Online Label Archive is now the Biographical Archive

摘要

We have recently renamed the Label Archive portion of our website as the "Biographical Archive," so that we can feel free to add biographies and portraits of anyone in the mineral world, even if they have not left labels. Naturally the Label Archive will remain the principal basis for selections of biographical subjects and the labels to illustrate them. Interestingly, in terms of hits, the Label/Biographical Archive is the single most popular feature of our website! The Label Archive itself continues to receive donations of labels from readers, making it ever more valuable as a historical resource. Thus far we have received collections and small lots of labels from over 40 individuals and institutions. Readers may wonder whether duplication is a problem; it's not. We like to archive as many labels as possible from the same dealers and collectors because it gives a better perspective on the kinds of minerals they carried, and the kinds that were available on the mineral market in their time period. A label is truly a duplicate only if the species, locality and handwriting are identical, as well as the pre-printed portion. So, if you have labels you don't need but are concerned that we might already have them, don't worry-they will be gratefully received and archived.