Date: 10/8/26 6:10 am From: Tobin Brown via groups.io <tobinjbrown...> Subject: Re: [NEBirds] FW: Please save the important Sternberg Museum biological collections
So is the Sternberg being closed? Or is the UNK collection being closed?
- Tobin
On Thu, Oct 8, 2026 at 7:20 AM Jacob C. Cooper via groups.io <cooperj2=
<unk.edu...> wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> I want to thank everyone (especially Paul!) for their support of
> ornithology programs within the University of Nebraska.
>
> I am not in a position to speak on behalf of the university in any
> capacity (nor am I privy to higher-level conversations in my position), but
> I did want to correct the record that the Sternberg Museum is in Fort Hays,
> Kansas.
>
> JC
>
> ------------------------------------------
> *Jacob C. Cooper, PhD (he/him)*
> *Lab Website* <https://unkornithology.github.io/> | *Book a meeting*
> <https://outlook.office.com/bookwithme/user/<54b539030932433597927a9d0bc134c6...>/meetingtype/DipxYAhygk6c6tyh8N9U9g2?anonymous&ismsaljsauthenabled&ep=mLinkFromTile> >
> *Assistant Professor, University of Nebraska at Kearney*
> Bruner Hall of Sciences, Room 321
> 2401 11th Avenue
> Kearney, NE 68849-1130
>
> *Research Associate, Field Museum, Chicago*
> *Citizen of the Cherokee Nation*
>
> *From: *<NEBirds...> <NEBirds...> on behalf of Art Check via
> groups.io <artsbirdbrain...>
> *Date: *Thursday, October 8, 2026 at 06:48
> *To: *<NEBirds...> <NEBirds...>
> *Subject: *Re: [NEBirds] FW: Please save the important Sternberg Museum
> biological collections
>
> *Caution:* Non-NU Email
>
> Great letter Paul
> Art Check
> Nevada, IA
>
> On Oct 8, 2026, at 12:23 AM, Paul L. Pearson via groups.io <Propearson=
> <gmail.com...> wrote:
>
>
>
> Here is the email I just sent.
>
> Feel free to use it to craft your own message.
>
> Thank you!
>
> Paul P
>
>
>
>
> -------- Original message --------
> From: propearson <propearson...>
> Date: 10/8/26 12:21 AM (GMT-06:00)
> To: <corpsec...>, <eckersonjm...>, <shafferjj...>
> Cc: Letty Reichart <reichartlm...>
> Subject: Please save the important Sternberg Museum biological collections
>
> Dear Dr. Shaffer, Dr. Eckerson and University of Nebraska Regents;
>
> It has come to our attention that there is a plan to shutter the Sternberg
> Museum at the University of Nebraska Kearney.
>
> As President of the Nebraska Ornithologists' Union, and on behalf of our
> members, I strongly urge you to reconsider this decision and preserve the
> important and irreplaceable historical specimens in this collection for
> current and future generations of Nebraskans
>
> Our organization was originally founded as a scientific organization by
> researchers at the University of Nebraska in 1899, making us the oldest
> continuous state ornithological organization in the country. We continue
> today in our mission of the study, appreciation and protection of birds.
>
> There is a very strong and growing Ornithology program in the Biology
> department. Their research, conducted in Nebraska, will be getting
> international recognition soon as their proposed taxonomic 'split' of the
> Marsh Wren into two species (Eastern and Western, both residents of
> Nebraska) is being accepted by the American Ornithological Society, and
> will permanently impact the understanding of bird taxonomy.
>
> Collections like the ones at UNK and the the State Museum in Morrill Hall
> are extremely important for not only the education of students and citizens
> in Nebraska, but for the potential for scientific research. Advances in
> molecular sequencing technologies now make the extraction and study of DNA
> from historical specimens possible. These collections from the state of
> Nebraska over the past century hold secrets and stories that can never be
> studied and revealed if destroyed.
>
> In September, NOU held our Fall Meeting on the UNK campus with nearly 100
> attendees, including UNK faculty, undergraduate and graduate students from
> UNK and UNL. Dr Letitia Reichart, co-chair of Biology was our keynote
> speaker. Several students from UNL, UNK and as far as Univ of Wyoming
> presented scientific research at this meeting. One of the most interesting
> presentations was by Peggy Huss, a student in the Biology department and
> ornithology program at UNK. She is painstakingly restoring the avian
> collection at UNK that has been neglected for decades to preserve this
> important natural history of our state. New specimens are also continously
> being collected as dead birds are found, catalouged and preserved.
>
> These collections owned by the University of Nebraska system are important
> for not only the education of students from across the state that attend,
> but also the citizens of this state that visit these museums and for the
> repository of historical biological materials that cannot be replaced once
> destroyed.
>
> NOU has maintained a strong association with the University system over
> the past 127 years and most recently have transferred our archival material
> from the state museum in Lincoln to UNK. Under my presidency in the past
> 2.5 years, we have supported the ornithological research at UNK/UNL by
> providing opportunities for faculty and students to present research
> related to Nebraska's 472 (soon to be 473, thanks to UNK) bird species and
> associated habitats that are so important. It is my plan that we will also
> begin supporting these studies with small research grants in thr near
> future.
>
> We respectfully ask that you preserve and protect these important
> historical collections of not only birds, but all the other irreplaceable
> biological samples contained in these collections.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Paul L. Pearson, Ph.D
> President-Nebraska Ornithologists' Union
>
>
>
>
>
> --
> Paul L. Pearson, PhD
> President-Nebraska Ornithologists’ Union
> Omaha, NE
>
>
>
>
