Deaccessioning at the Academy of Natural Sciences

As Philadelphia welcomes 6,000 geologists for their annual convention today, here's an ironic coincidence: The city's natural-history museum is abandoning the rocks-and-minerals business.

Trustees of the cash-strapped Academy of Natural Sciences voted Tuesday to sell more than 15,000 minerals and gems that hadn't been cleaned or displayed for decades. Workers then began boxing up specimens for an unnamed private dealer, acting academy president Ian Davison said.

From the Philadelphia Inquirer. It's not clear if the Academy is entirely abandoning minerology, though from what the article says the abandonment may have taken place decades ago and is only now being formally ratified. An unsuccessful attempt was apparently made to keep the collection intact at another public institution. We'll see how much opposition this sale stirs up; as is, however, it is already grossly disproportionate compared to the silence about what is happening in Germany (especially at the NY Times, which is so strident in denying any benefit of the doubt when it comes to deaccessioning at American institutions).

Posted by David on October 23, 2006 5:49 PM