The Darlington Herbarium is the second oldest institutional herbarium in the U.S. It contains 20,000 specimens, mainly from 1828-1855. Many of the specimens are vouchers from works of noted botanists of that period, a time of national expansion and exploration. Currently, the wealth of information contained in this collection is largely inaccessible because of cataloging, synonymy, and bookkeeping problems. An estimated 90% of the specimens have not been annotated in the past 100 years and are filed under their original taxonomic names. This project will provide two years of funding to repair, number and update the taxonomic nomenclature of the specimens. With the technical help of a graduate assistant, updated nomenclature and label information will be computerized to allow easy and efficient access to the specimens. Once computerized, specimens can be sorted by collector, current taxonomic name or synonyms, geographical area, location in the collection, etc. The award will also provide equipment to improve the housing of the collection and its use by professionals. The goal is to preserve, modernize and publicize this valuable and often- overlooked historic and taxonomic collection.
