UW Libraries, Campus Partners Launch ‘Natural Archive’ Exhibit at Library Annex

University of Wyoming Libraries and the UW Natural Science Collections Partnership have joined forces to showcase the university’s diverse scientific collections in a new exhibition titled “The Natural Archive: Glimpses into the University of Wyoming’s Scientific Collections.”

A fly. The image includes a scale; the fly appears to be about .3 millimeters long from head to end of body and about .4 millimeters tall from feet to wings. — A close-up image shows fairyfly wasps, among the smallest flying insects in Wyoming. The species *Tinkerbella nana* is one of the tiniest known flying insects, developing as a parasite inside the eggs of other insects. The image is part of ‘The Natural Archive: Glimpses into the University of Wyoming’s Scientific Collections’ exhibition. (Jennifer Read Photo)

Installed outside of the Library Annex, located in the basement of the Biosciences Building across from the Harry C. Vaughan Planetarium and SCI DIY Makerspace, the exhibit highlights the work of eight UW collections and libraries that contribute to research, teaching, and stewardship of Wyoming’s biodiversity and natural heritage.

An open house and reception for the exhibition is Monday, Nov. 3, at 2 p.m. in the basement of the Biosciences Building. The event is free and open to the public.

“The University of Wyoming collections are an extraordinary resource for understanding our natural world, but so much of our work goes on behind the scenes that people often do not know we are here for them to access,” says Beth Wommack, staff curator and collections manager of vertebrates at UW. “The installation started with the idea of providing a brief glimpse into each collection, with the hope that this view would then spark curiosity and a direction for accessing the digital and physical collections that are available.”

The project includes contributions from the Biodiversity Institute, UW Museum of Vertebrates, UW Geological Museum and Geological Collections, UW Libraries, UW Insect Museum, Williams Conservatory, Rocky Mountain Herbarium, and Wyoming Natural Diversity Database. Each image is accompanied by a caption and, in many cases, a QR code that links to digitized materials and related resources via a curated LinkTree collection.

A photo of a man on a horse on a mountain trail. The image's colors are somewhat muted; it appears like it was taken with an old camera. — “Man on Horse Next to Tree,” part of the Far West Library of Howard H. Hays. The lantern slide is part of the WyoDigital Collection and is featured in “The Natural Archive: Glimpses into the University of Wyoming’s Scientific Collections” exhibition. Hays was a lifelong advocate for travel and tourism in the national parks of the American West.

Featured specimens and collections include fairyfly wasps, one of the smallest known flying insects; the rare Wyoming desert yellowhead; fossils from the White River formation; Wyoming’s state flower and butterfly; and research initiatives ranging from tracking Wyoming deer and bison to the Wyoming BioBlitz.

The exhibition underscores UW’s land-grant mission by opening windows into the university’s diverse collections for campus visitors and championing statewide engagement in science, history, and culture.

“Our museums and libraries capture the rich history and diverse natural ecosystems of the whole state,” says Deborah White, digital collections librarian at UW Libraries. “They also preserve the specimens and data for future researchers.”

For more information on the exhibition and UW’s scientific collections, visit https://linktr.ee/uwyolibraries.

This story was originally published on UW News.