The Texas Vertebrate Paleontology Collections - TxVP

Abstract

The purpose of this note is to establish the museum collection acronym TxVP for the Texas Vertebrate Paleontology Collections (hereafter referred to as the collection) and to briefly discuss its history as the Texas state repository as codified in the general laws of the state of Texas. The Texas Vertebrate Paleontology Collections rank among the largest vertebrate fossil collections in the world and have enjoyed continuous support from the state of Texas. However, owing to the multiple functions of the collection as a museum object collection, state repository, source of teaching material, and international research institution its governance over the years has shifted with the relative emphasis of those roles. Repeated administrative changes over the past 130 years have resulted in a confusing array of institutional acronyms being applied to the collection. The most recent internal administrative change at The University of Texas at Austin transferred the collections from the Texas Memorial Museum to the Jackson School of Geosciences. This move prompted the curatorial committee to unanimously decide on the creation and establishment of TxVP as the permanent collection acronym from now on. The purpose for this new designation is to correctly ascribe vertebrate fossils to the State Collections, rather than to prior governing institutions that are unaffiliated with, and geographically removed from, the collections.