The repository holds a vast collection of fossil and geological specimens. Many of these specimens have their original labels in the tray with them, and its not unheard of for one specimen to have 3 labels and a handful of scraps of paper with various notes! The specimen labels run the gamut from century-old cards written in a flowing script to dot-matrix printed slips, up to primary labels printed with laser and inkjet printers. The labels are as important as the specimen itself. These labels place specimens within their proper position in the stratigraphic continuum of the fossil world, as well as putting them in context of the history of the collections and University. Without this information, the specimen is akin to a puzzle piece found under the couch- you know what it is but you don't really know where it belongs.
You will run into several different types of specimen labels. In order to understand the labels referred to in the protocols,
the different labels will be classified into three broad categories:
