The Smithsonian Museum requested a Washington federal judge allow for the modification of a deceased insect collector's will.
Carl J. Drake spent of most his life studying insects, including all kinds of bugs. After he died in 1965, he named the Smithsonian Museum the recipient his last savings and his collection of insect preserves.
Several years later, the Smithsonian would like to make some changes to the insect collector's will because the museum was struggling to accommodate all the requests, including one that required buying more bugs. A legislation change in the 1980s tightened up on the purchase of insects in the U.S.
The letter addressed to the judge was written by the Department of Justice on behalf of the museum. The Smithsonian also wanted to allocate some of the money from Drake's investment to buy supplies and fund scientific research on the insect collection. In addition, the museum also wanted to be allowed to loan some items from Drake's collection to other museums and research facilities. According to Drake's will, loaning of the insect preserves is strictly prohibited because during his time, shipping them off from one place to another damages or breaks the item, the Associated Press reported.
Another request of the museum was to integrate Drake's insect collection to the museum's collection. As of the moment, Drake's 250,000 specimens were housed in cabinets of the National Museum of Natural History. The museum argued that they were faced with taxes for "increasingly scarce collection space." If granted, the Smithsonian would transfer the collection from the fifth floor's east wing to a space accessible by the visitors of the museum.
It is not yet known when the judge will make a ruling on the matter.
