Overview of Collections

Nature breaks through the eyes of the cat.

Irish proverb.

Fourteen separate collections constitute the Georgia Museum of Natural History:

Each of these collections represents an irreplaceable storehouse of information and knowledge relating largely, though not exclusively, to Georgia and the Southeast. Each collection is professionally managed and curated by specialists in their respective areas. All the collections have regional significance and most have national if not international recognition within the scientific community.

On purely subjective basis comparing the range of types of collections, their size, the extent of their research programs and the quality of management practices, collections affiliated with the Georgia Museum of Natural History rank among the important museums of natural history in the nation and certainly within the top museums of natural history in the southeastern United States. A recent survey among the nation's universities maintaining museums of natural history indicated that the Georgia Museum of Natural History collections rank 9th in terms of size.

The Museum's collections are broadly recognized in the scientific community as an important regional resource. Each year the Museum processes requests for information and loans of thousands of specimens to researchers throughout the world. It is visited by approximately 100 scientists who utilize the collections in their research.

But more than just a repository, the Museum is an archive of information and knowledge that goes beyond the actual specimens. The cumulative knowledge and expertise of the collections personnel, most of whom have national and international recognition, is an irreplaceable resource almost as valuable as the collections themselves.

The Archaeology Laboratory houses over 3 million artifacts and specimens covering 12,000 years of human settlement in Georgia and the southeast. Stone tools, plant and skeletal remains make up approximately 40% of the collection. Pottery, in the form of sherds and restored vessels make up the remainder. This collection is the most comprehensive in the State and is one of the largest and most important in the Southeast. In addition to artifacts, the collection maintains extensive data files and records, including the largest and most complete archaeological site inventory in the state. The Georgia Archaeological Site Files are associated with this collection.

The Zooarchaeology Laboratory maintains a reference collection of over 4,100 skeletal specimens of fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals. These specimens are used to identify animal remains from archaeological and paleontological sites. The Collection has provided numerous identifications for museums, universities, and government agencies throughout the Southeast as well as the Caribbean and South America. This is one of very few resources in the southeast that can provide scientists with post-cranial skeleton reference materials.

The Botany Department Herbarium is a major regional repository of over 220,000 pressed, dried, and mounted vascular plant samples of the flora of Georgia and the Southeast. It is the most significant research resource of its kind in Georgia and is one of the largest in the Southeast. Its operations, programs, and services are national and international in scope. The Herbarium provides a wide range of important functions. In addition to its role as an educational and research resource, collection personnel respond to thousands of specialized information and identification requests each year from individuals as well as municipal, state, and federal agencies throughout the nation. The herbarium's e-mail is ugaherb@dogwood.botany.uga.edu

The Collection of Arthropods including those at the Experiment Stations in Tifton and Griffin and the P.W. Fattig Insect Collection on the University campus at Athens, represent the largest systematic collection of its kind in the State. There are more than 650,000 pinned, 129,000 slide mounts and 50,000 alcohol preserved specimens. The primary focus is insects from the southeastern United States. The systematic resource represented by these collections is fundamental to basic and applied research at the University of Georgia as well as other institutions throughout the world.

The Herpetology Collection contains over 46,000 reptile and amphibian specimens and is particularly strong in the species of the southeastern United States. Organization of the collection began in 1940. The collection is the repository for specimens associated with published new county records. The collection contains excellent series of most southeastern species, including endangered, threatened, and rare species.

The Geology Collections include the Economic Geology Collection, the Mineralogy Collection and the Paleontology Collection. The Economic Geology Collection represents a lifetime of collecting by Dr. Gilles Allard in ore deposits and mines on every continent, and contains over 20,000 specimens. The Mineralogy Collection is comprised of over 1,500 specimens from around the world. The Paleontology Collection consists of over 12,000 fossils and casts, including trace fossils from the Robert W. Frey Collection, modern molluscs from southeastern marine systems, and Paleozoic fossils from southeastern localities. These collections provide important reference materials and identification services to various industries and state agencies.

The Invertebrate Collections include the Thomas Mollusc Collection, the Gray's Reef Invertebrate Collection and a General (non-insect) Invertebrate Collection. The Thomas Collection contains more than 25,000 specimens of marine, freshwater, and terrestrial species; including many which are extinct, endangered or threatened. The Gray's Reef Collection includes approximately 5,550 specimens of invertebrates collected within and adjacent to Gray's Reef National Marine Sanctuary. Gray's Reef is a live bottom reef located approximately 17 nautical miles east of Sapelo Island Georgia. The hardbottoms and rock outcrops in this area support unique assemblages of temperate and tropical marine invertebrates. The General Invertebrate Collection contains over 3,000 specimens of non-mollusc invertebrates from other areas.

The D. C. Scott Ichthyology Collection contains over 325,000 alcohol-preserved specimens representing over 825 different species from approximately 100 families. The collection was begun in the 1940s by Donald C. Scott and, therefore, is of major historical importance. The collection contains an excellent series of the freshwater fishes of the southeastern United States, many of which are now endangered, threatened, or rare.

The Joshua Laerm Mammalogy Collection contains 25,000 specimens including study skins, skeletal material, and alcohol preserved materials. It was organized in the early 1940s by Eugene P. Odum and his students. This is one of a select group of mammal collections accredited (1985) by the American Society of Mammalogists. There are specimens in the collection that date back to the early 1900's thus providing an historical view of the mammals of the state. The strength of the collection is in mammals of the southeastern United States.

The Julian H. Miller Mycological Herbarium is an internationally recognized facility (GAM) housing over 30,000 specimens of fungi from throughout Georgia and the Southeast, as well as other areas of the world. The collection is particularly rich in ascomycetes of Georgia and the tropical Americas. It serves as an official repository for major U.S. Department of Agriculture regional research projects. It is one of the few significant systematic mycological herbaria in the country. The herbarium also contains an extensive library of references and reprints.

The Ornithology Collection contains 5,650 specimens most of which are study skins. In addition there are 800 bird egg clutches. This collection was organized in the early 1940's by Eugene P. Odum and his students. Many of the collection specimens are from previously rural, now largely urban areas of Georgia. On an international scale, the collection includes a small group of specimens from Central America collected from areas under siege due to devastation of rain forests. We also hold rare bird eggs from around the world, including several extremely fine collections that were previously privately owned. Some of the specimens were collected in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

The Palynology Collection consists of 700 reference preparations in silicone oil of pollen from seed plants and spores from other vascular and nonvascular plants native to North America. The focus of the collection is the pollen of the southeastern United States. The comparative collection is used in the interpretation and reconstruction of paleo-environments and the fine scale analysis of anthropological and archaeological sites.