Climate and Population Impacts on Culture, Ecology, and Economy in Montana’s Fisheries, CLIR Hidden Collections
Project description
The Montana State University Library’s Special Collections, the Montana Entomology Collection, the Montana Vertebrate Museum digitized a combination of archival documents, fish and aquatic insect specimens and thousands of pages of field notes to create a unique digital dataset that will allow scientists, historians, sociologists, and economists to study the interface of cultural, ecological, and economic impacts of human population growth and climate change on the biodiversity of Montana’s rich fisheries.
Sixty linear-feet of manuscripts on aquatic biodiversity and cultural heritage surrounding fisheries and fish conservation efforts in the American West were digitized and archived at the Montana State Library. These included historic materials from the Robert J. Behnke, Datus C. Proper, Sylvester Nemes and Bud Lilly Papers. A web delivery of these materials is planned for the future.
Data from 64,976 Montana fish specimens housed in the Montana State University Vertebrate Museum and nearly 100,000 46,000 specimens of aquatic invertebrates in MSU’S Montana Entomology Collection have been captured and released to Zenodo. Thousands of pages of newly digitized photos and field notes are related to these specimens, and provide context for the biology of the region. The fish data have been posted with FishNet 2 and The Montana State Library Natural Heritage Program’s “Montana Field Guide.” The invertebrate specimen data will be integrated with the field notes and photos into a unified, web-delivered resource, linked also to the fish data.
Funded by a generous grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) "Hidden Collections" program to MSU investigators Jason A. Clark, James Thull, Diane Debinski, Robert Bramblett, and Michael A. Ivie.
People
- Jason A. Clark (PI)
- James Thull (co-PI)
- Diane Debinski (co-PI)
- Robert Bramblett (co-PI)
- Michael A. Ivie (co-PI)
- We would like to acknowledge the work done by Chloe Louise Rice, Brandon Watson, Sarah Rubin, Brian Smithers, and Justin Shanks to make this project a success.
News, Press, Outreach
- MSU News: “MSU Library receives grant of more than $300,000 to digitize records related to fish and aquatic insects” 2019-02-22
- Clark, Jason A. Collections in the Age of Climate Crisis. 5 for 5: Conversations on Five Years of Digitizing Hidden Collections. 2020-11-09 [video]
- Rice, Chloe L. Brandon Watson, Jason A. Clark, Diane M. Debinski, and Michael A. Ivie. 02 November 2022. Digitizing the Daniel L. Gustafson Aquatic Invertebrates Collection in the Montana Entomology Collection at Montana State University. Entomological Society of America Annual Meeting, Denver
Partners and Collections
- Montana State University Library
- Montana Entomology Collection
- Montana State University Vertebrate Museum
- Marsh Research Laboratory at Montana State University
- Montana State Library Natural Heritage Program
- Fishnet
Metadata and Digitized Objects
- Robert J. Behnke collection
- Datus C. Proper collection
- Sylvester Nemes collection
- Bud Lilly Papers collection
Specimen Data Releases
- Montana Prairie Fish Collection Collection, Montana State University. Bramblett, Robert G.; Rice, Chloe L.; Clark, Jason A.; Ivie, Michael A.; Stewart, Hannah E.D.; Debinski, Diane M. https://zenodo.org/record/5585950
- Montana State University Vertebrate Museum Fish Collection. Rice, Chloe L.; Debinski, Diane M.; Bramblett, Robert G.; Rubin, Sarah E.; Ivie, Michael A.; Clark, Jason A.; Evans, Autumn C.; Smithers, Brian V.; McMahon, Thomas E. https://zenodo.org/record/5847350
- Odonata of the Montana Entomology Collection, Montana State University. Rice, Chloe L.; Gustafson, Daniel L.; Ivie, Michael A. https://zenodo.org/record/5907959#.Yf2CMVBlCUk
- Freshwater crayfishes (Decapoda: Astacidea) of the Montana Entomology Collection, Montana State University. Rice, Chloe L.; Gustafson, Daniel L.; Ivie, Michael A.https://zenodo.org/record/5907951#.Yf2CXFBlCUk
- Corixidae of the Montana Entomology Collection, Montana State University. Rice, Chloe L.; Gustafson, Daniel L.; Ivie, Michael A. https://zenodo.org/record/5907965#.Yf2CgVBlCUk
- Ephemeroptera of the Daniel L. Gustafson Aquatic Invertebrate Collection, Montana Entomology Collection, Montana State University. Rice, Chloe L.; Gustafson, Daniel L.; Ivie, Michael A. https://zenodo.org/record/5907993#.Yf2CpVBlCUk
- Plecoptera of the Daniel L. Gustafson Aquatic Invertebrate Collection, Montana Entomology Collection, Montana State University. Rice, Chloe L.; Gustafson, Daniel L.; Ivie, Michael A. https://zenodo.org/record/5907969#.Yf2C9lBlCUk
