A new exhibit at the Latvian National museum of Natural History is offering a rare look at the frequently enough-unseen work of museum collection building and preservation. As the museum marks its 180th anniversary, “the Path of a Natural Object to the Museum Collection” highlights the detailed processes-from field collection to long-term storage-involved in maintaining a scientifically valuable archive of approximately 230,000 specimens. The exhibit underscores the importance of these collections, which increasingly document the impact of climate change on Latvian and global biodiversity.
A new exhibit at the Latvian National Museum of Natural History offers a rare glimpse behind the scenes of how a museum collection is built and maintained. The exhibit, part of the museum’s 180th-anniversary celebrations, showcases the meticulous work of museum specialists as they gather, process, and preserve a diverse range of natural specimens.
Dabas muzejā apskatāma izstāde par to, kā top muzeja krājums
The museum’s collection, totaling approximately 230,000 items, includes minerals, fossils, plants, fungi, birds, mammals, and mollusks. Many of these specimens are gathered directly by museum staff in the field, though the museum also receives items seized by customs officials. The exhibit, titled “The Path of a Natural Object to the Museum Collection,” highlights the often-unseen effort required to build a scientifically valuable archive.
“In other history museums and memorial museums, most items are donated, purchased in various ways, or found archaeologically, etc. But our museum has the peculiarity that a large part of these items we collect ourselves in nature.”
“In other history museums and memorial museums, most items are donated, purchased in various ways, or found archaeologically, etc.,” said Lauma Miķelsone-Šibeika, head of the exhibit’s working group. “But our museum has the peculiarity that a large part of these items we collect ourselves in nature.”
Once collected, each item undergoes a specialized preservation process tailored to its specific needs. The museum carefully controls temperature and humidity to ensure the long-term survival of the collection, which is also used for scientific research and public education. The exhibit displays various storage methods, including cabinets and prepared specimens.
Visitors can also explore the tools of the trade, from insect nets and traps to geological drills and field notebooks, even a boat. Miķelsone-Šibeika, who also leads the Botany and Mycology Department, showcased the specialized equipment used by mycologists.
“For example, if a mushroom hunter goes with a kitchen knife, a mycologist has a special knife with a brush so that we can clean the mushroom,” Miķelsone-Šibeika explained. “If a mushroom hunter goes into the forest and observes with the eyes, the mycologist often uses special lighting – ultraviolet light, because there are mushrooms that react to ultraviolet light. Then you see them, even in the dark – they shine. And to see what is in the depths of the water and find exactly what interests us, we use an aquascope. Snail researchers use special nets and scrapers to get water organisms, water snails out of the depths. Even quite household useful things like a rake to rake out what is at the bottom.”
The exhibit also features a section dedicated to taxidermy, displaying both modern and historical specimens, including a moose dating back 100 years and a collection known as the “mouse school” from the 1970s. The “mouse school” is an example of anthropomorphic taxidermy, where animals were posed in human-like scenes – a practice no longer employed by the museum.
“Since the museum’s collection includes many endangered species in Latvia and around the world, as well as new species in Latvian fauna and flora, the value of the collection grows over the years, and the question of its long-term preservation becomes increasingly important.”
“We have a look from history to the present day, because in this taxidermy display case we can see the ‘mouse school,’ which may have stayed in the minds of many museum visitors from childhood,” Miķelsone-Šibeika said. “It is an example of anthropomorphic taxidermy, and that is when animals were given a human image and various life scenes were created using animals. And that is a historical way, but nowadays they no longer do that, because they adhere to what is natural for each species.”
The museum’s collection is increasingly valuable as it contains many endangered species found in Latvia and worldwide, as well as newly discovered species. This underscores the importance of long-term preservation efforts. The exhibit details the processes used to prepare specimens for long-term storage, showcasing tools like mushroom dryers, plant presses, and microscopes.
Uģis Piterāns, the museum’s senior entomologist, demonstrated the process of preparing insects after they have been collected in the field. “Depending, of course, on what each researcher is studying, the methods can be different. But here, for example, pinning. When flying insects are pinned, it is usually done with special pinning boards. We spread the wings and try to get some aesthetics, because creating the collection is not only about preserving the specimens as such, but also making them visually appealing. Since insects are small, this work is very delicate in many cases. Well, the researcher’s hands get used to this scale over time, but you have to try to keep your hands from trembling. Insects can also be large. Here, for example, is the great water beetle, which is a three-centimeter-long beetle. But often we are talking about millimeters and often even less,” Piterāns said.
Museum specialists also meticulously record environmental data associated with each specimen, allowing researchers to track changes in plant and animal populations over time. “The point of these collections is that in many cases, in order for us to manage nature wisely, in the countryside or in the forests, we need some knowledge of where a species lives. And often this basic knowledge is provided by these collections – to show that, yes, this species is common or it is really very rare, or lives in very specific conditions. And then we should take care to avoid accidentally destroying these special places. In many museums that have existed for much longer, but also in our museum, there are specimens that are over a hundred years old, even 120 years old. That is our goal now, too, collecting new material so that it will be preserved for future generations as evidence of the species that live in Latvia today. Already now, thanks to climate change, the fauna is changing quite rapidly, new species are appearing, and we are witnessing the moment when a species will appear in Latvia and we will leave it to future generations,” Piterāns added.
“The Path of a Natural Object to the Museum Collection” will be on display at the Latvian National Museum of Natural History until May 17.
