RECENT RENOVATIONS IN HERPETOLOGY AND ICHTHYOLOGY AT THE MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY (MCZ)
Karsten E. Hartel, Jose P. Rosado, and Linda S. FordMuseum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, 26 Oxford St., Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
Figure 1: North side of the MCZ building adjacent to foundation of new building that will hold some dry collections.
In recent years, extensive renovations that facilitate collection storage and collection-based research have taken place at the MCZ, including in the Departments of Ichthyology and Herpetology. Renovations to the predominately spirit collections began with an NSF-funded project in Herpetology that was completed in 2004, and continue today in both departments funded with MCZ and University funds. The MCZ collections span multiple contiguous buildings that were constructed independently from 1859 to 1889. This proud history presents special considerations when modernizing, and the collection-area renovations are addressing all historical and current concerns, including collection storage expansion (increased available lineal shelving by 30 to 78% depending on room configuration; tank-rack storage holding over 50 tanks), storage efficiency (new tank-rack designs for both departments, including a composite large and small tank-rack unit), as well as infrastructure concerns (removal of old brick and concrete floors to accommodate compactor rails). The resulting collection benefits for Ichthyology include two of the six renovated collections rooms which store almost one-half of the 1.3 million fishes in the MCZ, including the vast mid-water collection. In Herpetology, the renovation of the last collection ("lizard") room will allow the incorporation of the extensive anoline lizard holdings (48,000 specimens representing 85% of the known taxa) previously stored in the departmental library. The overall goal for the museum is to continue to use the most efficient storage technology to maximize the available space to provide for the maintenance of its valuable collections to promote research. Along with the collection-area improvements, other facility renovations, including the installation of an automontage imaging system and a new digital x-ray unit, will promote collections and enhance the research capabilities at the MCZ.
In recent years, extensive renovations that facilitate collection storage and collection-based research have taken place at the MCZ. In the dry collections, major room renovations have taken place in Invertebrate and Vertebrate Paleontology and new cabinets or compactor shelving has been installed in Ornithology, Mammology and Invertebrate Paleontogy. Parallel to these renovations was the planning, and early construction of a new biology laboratory (Fig. 1) adjacent to the MCZ in which space will be allotted for selected dry collections. This new facility is scheduled for completion in 2008. While the first renovations to the MCZ spirit collections took place in Invertebrate Zoology with cabinetry and compactors in 1998, the recent renovations to the Herpetology and Ichthyology collections began with a 2004 NSF-funded project in Herpetology that was completed in 2004. Renovations continue today in both departments funded internally by the MCZ. The overall goal for the museum is to continue to use the most efficient storage technology to maximize the available space to provide for the maintenance of its valuable collections to promote research. Below we outline many of these improvements. Building infrastructure is a major concern during all renovations due to the age (1859 to 1889) of the contiguous buildings. Most of the fully renovated rooms were gutted with foundations, floors, water pipes, steam supply, drain lines, electricity, sprinkler systems, and lighting upgraded or redesigned. Figure 2 shows the extent of construction where full gutting of the rooms including the removal of old brick or concrete floors to set a foundation for the strength and precision required for compactors.
Figure 2: Construction and demolition during 2006 Ichthyology renovation
The 2004 renovations in the Herpetology Department involved two of the five main storage rooms. (Figs. 3a & b). These first renovations included 3,570 square feet or 73% of the total herpetological storage area (4,870 sq. ft.). The renovations resulted in a 78% increase in storage capacity in the two rooms (increase of 3,629 linear-feet of shelf space, resulting in a total of 8,301 linear feet). These two rooms now house approximately 200,000 of the 327,000 herpetological specimens (see Figs. 4a-c.) The amphibians are now housed in one room where previously these were in three separate locations. The cleared and stained skeletal collection has also been relocated into the area. The larger of the two renovated rooms (former "snake room"), now houses all the reptiles with the exception of the lizards, which are housed in a separate room currently under renovation. Customized oversized cabinets (Fig. 4c & 5c) and tank racks (Fig. 5b) have allowed efficient storage of large specimens which were previously housed in cramped and suboptimal conditions. Steel tanks now house oversized snakes, turtles and crocodiles (Fig. 5b). Cabinets were also installed to store the extensive dry osteological (ca. 7,000) holdings (Fig. 5a). The goal of the current phase of the renovation is the "lizard room" (Fig. 3c) where mobile compactor and stationary units will be installed. A part of the room will be outfitted with tanks and tank racks for the larger lizards. An estimated 80% increase in linear feet is anticipated allowing the incorporation of the department's large anoline collection which has historically been housed adjacent to the departmental library. After renovation, this room will house approximately 120,000 lizard specimens, and achieve an overall increase of 40% in linear feet for future growth.
Figure 3: Pre-renovation storage in Herpetology Collection Frog room (left), Snake room (center), and Lizard room (right).
Figure 4: Renovated area in Herpetology. Reshelving in amphibian room (left), Aisle in snake room (center), and Galapagos tortoises in oversized cabinets (right).
Figure 5: Renovated Herpetology area. Osteological cabinets (left), Tanks in pull-out tank racks (center), and Large cabinets for oversized specimens (right).
The MCZ Ichthyology Collection currently holds 165 thousand lots consisting of 1.3 million specimens. The fish specimen storage area occupies six large and two small rooms in the MCZ basement that total 6,200 square feet. Historically until 1973, specimens were stored in wooden cabinets (Fig. 6a), but then a 1974 NSF grant, developed and executed by K.F. Liem, allowed a full renovation of all rooms and installation of stationary steel shelving that served the department well for 30 years (Fig. 6b-c). By 2004, however, new building codes, a tripling of the size of the Ichthyology Collection and the design of a new biology building that was proposed to house four of the MCZ collections mandated a review of collection storage. In 2005, two of the larger rooms with a total of 2,480 square feet were selected for Part One of the Ichthyology renovations. Part One was completed in the spring of 2006 (see Fig. 7a-b). The resulting renovation benefited an overcrowded area which formerly stored almost one-half of the fishes in the MCZ, including the vast mid-water collection. In summary, 2006 renovation in Ichthyology provided over 2,000 linear feet of expansion that was not present in the old shelving (27%) and this represents an estimated increase of over 50% in total space in the rooms.
Figure 6: Pre-renovation storage in Ichthyology. Pre 1973 wooden cabinets (left). 1974-2005 Stationary open shelving (center and right).
Figure 7: Renovated Ichthyology area. One of the main compactor rows (left), An overview of the compactor system (right).
Other facility renovations, along with the collection-area improvements, is the installation of a Digital Imaging Facility that includes an automontage imaging system designed by Syncroscopy (Fig. 8a) and a new digital x-ray unit. The x-ray unit (Fig. 8b), set up in an inner room, is an INSPEX 20i digital system with a Kevex PX10-16W micro-focus x-ray source and Varian Pax Scan 4030R software (resolution = 3.941 p/mm, -density dependent). This facility not only enhances research capabilities at the MCZ, but promotes the collections as well.
Figure 8: Syncroscopy automontage unit in operation (left). Digital X-ray unit installed in 2006 (right).
Current upgrades in ichthyology and herpetology are the most recent installments of a multi-million dollar initiative to deploy all of the MCZ's permanent collections in state-of-the-art facilities for specimen-based research and teaching on Harvard's Cambridge campus. When completed, this initiative will constitute the most comprehensive renovation and improvement of the MCZ's physical plant since the museum was founded by Louis Agassiz in 1859.
James Hanken, MCZ Director and Curator of Herpetology, initiated and facilitated the current renovations. Irv Dumay directed building infrastructure issues. K.F. Liem and G.V. Lauder gave constant support. A. Williston assisted in poster graphics. J. Woodward for providing photographs.