Enable Public and Research Access to the Peter Misch Geology Collection through Cataloging and Interpretive Products
Project ID: P17AC01050
Federal Agency: National Park Service
Partner Institution: University of Washington
Fiscal Year: 2017
Initial Funding: $33,483
Total Funding: $33,483
Project Type: Technical Assistance
Project Disciplines: Interdisciplinary
National Park: North Cascades National Park
Principal Investigator: Nesbitt, Elizabeth
Agreement Technical Representative: Rochefort, Regina
Abstract: This project addresses cataloging and interpretation of the Peter Misch Geology Collection, which is part of the North Cascades National Park Service Complex (NOCA) museum collection. The collection was received by NOCA from the UW Earth Sciences Department in 2003. The collection reflects Peter Misch’s 40-year career as a geologist mapping the North Cascades, with specimen dates ranging from 1939 to 1983. Dr. Misch was a tenured and influential professor in the UW Earth Sciences Department who mentored over 100 graduate students. The collection represents Misch’s life work of documenting and decoding the geological story of the North Cascades Range, including contributions to metamorphization theory. It contains approximately 2900 hand specimens and 9000 thin specimens (thin slices of rock mounted to glass slides and ground to 30 microns, allowing for microscopic inspection of the rock’s molecular structure). Each thin specimen is attached to a hand-written index card with Misch’s collection data; hand specimens are matched to thin specimens by a shared field number.
The collection is one of the major scientific resources included in the NOCA museum collection but is completely inaccessible to the public and interested researchers because of a lack of cataloging. Without catalog records, details of the scope and contents of the collection remain unknown. NOCA curation staff lack the specialized knowledge necessary to successfully catalog the collection, and technical assistance is needed from a museum that has curation staff with geological expertise. The NOCA curation facility is located 100 miles from UW Library’s Special Collections, where Misch’s notes and papers are housed. These field notebooks contain essential information for successfully deciphering Misch’s handwritten notes for each specimen.
The Burke Museum, which is part of the UW, employs curation staff specializing in geological collections. The Burke geology curation staff actively trains and employs undergraduate students majoring in geology to catalog geological specimens for the museum as part of the university’s student employment programs. The Burke Museum also supports a museology program that trains graduate students in interpretive methods for transmission of scientific information to the general public.
The goals of this project are to catalog the specimens in the Misch Collection and to provide public access and interpretation of the collection using online platforms, including the NPS Web Catalog, NOCA’s web page, and the Burke Museum blog.
This project consists of four primary tasks: cataloging, rehousing, imaging, and preparation of interpretive materials. Project personnel will include UW undergraduate students, a UW museology graduate student recruited for field practicum experience, Burke Museum geology staff, a museum intern recruited by the NPS through American Conservation Experience, the NOCA museum curator, and the NOCA media specialist.
Expected products include catalog records that describe and record the location of all specimens in the collection, petrographic digital images of 50 geology thin sections, and development of interpretive content focused on the significance of the Misch Collection. The interpretive content will illustrate geological principles to the general public and will be made available through the park webpage, NPS Web Catalog, and the Burke Museum Blog.
B. Objectives
Investigators from UW and NPS staff will collaborate to accomplish the following specific objectives.
• Cataloging, rehousing, and labelling of 9000 thin sections in the Misch Collection.
• Petrographic digital imaging of 50 geology thin sections selected to illustrate stages in the metamorphic process.
• Labelling and digital imaging of 2800 geology hand specimens.
• Development of interpretive content focused on the significance of the Misch Collection in the form of written narrative to accompany the petrographic images of thin specimens, a “Collection Highlight” text and object grouping for the NPS Web Catalog, and an entry for the Burke Museum blog.
• Incorporation of 2800 catalog entries (images and descriptions) from the collection into the NPS Web Catalog.
C. Public Purpose
This project will benefit the public by providing accessible interpretive content about geological concepts, the geological story of the North Cascades Range, and the scientific value of geological collections. Further access to these publicly owned museum collections will be provided through online catalog entries available through the NPS Web Catalog for 2800 hand specimens and 50 thin sections. Interpretive content produced during the project will be used by NOCA to increase the quality of interpretation offered to the public. Researchers will have access to this collection and the associated specimen information. The NOCA Museum Program has an open door policy, meaning that any visitor who is interested in seeing these collections will be able to gain access. The UW students participating in the project’s cataloging activities will gain hands-on experience in curation of geological collections.