The James C. Parks Herbarium is the herbarium of Millersville University of Pennsylvania. It was formerly known simply as the Millersville University Herbarium until its dedication in 2004 in honor of its late Curator, James C. Parks. The herbarium is registered globally at Index Herbariorum as MVSC; that being an abbreviation for "Millersville State College", as the University was known at the time that MVSC was chosen.
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Specimen holdings
According to Index Herbariorum, the herbarium houses 5,700 specimens, though the Herbarium's own website indicates an estimate of some 12,000-15,000 specimens. The collection, which has been partially databased for 6,700 specimens, can be searched and records downloaded or mapped at the Herbarium's website. Most of these specimens are of vascular plants collected from the lower Susquehanna River valley. Some of the specimens date from the late 1850s, which coincides roughly with the University's founding as Millersville State Normal School in 1855.
Curators
The Herbarium's first official curator was James C. Parks, who served as such from 1967 until his death in 2002. Since 2005, Christopher R. Hardy has served as the herbarium's curator.