We Need to Help the Historiographers More!

摘要

All mineral collectors realize that we are temporary custodians of our minerals and that they will eventually be either lost in a calamity or owned by someone else. If we stop and think about it, we realize that a mineral specimen's history is probably just beginning and that it may still be around somewhere hundreds of years from now. As the life of a mineral specimen gets longer, it becomes more interesting in the study of historiography-the story of the specimen itself, the collections it goes through, and the way it can shed light on social issues like changing tastes or attitudes toward the preservation of science or other historical issues. For tracing the history of a mineral specimen, more has to be preserved than its species name and find-spot.