Chasing the taxidermist’s tail: Using portable X-ray fluorescence spectroscopic analysis to reconstruct museum specimen data

Abstract

During the nineteenth century, millions of animals were collected, preserved, traded, and incorporated into natural history collections around the world. The twin cultural movements of museum creation and zoological specimen aggregation formed valuable resources for knowledge making and education. These resources continue to inform understandings of environment, biodiversity, and cultural histories.

Much of the value of museum collections is held within the contextual information associated with each specimen. However, many specimens have become separated from their associated data leaving them unreliable as resources for research. Archival research has been the main tool in reconnecting museum specimens with their histories but is often constrained by gaps in the documentary records. Establishing the geographic origin of a specimen using scientific analysis typically requires the removal of a physical sample, diminishing often irreplaceable historic biological material.

This research recognises zoological specimens as human-made objects, transformed from a living animal into a scientific resource by field collectors who applied chemical treatments to prepare and preserve them. This dissertation documents a novel protocol combining of X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy, principal component analysis, and archival investigation to bridge historical gaps and re-establish specimen contextual data while preserving the integrity of the historic biological material.

For the first time, the chemical residues of preservatives and pesticides were used to connect specimens with their makers. Patterns in the data revealed new ways of recognising the treatment histories of specimens. The remnants of chemical applications were used to discriminate specimens collected by individual field collectors or collecting groups. With this new-found knowledge, archival investigation was redirected, and unprovenanced ‘no-data’ specimens reconnected with their field collection histories.