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Herbarium Curator Updates Restoration Progress Following Fire

Dr. Dave Barrington
University of Vermont
Dr. Dave Barrington

More than 300,000 historic and rare plant specimens dating back to the mid-19th century were housed on the top floor of Torrey Hall on the University of Vermont campus.  The building was gutted by fire on August 3rd, and researchers initially worried heat and water would destroy the Pringle Herbarium.  Most of the collection was protected by specially designed cabinets obtained in 2014 from the National Science Foundation. Firefighters also covered the cabinets to further protect the Pringle Herbarium.  There was some damage to material outside the cabinets. Herbarium curator and chair of UVM Plant Biology Department Dr. Dave Barrington says the recovery of the specimens is going well. “The official collection is in splendid shape. And by that I mean it’s what we call the accessioned collection the specimens of plants that have actually been prepared and put in the metal cabinets. And that’s the thing that saved us is that virtually all of the accessioned collection was in metal cabinets at the time of the fire.”

About 10,000 specimens were outside the protective cabinets and are being restored.

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