Farewell, Montana (by thebrainscoop)
I was not prepared for how emotional this video was.
Emily Graslie, and the Brain Scoop present their farewell to the Philip L. Wright Zoological Museum at the University of Montana.
The museum, and its collection, are left without a single member of staff, as Emily takes the unmissable opportunity to move to Chicago and take up a role at the Field Museum. It makes me incredibly sad to think that this amazing, irreplaceable collection will be left, effectively abandoned, as the University cannot find the money to hire a curator or anyone to spend their time caring for it.
Since the Brain Scoop started, this collection has engaged so many people (seriously, just look at the Youtube Channel) in science. People who thought science was dull, too complicated, or 'not for them'. The Brain Scoop proved them wrong, and it was the UMZM and its collection that let them do it. People fell in love with science, with natural history, with zoology, with that collection. And now it's just...left.
I want to add the caveat that I don't judge Emily for one second for leaving the collection (not that anyone should, but this is the internet, and you know somebody will). She had no choice. And that's the terrible thing: she had no choice. There was no funding, no priority given to the museum, no job there for anyone, despite the real and important work to be done. All over the world collections are suffering from this enforced neglect, or relying on intrepid volunteers, when there is real, important work to be done with them, work like the Brain Scoop had to do through the internet because there's just not the support to do it elsewhere and...no funding.
And I'm going to stop now because I will rant. You should watch the video.