Research & Collections :: Collections at the State Museum :: Biology

The fungus collection at the New York State Museum in Albany was created by Charles Peck from 1868 to 1913 during which time he amassed 33,600 mycological specimens. In the years following, the next State Botanist, Homer House, and other mycologists added to this number. Currently it contains more than 90,000 specimens, however, the importance of the collection is not in the number of specimens it contains, but in its type specimens of American fungi collected during the early years of American mycology. It is especially rich in Agarics and other larger fungi. Some of the other collectors represented in the herbarium of the New York State Museum are G. F. Atkinson, M. E. Banning, E. Bartholomew, M. J. Berkeley, E. A. Burt, G. W. Clinton, M. C. Cooke, M. A. Curtis, J. Dearness, J. B. Ellis, W. R. Gerard, E. C. Howe, J. H. Haines, H. W. Harkness, E. W. D. Holway, C. H. Kauffman, W. A. Murrill, P. A. Saccardo, S. J. Smith, and C. J. Sprague.

Curator: John Haines
Collections Manager: Lorinda Leonardi

In addition to specimens, the Museum holds numerous original drawings and paintings of fungi by Charles Peck, Mary Banning, and others plus an extensive file of correspondence covering the formative years of American mycology. Specimens, including types, are available on loan to recognized scientific institutions for taxonomic research.