© 2024 Kansas City Public Radio
NPR in Kansas City
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

For Some Scientists, The Call To Get Rid Of Natural History Collections Can Be Personal

Natural history collections serve as a time capsule of sorts, preserving life on Earth. And these collections — birds, bones, stones — always carry the fingerprints of those who collected the specimens. Their passions, interests and hard work become part of what’s stored in flash display cases or dusty drawers.

So when a collection’s future is threatened, it gets personal.

Irina Zhorov ( @zhorovir) of WHYY’s  The Pulse looks at one story of what happens when collections bow to other priorities.

Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

KCUR prides ourselves on bringing local journalism to the public without a paywall — ever.

Our reporting will always be free for you to read. But it's not free to produce.

As a nonprofit, we rely on your donations to keep operating and trying new things. If you value our work, consider becoming a member.