Coal as a collection object and a source of knowledge

At the current stage, museum collections on natural history play an important role in the fundamental and applied research activity and are an essential part of popularizing Earth sciences. This article focuses on natural-scientific collections of the Institute of Coal (which is a structural unit of the Federal Research Center for Coal and Petrochemistry of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences), documenting interdisciplinary scientific knowledge about coal. Through methods of petrochemical, petrographic and geological research, as well as museological approach systematizing natural samples, the systematic, thematic and educational collections have been formed. They include coals of the Kuzbass and other coal basins, rock formations and paleonthological objects. Being a specific form of preservation of certain natural history processes of regional and global significance, a systematized collection is a tangible and informational resource of scientific explorations. Realization of its scientific-informational potential promotes popularization of the scientific knowledge and search for answers to solve environmental problems.