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DeLauro Announces Federal Grant for Peabody Museum

May 4, 2009

Washington, D.C. – Congresswoman Rosa L. DeLauro (Conn. -3) announced that the Peabody Museum of Natural History at Yale University will receive a federal grant of $149,282 through the Institute of Museum and Library Services to conserve and rehouse approximately 7,600 specimens in the Vertebrate Paleontology Fossil Fish collection. While the Institute received 129 applications for a Conservation Project Support grant, the Peabody was one of thirty-five selected to receive funding.

"The Peabody has an important collection of fossil fish – both historically and scientifically – and with this funding the museum will be able act to prevent the loss of irreplaceable fossils. By properly conserving these specimens, we will be able to ensure they are available to researchers and future generations," said DeLauro.

We have some of the most important vertebrate collections in the world – dating back to the time of O.C. Marsh, one of the pioneer collectors – including a spectacular fish collection. This grant is an enormous help because it will allow us to bring the fish collection up to the standards we have for many of our other materials. It is very exciting. We will be able to clean them, expose more of the fossil, put them in new trays and bring these specimens to the highest possible conservation standard. With the ultimate goal of making all of our specimens immediately available for researchers and creating a digital record of each specimen – putting images and data on the web for people to search," said Derek E.G. Briggs, Director, Peabody Museum of Natural History; Frederick William Beinecke Professor of Geology and Geophysics; Curator of Invertebrate Paleontology.

Currently, the 7,600 specimens are housed in substandard conditions, including the acidic boxes and packing materials in which they were collected more than 100 years ago. All specimens will be conserved and rehoused to the highest conservation standards and digitally photographed, bringing the museum closer to achieving its goal to make every specimen of the Vertebrate Paleontology Collections instantly available for study.