Specimens provide enormous economic and scientific returns to society and are irreplaceable resources that must be preserved for future generations.
American Society of Plant Taxonomists (ASPT), http://www.aspt.net/
Mission
The Society of Herbarium Curators unites the world’s herbarium professionals in discussion, training, action, and support for the benefit of herbaria, science, and society.
Vision
SHC envisions a network of innovative, well-trained herbarium professionals, empowered to recognize and address local and global stakeholder needs with organizationally sustainable strategies that advance the well-being of herbaria, science, and society.
Brief History
The Society of Herbarium Curators was organized on July 4, 2004, through the efforts of John Herr (University of South Carolina’s Andrew Charles Moore Herbarium, USA), Michael Woods (Troy University’s Herbarium, Alabama, USA), Dan Evans (Marshall University’s Herbarium, West Virginia, USA), and others.  It has since grown through the efforts of many in the herbarium community into an international organization of hundreds of members from 30+ countries
Activities
Recent activities by The Society of Herbarium Curators include an annual Strategic Planning for Herbaria online course, an annual herbarium-focused workshop at the Botany Conference in North America, and annual Student Research Grants for work involving herbaria. The society co-sponsors the Herbaria listserv and publishes a newsletter The Vasculum twice annually. Additionally, the society’s standing Herbarium Assistance Committee provides immediate support to herbaria in crisis. Should you wish to learn more about the society’s activities, follow us on Twitter (@ socherbcurators) and like us on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/herbariumcurators/).
Support
Consider supporting the activities of The Society of Herbarium Curators. The society is recognized by the United States Internal Revenue Service as a nonprofit organization, Section 501(c)(3). For more information, contact the current President of the society.
US herbaria contain over 70 million specimens of plants, fungi, and algae. The specimens come from many different countries although most are from the US. Together they are an enormous source of information both about today’s species and, because some are fossils, of species that are now extinct.
US Virtual Herbarium Project, http://www.usvhproject.org/
Beyond their scientific importance, herbarium collections offer many benefits to society by providing data or reference materials for critical endeavors such as agriculture, human health, biosecurity, forensics, control of invasive species, conservation biology, natural resources, and land management.
ASB, Association of Southeastern Biologists
http://www.sebiologists.org/
The American Society of Plant Taxonomists affirms the crucial role of natural history collections, and of plant collections in particular, in research, teaching, and public outreach.
ASPT, American Society of Plant Taxonomists
http://mailman.yale.edu/pipermail/nhcoll-l/2004-August/001608.html