Natural Science Collections Alliance
Our members are part of an international community of museums, botanical gardens, herbariums, universities and other institutions that house natural science collections and utilize them in research, exhibitions, academic and informal science education, and outreach activities.
The Natural Science Collections Alliance has provided testimony to the House Appropriations Committee urging sustained funding for the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) in fiscal year (FY) 2027, with at least $55.5 million for its Office of Museum Services. “IMLS is the primary federal agency supporting the nation’s museums, strengthening their capacity to […]
The Natural Science Collections (NSC) Alliance has endorsed the America’s Living Library Act, a bipartisan bill sponsored by Senators Alex Padilla (D-CA) and Todd Young (R-IN) and Representatives Stephanie Bice (R-OK) and Ro Khanna (D-CA) that recognizes biological data and physical specimens as strategic national resources. The bill establishes the America’s Living Library Project, an […]
Staff, students, and representatives of NSC Alliance member organizations—as well as individuals interested in the Alliance’s mission—are invited to participate in a virtual meeting this February. Attendees will hear directly from the NSC Alliance Board about recent initiatives, gain insight into the Alliance’s impact, and engage in a strategic discussion to help shape future priority […]
In response to a request for information on accelerating the American scientific enterprise from the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), the NSC Alliance provided comments emphasizing the need to recognize natural history collections as essential national research infrastructure and provide sustained, inflation-adjusted federal investment to support their care, digitization, and data […]
As the year wraps up and we head into the holiday season, we invite you to take a look at NSC Alliance’s accomplishments in 2025. We engaged in a number of efforts to advocate for natural history collections and elevate their profile on the national and international stage. A few highlights are presented below: Read the full […]
A coalition of more than 50 scientific societies, including NSC Alliance, have sent a letter to Congress, expressing concerns over provisions in the August 7, 2025 Executive Order titled “Improving Oversight of Federal Grantmaking.” The letter urges Congress to provide necessary oversight at federal science agencies to prevent potentially significant damage to US leadership in […]
Date: December 8, 2025Time: 2:00-3:00 PM Eastern Time / 12:00-1:00 PM Mountain Time / 11:00 AM-12:00 PM Pacific Time Please join us for an information session about repatriation and how it relates to natural history collections held at museums, herbaria, and other institutions. We will be joined by a wide array of speakers who will […]
The Natural Science Collections Alliance has submitted comments to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) on its reorganization plan, outlined in the 24 July 2025 Secretary Memorandum (SM 1078-015). The plan calls for closing the Henry A. Wallace Beltsville Agricultural Research Center—home to the U. S. National Fungus Collection and the USDA Nematode Collection. The […]
The Coalition for National Science Funding (CNSF)—an alliance of more than 140 professional organizations, scientific societies, universities, and businesses that advocate for the National Science Foundation (NSF)—has called on congressional appropriators to fund NSF at the highest possible level in fiscal year (FY) 2026. NSC Alliance is a member of CNSF. The letter reads in […]
On May 6, 2025, iDigBio hosted a webinar in collaboration with staff and students from Duke University titled “From Specimens to Stories: Defending Herbaria and Reconnecting Science with Society.” During the webinar, attendees were invited to share insights about the current state of their collections and offer ideas for how a potential Collections Task Force […]