Collections Management

Barnum Brown and assistants working on Hoplitosaurus fragments, August, 1933. 
Hugh Smith Rice/© AMNH

This is intended as a central resource on collection management for anyone who has an interest in fossil collections—museum and lab professionals, amateur collectors, or school and university students.

If you are responsible for a fossil collection in an institution, have a private collection, are considering a career in paleontology, or are just interested in what museums do with all those fossils, we have detailed information on a variety of collections topics.

These Collection Management resources were originally developed in 2007 with the support of the National Science Foundation (NSF).

National Science Foundation logo is of an illustration of planet earth with a gold border and text that reads NSF.