The National Institute for Conservation (NIC) is an organization devoted to the preservation of historical objects for research. The Institute's traditional focus has been on objects in the arts, humanities, ethnography, archeology, and anthropology, but the organization's vision has broadened recently to include natural history specimens. Dr. Donald Duckworth, President of the Bernice P. Bishop Museum of Natural History, proposes an initiative aimed at preserving natural history collections curated in museums and herbaria. NIC would conduct a series of meetings between materials scientists, conservators, and museum curators to better define preservation problems and materials research needed to protect museum and herbarium specimens. These meetings would result in a series of reports outlining recommendations for specimen care, materials research, and training of museum professionals. Museum and herbarium specimens are unique objects that record the biological diversity on earth. As natural habitats shrink and species become extinct, these specimens become irreplaceable objects of study. Future generations of biological research will rely on the preservation of these specimens, and the proposed workshop activities will set in motion a long-term planning process. These planning activities will formulate recommendations and priorities, and will greatly advance the research community's ability to preserve these resources.
