How to Read a Specimen Without Inventing Its Story

A specimen offers something wonderfully concrete: this fragment exists. The temptation is to make its story equally complete. A careful reader does the opposite, separating what is visible from what has been recorded and what remains unknown.

Begin with three columns in a notebook: object, record, interpretation. Put the visible stem, leaf margin or mineral surface in the first. Put the label’s locality, date and collector in the second. Reserve the third for your questions and hypotheses.

An attractive display can encourage confident storytelling. Slow down before giving an object a journey, a habitat or a meaning that its record does not support. Precision can make looking more interesting.