Manually creating records from a private collection

Sometimes private collectors allow their specimens to be scanned and studied.  We believe they should be encouraged to allow a copy of the scan to be posted online or as supplementary data for the usual reasons of transparency and reproducibility.  Not all private collectors have a systematic database or identification system for their specimens. If you are depositing scans of private specimens you will need to do the following:

1. Figure out if the collector has a unique naming system for specimens in their collection.  If so, the identifier provided by the collector is the best one to use as the "catalog number" of the specimen record in MorphoSource. If not, you will need to come up with a naming system.  Something like "001" is most likely fine.

2. Figure out if an "organization record" has been created for the private collection.  Most likely it will not have been.  However, you can search the collectors last name in organizations on MorphoSource and it should come up if so.

3. If no organization record has been created in MorphoSource, you must submit a request that it be created by emailing the morphosource team and providing as much of the following information as possible:

Parent Institution name: "Private Collection of (collector First name) (collector Last name)"

Organization Name/Title: *repeat information from parent institution (above)

Institution Code(s): PC-XX (replace XX with collection owner's initials)

Collection Code(s): *usually not applicable for private collection.  Though a collector who has an extensive collection from different places or of different types could use this.

Website: *usually not applicable for private collection. 

Address: *usually private collection holders do not want their address used.  You should have a discussion with the private collection owner to determine their preference.

Contact Name and email: *You should have a discussion with the private collection owner to determine their preference.  If the private collector does not want to be contacted directly, the researcher may put their email here.  There are also "private" fields that MorphoSource admins can use to enter private collector contact information as an emergency contact in the case that the researcher can no longer be reached.

NOTE: The purpose of each private collection having its own organization record is so that each specimen can have a record of where it resides and who manages it. If a user in the future wanted to use that specimen for research or credit the collection for its availability, they would be able to have that information without needing to email you as the data uploader. 

PRO TIP: Once you have deposited media from a given private collection into morphosource, it is a courtesy to all if you send a physical copy of information on those deposits to the private collection owner so that they can keep it in association with their specimens.  As a suggestion, you could create a table that gives the specimen identifier (and/or a photographic picture of the specimen) next to the morphosource identifiers for the data you uploaded for it.  You could also include a note at the bottom addressed to a potential future heir of the collection stating something like "if you are the new steward of this collection please contact MorphoSource.org to help them update the new provenance information for these materials." If the collector keeps this information in close association with their specimens, this not only increases the likelihood that eventually the collection will be preserved (because people will see that it has scientific value) or donated to a museum, it helps ensure that the provenance and identifier information can be updated in the future if need be.

The mechanics of manually creating a private collection specimen record once the collector organization is determined is identical to manually creating almost any specimen record. This video (Also available on the root page) demonstrates the process of manually creating a specimen record in its second half after a portion demonstrating "importing" of a record.