Wrapping, Packing, and Shipping Fossils on Institutional Loan: Tips and Tricks for Fossil Trips
Tuesday, October 29th, 2024, 1:00 pm-5:00 pm, Hyatt Regency Minneapolis (meeting room TBD)
This workshop is aimed at equipping curators, faculty, students, collections staff, and avocational paleontologists with a survey of suitable materials and methods for safely transporting fossils to further research objectives, but also to empower our community to disseminate and elevate our standards of practice for sharing primary data and granting digitization permissions.
Sending and receiving vertebrate fossils on institutional loan is a routine activity that allows for the advancement of paleontological research. Each person handling a fossil from the field to the lab to the collections and beyond is responsible for the care and stewardship of both the primary fossil data and the associated records. Consequently, delicate and irreplaceable fossil specimens are frequently hand carried and shipped by courier to domestic and international destinations. The materials and methods used to wrap, pack, and ship fossils are pivotal to mitigating damage and ensuring that materials are preserved for posterity. This workshop aims to equip participants with the critical thinking skills to evaluate fossils for shipment and a methodology to consider when preparing loan paperwork, imaging fossils, documenting the condition, selecting materials for wrapping and packing fossils, shipping procedures, and storage considerations. Participants will complete two packing exercises and participate in follow up round table discussions. Feedback from the round table discussions will be incorporated into a Shipping Loans Guidelines document and video script for sharing on the SVP Preparators’ Resources webpage.
Vanessa Rhue has nearly 2 decades of paleontological field, laboratory, collections, and exhibit experience. Her approach to handling and transporting fossils has been shaped by her work in mitigation paleontology, her fossil preparation work at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County [LACM], and the countless institutional loans she has facilitated between institutions, including the acquisition of new collections and most recently multiple large scale collection moves at the Yale Peabody Museum [YPM]. Vanessa has an interest in fossil conservation, specimen housings, labeling techniques, and training emerging professionals in the methods used to care for vertebrate fossil collections and associated data. She has previously served as Vice President of the Association for Materials and Methods in Paleontology [AMMP], Chair of the SVP Preparators’ Committee, and is a member of the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections [SPNHC].
Materials provided: fossil analog to pack, packing materials and supplies, snacks
Organizer/Leader: Vanessa R. Rhue Yale Peabody Museum, Division of Vertebrate Paleontology
Cost per person: $10
Minimum # of participants: 10; Maximum # of participants: 30
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