensively during both the conference and the workshops that
followed it. The opportunity for networking was amazing; probably this
alone could have justified the meeting and I think just about everyone
took full advantage.
But, there was more to it than socialising. (No, really, there was).
The programme assembled an impressive line up of speakers, dealing with a
very broad range of subjects. Altogether, the talks provided a
comprehensive overview of the eponymous ‘avian archives’; what they
consist of, what their applications are, and what the future may hold.
Between them, the talks managed to go from putting material into
collections, curating and managing them, through to getting evidence and
data out of them, increasingly in ways which would have been inconceivable
until only a relatively short while ago. Presentations dealt with familiar
collections, such as study skins; the not-quite-so familiar, such as
spirit specimens and skeletons; and the downright new-fangled, such as
tissue banks. Alongside these were ranged other resources; sound archives;
paper archives and libraries and also computer databases. As for their
uses, too many examples were given to record here successfully, but common
to many was the bringing together of information from several different
types of collection. Also emphasised throughout was the fundamental
importance of collaborations, uniting not just different types of
collections but also institutions, organisations and individuals.
What of the future, though? Everyone has their own visions or opinions,
but what came across as a consistent theme was the development of an
increasingly global perspective, contributed to significantly by
ever-advancing communication and information technology. Global thinking
was emerging at all levels, from the curatorial decision concerning an
individual specimen’s destination as skin, skeleton or pickle, according
to global inventories; through to the concept of the virtual ‘World
Museum’, with shared catalogues and databases accessible on-line. The
workshops after the conference discussed these ideas and issues further,
and as a result two projects are now underway. The first of these is a
Europe-based email forum for museum workers, similar to the existing
US-based AVECOL forum. The second is the collation of a world avian types
catalogue, which has been undertaken by the Division of Birds at the
Smithsonian. Furthermore, it was decided that the meeting had indeed been
a valuable exercise, and worth repeating. So, at the invitation of the
Alexander Koenig Research Institute & Zoological Museum, it’s off to
Bonn in 2001.
Just occasionally, the feeling comes upon you that history is looking
over your shoulder, possibly making notes. Talking to people during and
after the meeting, I think almost all of us came away from what was an
intriguingly diverse and often eye-opening meeting with at least a small
sense of being present at the birth of something quite special.
Considerable congratulations are due to all those who made it such a
success.
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