MAKE IT COUNT. COMPARISON OF THREE EXPERIENCES IN CATALOGUING ITALIAN MUSEUM METEORITE COLLECTIONS USING THE NATIONAL BN-PL STANDARD

This contribution deals with the challenges and solutions associated with the implementation of the Italian standard cataloging system for meteorite collections and the increasing awareness regarding this fundamental museum activity. Three case studies, that illustrate the strengths and weakness of indexing diverse meteorite collections using the national BN-PL standard (Beni Naturalistici–Planetologia, Naturalistic Heritage–Planetology), will be presented. The planetological standard followed the other standards promoted by the Central Institute for Cataloguing and Documentation (Istituto Centrale pr il Catalogo e la Documentazione, ICCD) for cataloging the Italian mineralogical (BN-M), petrological (BN-P), and planetological (BN-PL) heritage. The resulting General Catalogue of Cultural Properties (Catalogo Generali dei Beni Culturali, CGBC) online database – which gathers information about all the Italian national cultural heritage (historic, artistic, and naturalistic as well) – provides an overview of the geoscientific heritage that has been cataloged through these standards and is now freely accessible. Out of the 2.659.552 items that constitute the CGBC, 55.100 records are devoted to the naturalistic collections. Among these, 41.431 and 429 records describe respectively mineralogical and petrological samples, whereas 370 represent meteorite specimens kept in the National Museum of Antarctica “Filippo Esposito” in Siena, and in the University Museum System in Firenze. To the latter should be added 250 cataloging cards regarding the meteorite collection preserved at the Museum of Planetary Sciences in Prato. The comparison between these three diverse operational settings highlights how the proper use of the BN-PL standard can help in: (1) establishing more precise conservation policies and management strategies of the meteorite collections housed in Italian scientific museums; (2) acquiring social and cultural information useful to prevent bad scientific practice and ethical misconduct in planetary sciences; (3) obtaining unknown scientific and historical data valuable to better characterize previously analyzed samples; (4) providing in- depth information on the most recent recovered specimens; (5) tracing and maintaining over time the data usually collected during in-house museum cataloging campaigns; (6) make these data freely accessible online to anyone interested thus increasing the public understanding of this unique geoscientific heritage . In conclusion, this presentation shows how standardized and correct cataloging is the prerequisite to an exhaustive and meaningful comprehension of the historical, scientific, social, and cultural, aspects relative to the conservation and valorization of museum meteorite collections.