Distinctly Dutch - New York State Museum

volunteers in action
Jerry Haller Makes Plant Specimens
Available for Study
museum
news
At any given time of the
day, any day of the work
week, volunteer Jerry
Haller can be found mounting and
filing specimens in the vascular
plant herbarium. Haller, who
retired in June 2008 after a career
as a pediatric neurologist, is said
to be a full-time volunteer. His
involvement came at a fortuitous
time for the Museum because
in January 2009, the number
of specimens in the herbarium
topped the significant milestone
of 200,000.
“That’s remarkable for a state
museum,” says Dr. Charles J. Sheviak,
curator of botany at the New York
State Museum. The vascular plant
herbarium documents the flora of
the state, including flowering
plants, ferns, trees, grass, and
more. It records what was growing
in an area at a certain time. The
collection represents all portions
of the state and also includes
specimens from throughout the
United States and Canada that
are used to compare trends in
variation. All told, the herbarium
provides great historical depth,
stretching back to the earliest
part of the 19th century, says
Dr. Sheviak. It contains approximately
400 type specimens that
serve as the standard references
for the identification of species.
Dr. Sheviak recalls that when
he came to the Museum in 1978,
he inherited about 55,000 unprocessed
specimens. Then, 23,000
additional specimens were brought
in from other state institutions
and collections during one year
in the early 1980s. Although the
number of specimens grew, there
has not always been staff or time
to identify and label each specimen
for the collection. Processing
specimens would be just one
responsibility of a collections
manager, for example. “Needless
to say, there are still 10’s of
thousands of specimens remaining
from the original backlog,
and other material comes in regularly,”
says Dr. Sheviak. “Jerry,
by working full-time on this, has
been processing specimens at a
much higher rate than staff with
additional responsibilities.”
Haller reached his own milestone
by the end of April—he
has mounted more than 3,000
specimens since starting at the
Museum in August 2008.
Haller has had a longtime
interest in orchids and other
plants, and while in high school,
he thought about becoming a
field botanist. While his career
aspirations led in another direction,
his avocation returned to
botany. As a volunteer, he has
become increasingly familiar with
vascular plants and was able to
organize the recent addition of
400 specimens from the State
University of New York at
Oneonta’s herbarium. He has
also brought in specimens for
the herbarium.
If the specimen has an identification
label, he mounts the
specimen and the label on cotton
acid-free paper. Once mounted,
the specimen officially goes into
the collection and can be used
by scientists and others for the
purposes of research and reference.
“There’s a goal to clear up as
much [of the backlog] as possible,”
Haller says, then turns away
to work on another specimen. n
Jerry Haller focuses on mounting and filing specimens in the Asteraceae family. As a result
of his work, more than 3,000 additional vascular plant specimens are available for study.
The New York
State Museum offers
many interesting
and educational
opportunities for
volunteers, interns,
and those interested
in community
service placements.
For more information,
call 518-402-5869.
Summer 2006 2009 n 5