Digitisation of historical specimens from the Hog Island Audubon Camp Natural History Collection, Maine

Natural history collections serve as invaluable records of biological complexity across time and space. However, only a small fraction of these collections has been digitised globally, leaving the majority of specimen data inaccessible for research and digital analysis. Hog Island Audubon Camp, located in Bremen, Maine, United States, is a nature and birding education centre operated by the National Audubon Society's Seabird Institute. It houses a small, but historically valuable natural history collection, primarily used for science education and outreach programmes. By digitising these data, we have increased the research value and accessibility of the collection by enabling scientists to use these records in support of ecological, evolutionary and conservation goals.

Between 2022 and 2024, we digitised all specimens in the collection with available occurrence data using Darwin Core (DwC) as our digital standard. In total, 764 records were captured, representing 417 unique scientific names across animal, plant, fungal and chromista specimens. Most specimens originate from the New England region and the tri-state areas of the United States. Notably, over 300 specimens were collected during the 1960s and 1970s, a period when the harmful effects of DDT (dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane) on humans and wildlife were becoming increasingly recognised. The oldest specimens in the collection are five New World warblers collected between 1872 and 1897.