In the early 1970s, the Vertebrate Paleontology collections settled into the newly-constructed Dickinson Hall, which remains their home to this day.

The collections staff of past years, including Chandra Aulsbrook, Howard Converse, Russell “Russ” McCarty, Gary Morgan, and Arthur “Art” Poyer, are pictured here in the Vertebrate Paleontology fossil preparation lab.

The work done in the lab is meticulous, but as the specimens are cleaned, repaired, and preserved, the details of their shape and form are revealed. As such, prep work is a key component of paleontological research. Our lab space has seen countless fossils over the last fifty years, and these photos through the decades highlight a few.

Gary Morgan, collections manager from 1981-1994, at work

Art Poyer (left, collections manager from 1985-2020) and Russell McCarty (right) posing in front of the prep lab doors in Vertebrate Paleontology collection

Howard Converse, fossil preparator from 1971-1987, working on fossil preparations for a large jaw

Chandra Aulsbrook, collections staff and fossil preparator from the 1960s-1977, working on a fossil jaw

Russell McCarty, fossil preparator from 1981-2006, at work

More

• For more information about the history of Vertebrate Paleontology and its people, see: MacFadden, B. J. 2017. Vertebrate paleontology at the Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida: the past 60 years of research and education: Bulletin of the Florida Museum of Natural History 55(3):51–87
• About fossil preparation
• About the Vertebrate Paleontology archives

Photographs: Vertebrate Paleontology Archives, items S7.2.3.9, S7.2.3.10, S7.2.3.11, S7.2.3.14, and S7.2.3.15