Time Scavengers

Cam here –

Fossil collecting can be fun and a rewarding experience. It helps us get a perspective of how rich and diverse the fossil record is. Some of us make personal collections of the fossils we find. Collections typically start with fossils and other rocks mixed together with little to no record of where the specimens you collected came from. My way of collecting fossils has changed over the years as simply piling rocks on my bed headrest to buying drawers and cabinets to store the specimens and keeping a record of them by creating a log book and keeping label cards with every specimen in each drawer. There are many different ways to curate your collection. At the end of the day, it is all up to you.

When creating a collection or collecting fossils, you want to make sure you know exactly where that fossil came from. Location is probably more valuable than the fossil itself. You can’t always rely on your memory. What I have done is printed out labels and write information down with a black ink pen. There are about 30 labels on each sheet so I have a good amount. I write additional information on the back such as the date, coordinates (if accessible) and more recently the drawer name in which that specimen is stored. It is OK not to have information about your specimen. You can always leave the location section with a question mark or “Unavailable”. Make sure you fill it out the card with information to the best of your abilities.  

Finding things to store your specimens in depends on how delicate and how large the specimens are. Large to small boxes with padding are good things to have. You can find these boxes at hobby shops and arts and crafts stores. Clear jewelry and bead bags are also very useful as well. With all of these boxes and bags combined I keep most specimens in cabinets and drawers. I label each drawer sometimes by location, age, phyla, or by fossil content. It is all up to you. The majority of my drawers are ClearView desk organizer drawers. You can find these at a Walmart in the craft sections and craft stores.

Organizing a collection can be fun but it can also take up space. Make sure you do have room and not stack things too much on top of each other. I have had almost half of my collection collapse on me for doing that. Have fun with it!