The names on today’s labels are being written by a new generation of women; in digitisation suites, herbarium labs, and the field.
When we talk about the women behind South Africa’s natural science collections, it is tempting to look only at the past. But the record is being built right now, and much of the work happens quietly, specimen by specimen, behind the scenes.
From the field to the digitisation suite
Maxine Manickum was part of the NSCF team photographing collections at partner institutions across the country. Recently, she and her colleague Jabulile Malindi have been documenting the herbarium at the Grootbos Foundation; working through the collection specimen by specimen to bring it into the digital record. It is patient, precise work: every specimen photographed, every label captured, every data point checked. It is also the work that turns a physical collection into national research infrastructure.
That work extends to the next generation. NSCF’s Emerging Leaders programme supports early-career collections professionals; from curation to communication, and its next residential workshop is being planned for November. The programme exists because collections need people who understand them, and South Africa’s collections need people who will still be here in thirty years.
A field increasingly led by women
This year’s SPNHC conference at Iziko Museum in Cape Town (7–11 September) will see an NSCF delegation of 13 presenters from 7 institutions; a delegation in which women are at the centre of the programme, from museum collections to digital curation: Deborah Winterton of the McGregor Museum, Teresa Kearney of Ditsong, and NSCF’s own Shanelle Ribeiro among them. (Watch the NSCF spotlight series on the NSCF social media to meet them.)
The next label is being written now
Through August, NSCF’s 19 partner institutions were nominating the women from their own collections; one woman, one specimen, one story. If you know a woman whose work belongs on the record, her name could be next on a label.
One woman, one specimen, one story.