The DSDP/ODP Microslide Archive at the European Micropalaeontological Reference Centre in Kraków Poland

The European Micropalaeontological Reference Centre (EMRC) was established in 2015 in order to provide a permanent archive for published micropaleontological collections. The centre is housed in the office of Micropress Europe on the second floor in the main building of the AGH University of Krakow, next to the grand staircase. The EMRC originally was set up using the Heron-Allen Library at the Natural History Museum as a model – as a research centre containing collections of archived microslides, microscopes, a library of micropaleontological books and journals, and a large collection of reprints. The centre provides a welcoming atmosphere for visitors who wish to carry out micropalaeontological research or simply view collections.

Since its establishment, a number of Micropalaeontologists have deposited type slides or their entire published collections at the EMRC. The foraminiferal collection now consists of 25 wooden cabinets, each housing on between 1,000 and 2,000 microscope slides. One cabinet is reserved for primary type specimens (holotypes, paratypes and metatypes). The EMRC collection now houses the holotypes of over 60 species of foraminifera, and >250 paratypes and metatypes.

In 2023, we acquired the microslide collection of D.G. Jenkins, which includes the shipboard micropalaeontological samples from DSDP Legs 9 and 29. In the summer of 2024, we archived the first shipment of micropalaeontological samples and slides from the collections of W.A. Berggren, who participated in several of the early DSDP expeditions. These include slides and residues from the JOIDES Expedition cores (the precursor of the Deep Sea Drilling Project expeditions) and the early DSDP expeditions (Legs 1, 2, 3, 4, 12, 13, 14, 15, 22, 72). The Berggren collection at the EMRC includes the shipboard micropalaeontological samples from DSDP Leg 12 as well as a sizable collection of picked faunal slides from DSDP Site 516 used by Berggren to revise the Miocene zonation of planktonic foraminifera, which was published in the DSDP Leg 72 volume. The Kaminski Collection at the EMRC contains the shipboard micropalaeontological slides from ODP Legs 105 and 123, and numerous picked slides from DSDP/ODP Sites 263, 643, 767, 959, from the ACEX Expedition to the Arctic Ocean, and from the Leg 323 sites in the Bering Sea. The Gradstein Collection contains the slides from DSDP Leg 44. The newly acquired Brent Wilson Collection contains slides from DSDP Sites 148 and 926. The EMRC has quickly become a major repository tasked with helping preserve our worldwide DSDP/ODP heritage. A complete list of slide collections housed at the EMRC will be made available on the Micropress Europe website.

Micropaleontologists can arrange to visit the European Micropalaeontological Reference Centre by contacting the Curator, Dr. Justyna Kowal-Kasprzyk, at the AGH University of Krakow [j.kowal.kasprzyk@gmail.com].