Thanks in large part to NSF-DBI Award 0847923, the HUH has completed a compactorization project of the herbarium collection.

The Harvard University Herbaria (HUH) is one of the largest and most active in the country. The vascular plant herbaria, containing over 3.6 million specimens, represent an exceptionally rich scientific resource, heavily used by the community. The sharing of costs between NSF and Harvard University allowed for compactorization of the main portion of the third floor of the HUH which houses much of the vascular plant herbaria.

In addition to creating room for future expansion, upgrades made during this project improved the physical accessibility of the collections for faculty, students, and visiting scholars and permitted workspace enhancements that included leveling of floors and the installation of LED lighting fixtures.

Compactorization and reorganization began in Fall 2012 and the project was completed in October 2013.