Preserving Plants Through Digitization
The digitization of the Herbarium’s roughly 800,000 specimens is underway! The U.S. National Herbarium is one of the largest in the world but for most of its history has only been available to researchers who could visit in person. The Herbarium’s massive digitization project, begun in February 2021, will make this valuable collection accessible to people around the world.
High-resolution scanning of all the Herbarium’s specimens is underway at the Arboretum and volunteers are needed to transcribe the collection information associated with each specimen for the “virtual herbarium’s” searchable database. No botanical or technical background is necessary and all work is done from the comfort of home at your own pace. Volunteers will be taught how to collect and enter the data and staff is available for support as needed.