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Amid growing global concern about biodiversity loss (IPBES 2019), scientists are conducting research to inventory life on Earth, develop new conservation and management strategies, and investigate emergent issues pertaining to invasive species spread, zoonotic disease transmission, and climate change impacts. As scientists seek to conserve biodiversity and understand the impacts of anthropogenic disturbance, natural history collections have proven to be a valuable resource. Natural history collections house specimens that document the taxonomy, evolution, cultural significance (as with zooarchaeological specimens), biogeography, and ecology of species (McLean et al. 2015). With over 2 billion physical specimens archived in natural history collections across the globe, scientists are able to access both the physical specimens and associated metadata (eg, collection date, location, habitat, media …