Wellesley College has supported a herbarium for more than a century, and the Wellesley lichen collections are historically important for systematic and ecological research. Recent changes in the composition of the biology faculty at Wellesley have left the herbarium without an appropriate curator. The College decided to discontinue its support for the herbarium in the late 1980's, and in 1988 the collection (70,000 vascular plants and 20,000 cryptogams) was transferred to the New York Botanical Garden (NYBG). Dr. J. Kallunki, Curator at NYBG, proposes to repair specimens, transfer them to new sheets and folders, and integrate them into the Garden's herbarium. Systematic collections such as the Wellesley herbarium are critical resources for the study of biological diversity. The long-term maintenance and growth of natural history collections are essential for future generations of research. The New York Botanical Garden's willingness to incorporate the Wellesley herbarium will protect it from an uncertain future, and will make it available to the research community in a timely fashion.
