New Mexico Geological Society Annual Spring Meeting — Abstracts

History and Science (NMMNHS) in Albuquerque is a 109,200 cubic foot room that houses the state's largest paleontological collection. This collection is stored in an electrically operated Spacesaver (5200 cubic feet) and on stationary oversize shelving (5600 cubic feet).

The NMMNH paleontological collection consists of approximately 100,000 specimens, of which 22,000 are catalogued. The D-BASE III+ database management system is used to retrieve collection information on these fossils; approximately 15,000 of the catalogued fossils have fully computerized records at present. A separate computerized record of fossil locality data in UTM coordinates if available is also kept for the collection.

Most of the NMMNH fossils are of vertebrates, especially those of Late Triassic, Late Cretaceous, Paleocene and Eocene age. Approximately 25% of the collection consists of fossil plants (mostly Cretaceous-Eocene) and invertebrates (mostly Permian, Triassic and Cretaceous). More than 90% of the NMMNHS fossils are from New Mexico, but significant collections from Wyoming, Utah, Arizona, Colorado and Texas also are held. The vast majority of fossils are from Federal lands, mostly those administered by the Bureau of Land Management.

A full-time Geosciences Collection Manager maintains the collection assisted by volunteer and paid student workers. A full-time Preparator cleans and conserves specimens, a full-time Curator sets collection priorities, collects and authorizes loans and a full-time Registrar processes loans. In 1992, 3900 hours of volunteer labor were devoted to the NMMNHS paleontological collections, 30 outgoing loans were processed and about one dozen scientists from Canada, Mexico, China, Russia and the United States visited NMMNHS to study fossils.