Classical Natural History: the importance of volunteers in collection management and research

As a result of increasing budget constraints and decreasing interest in classical natural history, the work effort of volunteer researchers and the need for private funding are of growing importance. A brief historical background is provided, showing the decreasing interest in the subject shown by governments and university authorities. Here, we illustrate how to tackle this deplorable phenomenon with some examples from the Rotterdam Natural History Museum, notably in the curation of the collections, the organization of fieldwork, and the digitalization of the collections through databases and the internet