This book contains the abstracts from the International Symposium and First World Congress on the Preservation and Conservation of Natural History Collections. It contains a section on workshops, four general sessions, four poster sessions, two training sessions, a section on other contributions, an author index, a list of participants, and acknowledgements. The general sessions are: - what are the challenges facing the preservation of natural history collections?, - collections at risk and museum responses to changing social and economic climates, - current initiatives and programs for the preservation of natural history collections, and - future directions and strategies. The poster sessions are: - collecting and documenting natural history materials, preserving and conserving natural history collections, - storage and environmental control, and - studying, using and managing collections.