The biota of Plummers Island, Maryland, the research home of the Washington Biologists' Field Club, has been the subject of countless biological investigations over the last 100 years. While the flora and vertebrate fauna are fairly well known, the invertebrate fauna remains poorly documented with the exception of several families of insects. This paper presents a brief description of the site, notes on land-use over the last 100 years, and comments on collecting and research activities focused on invertebrates. It also serves as an introduction for the contributions that constitute this volume—a collection of papers on various aspects of the invertebrate fauna.