Chicago Field Museum Herbarium

Chicago Field Museum Herbarium
Name	Field Museum Herbarium
Established	1893
Location	Chicago, Illinois
Type	Botanical collection
Collections	Vascular plants, bryophytes, fungi, type specimens
Director	(see Organization and Staff)

Chicago Field Museum Herbarium

The Field Museum Herbarium in Chicago is a major botanical repository associated with the Field Museum of Natural History that supports taxonomic research, biodiversity studies, and public exhibitions. Its collections inform work at institutions such as the Smithsonian Institution, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Missouri Botanical Garden, New York Botanical Garden, and Harvard University Herbaria, while contributing to global initiatives including the Global Biodiversity Information Facility, the Consortium of European Taxonomic Facilities, the International Barcode of Life, and the Convention on Biological Diversity. The Herbarium's specimens underpin research by scientists affiliated with organizations such as the National Science Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the National Geographic Society, and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.

History

The Herbarium traces roots to the founding of the Field Museum of Natural History after the World's Columbian Exposition (1893) and grew through collecting expeditions sponsored by patrons like Marshall Field and partnerships with explorers such as Edward Wilber Berry and Frances Drake. Early curators collaborated with institutions including the United States Geological Survey, the United States Department of Agriculture, and the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia to build regional and tropical holdings. Twentieth-century developments integrated work by botanists from John Muir-era networks and contemporaries such as Harold N. Moldenke, Arthur Cronquist, and Elmer Drew Merrill, while postwar expansion saw partnerships with the Carnegie Institution for Science and digital-era initiatives linked to the Biodiversity Heritage Library and the Encyclopedia of Life.

Collections and Holdings

The Herbarium houses extensive vascular plant collections, bryophyte archives, fungal specimens, and xylarium materials that complement holdings at repositories like the Royal Ontario Museum, Australian National Herbarium, Botanical Research Institute of Texas, and the Institut de Recherche pour le Développement. Holdings include type specimens described in monographs associated with publications from the American Journal of Botany, Taxon, and the Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden. Geographic strengths encompass floras of the Midwest United States, the Amazon Rainforest, the Congo Basin, the Himalayas, and Pacific islands studied alongside researchers from Yale University, University of California, Berkeley, University of Oxford, University of São Paulo, and University of Tokyo. Specimens link to broader collections databases such as iDigBio, Plants of the World Online, and JSTOR Global Plants.

Organization and Staff

Curatorial leadership has included principal curators and collections managers who liaise with academic partners like University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Northwestern University, Columbia University, and Stanford University. The staff comprises taxonomists, collection technicians, databasing specialists, and outreach coordinators collaborating with consortia such as the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections, the American Society of Plant Taxonomists, the International Association for Plant Taxonomy, and the Botanical Society of America. Administrative oversight aligns with policies from boards similar to those at the American Alliance of Museums and funding strategies coordinated with agencies like the National Endowment for the Humanities and the United States Agency for International Development on international projects.

Research and Publications

The Herbarium supports systematic botany, phylogenetics, floristics, and conservation biology studies published in outlets including Science, Nature, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Systematic Biology, and regional journals tied to institutions such as the Royal Society. Research themes include molecular phylogenetics using protocols shared with the Tree of Life Web Project, biogeographic analyses linked to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), and climate-change impact studies coordinated with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Staff and affiliates publish monographs, regional floras, and taxonomic revisions that intersect with projects from the Kew Bulletin, Flora Malesiana, Flora Neotropica, and collaborative checklists for databases like GBIF.

Digitization and Accessibility

Digitization initiatives connect the Herbarium to platforms such as GBIF, BioPortal, Symbiota, and the Biodiversity Heritage Library, enabling specimen-level data sharing with partners like the Natural History Museum, London, Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (Paris), and the Botanischer Garten und Botanisches Museum Berlin. Imaging workflows follow standards promoted by the Consortium of European Taxonomic Facilities and the Integrated Digitized Biocollections program, with metadata schemas interoperable with services run by the Digital Public Library of America and the Internet Archive. Data mobilization projects have been supported by grants from agencies including the National Science Foundation and have linked specimen records to DNA barcode libraries curated by the International Barcode of Life.

Conservation and Curation Practices

Specimen preservation employs climate-controlled storage modeled on guidelines from the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers and conservation protocols developed with specialists from the Getty Conservation Institute and the Smithsonian Institution Archives. Curation practices include pest-management strategies informed by research from the United States Department of Agriculture, integrated pest management collaborations with the National Park Service, and archival treatments guided by the American Institute for Conservation. High-value type specimens receive specialized housing similar to collections care at the Natural History Museum (Los Angeles County) and the Canadian Museum of Nature.

Education, Outreach, and Collaborations

Educational programs partner with local and international institutions such as University of Chicago, DePaul University, Chicago Public Schools, and conservation NGOs like The Nature Conservancy and World Wildlife Fund. Outreach activities include public exhibitions, citizen-science initiatives tied to iNaturalist, teacher-training workshops coordinated with the National Science Teaching Association, and collaborative fieldwork with organizations like Conservation International and regional herbaria in countries served by the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and the National Museum of Natural History (France). Collaborative networks extend to regional initiatives such as the Great Lakes Commission and global biodiversity exchanges mediated by the United Nations Environment Programme.

Category:Herbaria Category:Field Museum