Museum Consulting

Do you know what’s in your collection? Your small museum might need extra help with databasing to become professional in the digital age. Maybe you need someone to help deal with the backlog of specimens waiting to be prepared. Perhaps your collection is in a big heap and you need help writing a grant to obtain storage cabinets. Are you having a pest management problem? I have nine years of experience in the Ohio Wesleyan University Zoology museum and the Maria Mitchell Association’s Natural Science Museum as a student curator, an intern, a collections manager, and a consultant.

I am located in Northfield, MA, and will prioritize work in western MA, southern VT, or southwestern NH. Please contact me and we can decide together if I am the right fit for your New England museum.

Database Experience

I have worked with Access and Specify databases. I don’t enjoy designing databases from scratch, but am competent at data entry, querying, and basic problem-solving.

Specimen Preparation

I have experience preparing salvaged birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, fish, insects, and plants as scientific specimens. I have prepared hundreds of songbirds as study skins, as well as dozens of raptors, shorebirds, and woodpeckers, and various small mammals. I worked for one year as a taxidermist, creating posed bird and mammal mounts. I have preserved amphibians, reptiles, and fish in formalin and transferred them to ethanol for long-term storage. I am very experienced at pinning micro moths (<5mm) using a double-mount system, and have worked with larger insects as well. I can press and mount plants. I am careful to take accurate data.

Arthropod Identification

I have years of experience curating a broad range of Northeastern arthropods, and can identify many groups to genus or species using appropriate keys and resources.