Today, a herbarium is considered a museum because it preserves biological specimens. Most herbaria have no public exhibits. Herbaria that are part of a public museum may have public exhibits about fungi. The Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, Illinois, is an example of an exhibit museum that contains public displays, a herbarium and other research collections of animals and fossils. Collections often include other elements related to the physical specimens.
Mycologists take notes on their collections and often make spore prints.
They take photographs of fresh fungi because the color and shape often change when fungi are dried. Before cameras were common and portable, they often made small watercolor or oil paintings of their collections. Special photographs are also made with the help of a scanning electron microscope. These photographs are more highly magnified than those taken through an ordinary microscope. SEM photographs clearly show spore details and cell structure.