The collection of vertebrate fossils (VF) at the Denver Museum of Natural History (DMNH) is an important resource for research on the history of life in the Western Interior region. There are approximately 37,000 specimens in the collection, including 52 holotypes and a number of scientifically important assemblages from the Cenozoic and Mesozoic. Highlights include fossil dinosaur and mammal skeletons, the original Folsom Bison and Dent mammoth remains from early human sites in North America, Oligocene and Miocene collections from the Great Plains, and growing Jurassic, Paleogene, and Pleistocene collections. Most of the collection was amassed prior to 1947, but field work over the past three years has added about 5,500 specimens. In 1989, the Department of Earth Sciences (DES) at DMNH began efforts to improve the condition of the collection and increase its availability for scientific research. In the past three years, part of the collection has been placed in new steel cabinets, 5,000 new specimens have been cataloged, and approximately 3,000 specimens have been entered into a computerized data base. In addition, DMNH has purchased new research and collection management equipment and supplies, increased the number of permanent staff dedicated to paleontology from 0.33 FTE in 1988 to 4.25 FTE, constructed a new laboratory, and more than doubled the storage space for the VF collections. Although recent DMNH support has improved the condition of the collections considerably, approximately three-fourths remain in poor condition. The bulk of the older collections have not been properly curated. Approximately 80% of them have never been cataloged or inventoried and 70% are housed in overcrowded conditions within wooden cabinetry or unstable steel shelving. Almost all of the older collections still have original field labels and miscellaneous notes associated with them. Although most of the collection has been prepared, many specimens are broken and in need of repair and conservation. This DMNH project will catalog, computerize and restore the older collections to make them more available for research and allow for continued growth. Primary needs are for space efficient cabinets and compactors, computer hardware, an hand-operated forklift, and additional personnel to curate and computerize specimens over two years to bring the entire vertebrate fossil collection up to modern standards.
