Meet our Curator of the avian anatomical (spirit and skeleton) collections

With so many fantastic team members across the Museum, we want to showcase some of them! In this series, find out more about work and life at the Museum.

Next up, we talk to our Curator of the avian anatomical collections, Judith White, about how she prepares the specimens, what she enjoys about her role, and why she finds the Museum fascinating.

What is the main purpose of your role?

The main purpose of my role as curator of the avian anatomical (spirit and skeleton) collections is to look after the specimens, answer enquiries relating to the collections, host research visitors, process loans and continue adding to the collections by preparing new specimens.

What does a typical day look like?

A typical day will start with checking and responding to emails and answering any enquiries.?Then I may do some work in the dermestarium, which is where we prepare bird skeleton specimens using dermestid beetles.?These beetles and larvae eat away the flesh from carcasses leaving a clean skeleton.?I may either spend time stripping down a carcass to go into the beetle colonies, or finish cleaning up skeletons that have come out of the beetle tanks.?These skeletons also need labelling and databasing, so the whole process from a complete bird to a skeleton in the collection, can be a very time-consuming task.?I also usually pack around 100-200 specimens a year for loan to other institutions for research, so this is often something you may find me doing, along with all the administrative work that goes along with such a task.

What are the most enjoyable and challenging parts of your role?

I really enjoy the variety of the role I have as Curator, and whilst I’m not a researcher, the work I do facilitates other people’s research, and contributes to our understanding of our collections and the natural world.?I get the most satisfaction out of preparing specimens that are new species for the skeleton collection, particularly those that may have been waiting 50, or even 100 years, to be prepared.?Some parts of the role, such as databasing, can be quite repetitive, but it is important to stay motivated to complete this essential task.

What do you like about working for the Museum?

I find the collections at the Museum fascinating, and I love that there is always something new to discover and learn.?I really like being based at Tring, being surrounded by countryside whilst having the benefit of working for such a large and prestigious organisation.

What’s the most interesting/weird thing you have learned about the Museum?

I am still preparing specimens from Museum expeditions from the 1960s and ‘70s and occasionally we have visits from retired curators who collected these specimens.?I love hearing the stories from their collecting trips and how the world has changed in a relatively short period of time.

Do you have any fun or special memories you have made while working at the Museum?

The staff summer party at South Kensington in July 2022 was a memorable event as it was a great opportunity to catch up with friends and colleagues from across the museum who I hadn’t seen since 2019.