In 2020 the University of Washington Herbarium at the Burke Museum (WTU) and the University of Alaska Herbarium at the Museum of the North (ALA) received a grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) Digitizing Hidden Collections program to database, georeference, and image all vascular plant specimens from Russia held within their respective collections. The majority of these specimens come from the Russian Far East, particularly the Kuril Islands, Sakhalin Island, and Kamchatka. A smaller number of specimens from other areas throughout Russia were also digitized.
The digitization work was conducted by undergraduate assistants at both institutions, along with volunteers. Over 17,000 specimens were digitized as part of this work. Many of the specimens digitized were collected during two collaborative, international (Japan, Russia, United States) biodiversity survey projects funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation: International Kuril Islands Project, and International Sakhalin Island Project.
All specimens digitized during this project are accessible through the Consortium of Pacific Northwest Herbaria online database.
We thank the Council on Library and Information Resources for their generous support for this important work.
 |
 |
 |
