6 ms·

Cabinets of curiosities laid the foundation for modern museums

64 points by benbreen 3y ago

defrost 3y ago
From the mid-16th century onward, collectors combined and categorized many kinds of art and natural objects in these cabinets in ways that reflected their worldviews, knowledge and wealth, prefiguring the development of modern museums. Ahhh, collectors ... fetch me an elephant, a tiger, some natives, and five hundred square feet of Baroque artworks Jeeves. Speaking of the Smithsonian: The remains of a man from Western Australia's far north have been returned by a major US institution, more than a century after their theft and removal. The repatriation is one of 14 from the Washington DC-based museum taking place in Aboriginal communities across the country, including Ngarrindjeri in South Australia and Eastern Maar in Victoria. Around 1,700 First Nations ancestors have been returned from overseas collecting institutions and private collections since 1990, including 139 from America. Stolen remains of Yawuru Aboriginal man returned to WA from Smithsonian museum https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-12-07/first-nations-yawuru-ancestor-repatriation-smithsonian-wa-museum/103191928 https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-12-07/first-nations-yawuru-...
- flir 3y ago
  The word "stolen" stood out to me - I thought maybe it was a bit over the top - so I went looking and found this: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jun/14/aboriginal-bones-being-returned-australia https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jun/14/aboriginal-bon... TL;DR: "Stolen" isn't the right word. It's way too polite.
  - helpfulContrib 3y ago
    [dead]
- mc32 3y ago
  People back then, including DaVinci stole bodies for study. I think Ben Franklin did similar. They did it out of curiosity and to learn. It was taboo, so they found ways around that that obviously today would be major crimes. People today donate their bodies to science. Some people prefer for scavengers to recycle their bodies, even some westerners. That’s to say, those were different times. People used to grind up mummies for different purposes as well. Grave robbing was a thing.
aequitas 3y ago
I'd like to shout this youtube channel[0] which often features a "Cabinet of curiosities" episode about some rare and vintage items, explaining all the context, history and technology associated. [0] https://www.youtube.com/@CanadianMacGyver/videos https://www.youtube.com/@CanadianMacGyver/videos
- dacohenii 3y ago
  Came here to say this. I have really been enjoying this channel since it popped up about a month ago.
- jhallenworld 3y ago
  This channel is excellent. Gilles is awesome. I love it when he's shooting grenades while wearing some WWI military outfit. "Gilles Messier is a former mechanical engineer and current scriptwriter for the YouTube channel Today I Found Out. When not writing, he produces videos on the history of technology for his own channel Our Own Devices, restores historic aircraft, and designs 1920s/1930s Art Deco posters. Calling All Stations is his first novel and the first of a planned 4-part series. Gilles lives in Winnipeg with his two cats."
boffinAudio 3y ago
I have a retro computing collection that I have maintained, in working order, over the decades, and it has taken up a significant portion of my living space. To the point now where I recently found a Retro computing museum to start taking some of my items for public display. This is happening in a city (Vienna, Austria) quite well known for its obscure "Wunderkammer" culture, so it wasn't really a hard sell - I just had to be sure nothing inoperational was on display, and that things worked. Easy! 45,000+ visitors later, my little obsession has turned into a profession, with business cards and everything! So I can perfectly understand the cabinet-of-curiosities->museum process. Its real and still a thing in todays world.
- ggambetta 3y ago
  That's amazing! What's the name or website? Would love to visit (I'm in Zürich, not in Vienna, but close enough for a long weekend trip).
  - boffinAudio 3y ago
    https://gamingmuseum.at/ https://gamingmuseum.at/ We have a lot of systems - my particular contribution is the 8-bit wing. :)
avnigo 3y ago
Shout-out to the recent reboot of Connections (1987), Connections with James Burke [0], for threading cabinets of curiosities through museums and finally ending with the internet in episode 3, "In the Net". [0]: https://curiositystream.com/title/series/787 https://curiositystream.com/title/series/787
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- dacohenii 3y ago
  Thank you! The original Connections is one of my favorite series of all time, and I had no idea there was a reboot.
ejpfauth 3y ago
been building my own cabinet of curiosity for a while now, which pieces from family history, great way to pass the cold winter
eatonphil 3y ago
There's a Michael Chrichton-like thriller series by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child that (so far) mostly has to do with the Museum of Natural History in NYC and other histories of NYC. I just finished the third book in the series called "The Cabinet of Curiosities", a riff on the same subject. If you liked Chrichton thrillers and the movie Night at the Museum, you might enjoy this Pendergast series.
- droopyEyelids 3y ago
  On the topic of media, If anyone watches Guillermo del Toro's series "Cabinet of Curiosities", there are a couple gems in there but a lot of stinkers so don't hesitate to skip an episode https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guillermo_del_Toro%27s_Cabinet_of_Curiosities https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guillermo_del_Toro%27s_Cabinet...
  - TheHideout 3y ago
    Also on the topic of media, I helped make a pc puzzle game inspired by cabinets of curiosities and an old game called 7th Guest that people might be interested in [0]. [0] https://store.steampowered.com/app/831070/The_Cabinets_of_Doctor_Arcana/ https://store.steampowered.com/app/831070/The_Cabinets_of_Do...
  - HeyLaughingBoy 3y ago
    The first episode was outstanding.
scoot 3y ago
I was reminded of the Irish Natural History museum, which is itself a Victorian (?) era relic, stuck in time, with it's wood and glass cabinets of natural "curiosities": https://www.museum.ie/en-IE/Museums/Natural-History/Visitor-Information/3D-Virtual-Visit https://www.museum.ie/en-IE/Museums/Natural-History/Visitor-...
- JKCalhoun 3y ago
  If ever in Houston, Texas, I highly recommend the Houston Museum of Natural Science for, if nothing else, their Cabinet of Curiosities exhibit. https://www.hmns.org/exhibits/morian-cabinet-of-curiosities/ https://www.hmns.org/exhibits/morian-cabinet-of-curiosities/
ChrisMarshallNY 3y ago
This was something that I learned, when watching one of the latest Connections[0] episodes. Good show. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connections_(British_TV_series)#Series_4_(2023) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connections_(British_TV_series...
- ghaff 3y ago
  Off topic but... it's pretty cheap but, seriously, another subscription stream?
  - ChrisMarshallNY 3y ago
    Yeah, I suspect “bundles” will become a new business model, if they can remove the corruption (good luck with that). I find it to be a huge pain.
    - ghaff 3y ago
      The problem, as with cable TV bundles, is you end up with one or two reasonably worthwhile channels of content and a bunch of cheap filler.
      - pchristensen 3y ago
        But everyone has a different "worthwhile channel", which makes the economics of the bundle make sense.
blacksqr 3y ago
Also of interest on this topic is the episode "The Politics of Possession" from the series "Ways of Seeing." https://youtube.com/watch?v=Z7wi8jd7aC4 https://youtube.com/watch?v=Z7wi8jd7aC4
AaronNewcomer 3y ago
As a collector who is in the process of founding a museum, I think my favorite examples of this type of exhibit are: The Great cabinet of curiosities and their collection of collections at the Basel Historical Museum And then of course the Enlightenment gallery at the British Museum, which is essentially a collection of collections showing how people used to display their various types of collections.
browningstreet 3y ago
Recommended: Los Angeles’ Museum of Jurassic Technology.
interestica 3y ago
The first episode of the new "Connections" w James Burke has a cool look at one of these proto-museums.

64 points by benbreen 3y ago

From the mid-16th century onward, collectors combined and categorized many kinds of art and natural objects in these cabinets in ways that reflected their worldviews, knowledge and wealth, prefiguring the development of modern museums. Ahhh, collectors ... fetch me an elephant, a tiger, some natives, and five hundred square feet of Baroque artworks Jeeves. Speaking of the Smithsonian: The remains of a man from Western Australia's far north have been returned by a major US institution, more than a century after their theft and removal. The repatriation is one of 14 from the Washington DC-based museum taking place in Aboriginal communities across the country, including Ngarrindjeri in South Australia and Eastern Maar in Victoria. Around 1,700 First Nations ancestors have been returned from overseas collecting institutions and private collections since 1990, including 139 from America. Stolen remains of Yawuru Aboriginal man returned to WA from Smithsonian museum https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-12-07/first-nations-yawuru-ancestor-repatriation-smithsonian-wa-museum/103191928 https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-12-07/first-nations-yawuru-...

flir 3y ago
The word "stolen" stood out to me - I thought maybe it was a bit over the top - so I went looking and found this: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jun/14/aboriginal-bones-being-returned-australia https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jun/14/aboriginal-bon... TL;DR: "Stolen" isn't the right word. It's way too polite.
- helpfulContrib 3y ago
  [dead]
mc32 3y ago
People back then, including DaVinci stole bodies for study. I think Ben Franklin did similar. They did it out of curiosity and to learn. It was taboo, so they found ways around that that obviously today would be major crimes. People today donate their bodies to science. Some people prefer for scavengers to recycle their bodies, even some westerners. That’s to say, those were different times. People used to grind up mummies for different purposes as well. Grave robbing was a thing.

aequitas 3y ago

I'd like to shout this youtube channel[0] which often features a "Cabinet of curiosities" episode about some rare and vintage items, explaining all the context, history and technology associated. [0] https://www.youtube.com/@CanadianMacGyver/videos https://www.youtube.com/@CanadianMacGyver/videos

dacohenii 3y ago
Came here to say this. I have really been enjoying this channel since it popped up about a month ago.
jhallenworld 3y ago
This channel is excellent. Gilles is awesome. I love it when he's shooting grenades while wearing some WWI military outfit. "Gilles Messier is a former mechanical engineer and current scriptwriter for the YouTube channel Today I Found Out. When not writing, he produces videos on the history of technology for his own channel Our Own Devices, restores historic aircraft, and designs 1920s/1930s Art Deco posters. Calling All Stations is his first novel and the first of a planned 4-part series. Gilles lives in Winnipeg with his two cats."

boffinAudio 3y ago

I have a retro computing collection that I have maintained, in working order, over the decades, and it has taken up a significant portion of my living space. To the point now where I recently found a Retro computing museum to start taking some of my items for public display. This is happening in a city (Vienna, Austria) quite well known for its obscure "Wunderkammer" culture, so it wasn't really a hard sell - I just had to be sure nothing inoperational was on display, and that things worked. Easy! 45,000+ visitors later, my little obsession has turned into a profession, with business cards and everything! So I can perfectly understand the cabinet-of-curiosities->museum process. Its real and still a thing in todays world.

ggambetta 3y ago
That's amazing! What's the name or website? Would love to visit (I'm in Zürich, not in Vienna, but close enough for a long weekend trip).
- boffinAudio 3y ago
  https://gamingmuseum.at/ https://gamingmuseum.at/ We have a lot of systems - my particular contribution is the 8-bit wing. :)

avnigo 3y ago

Shout-out to the recent reboot of Connections (1987), Connections with James Burke [0], for threading cabinets of curiosities through museums and finally ending with the internet in episode 3, "In the Net". [0]: https://curiositystream.com/title/series/787 https://curiositystream.com/title/series/787

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
dacohenii 3y ago
Thank you! The original Connections is one of my favorite series of all time, and I had no idea there was a reboot.

ejpfauth 3y ago

been building my own cabinet of curiosity for a while now, which pieces from family history, great way to pass the cold winter

eatonphil 3y ago

There's a Michael Chrichton-like thriller series by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child that (so far) mostly has to do with the Museum of Natural History in NYC and other histories of NYC. I just finished the third book in the series called "The Cabinet of Curiosities", a riff on the same subject. If you liked Chrichton thrillers and the movie Night at the Museum, you might enjoy this Pendergast series.

droopyEyelids 3y ago
On the topic of media, If anyone watches Guillermo del Toro's series "Cabinet of Curiosities", there are a couple gems in there but a lot of stinkers so don't hesitate to skip an episode https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guillermo_del_Toro%27s_Cabinet_of_Curiosities https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guillermo_del_Toro%27s_Cabinet...
- TheHideout 3y ago
  Also on the topic of media, I helped make a pc puzzle game inspired by cabinets of curiosities and an old game called 7th Guest that people might be interested in [0]. [0] https://store.steampowered.com/app/831070/The_Cabinets_of_Doctor_Arcana/ https://store.steampowered.com/app/831070/The_Cabinets_of_Do...
- HeyLaughingBoy 3y ago
  The first episode was outstanding.

scoot 3y ago

I was reminded of the Irish Natural History museum, which is itself a Victorian (?) era relic, stuck in time, with it's wood and glass cabinets of natural "curiosities": https://www.museum.ie/en-IE/Museums/Natural-History/Visitor-Information/3D-Virtual-Visit https://www.museum.ie/en-IE/Museums/Natural-History/Visitor-...

JKCalhoun 3y ago
If ever in Houston, Texas, I highly recommend the Houston Museum of Natural Science for, if nothing else, their Cabinet of Curiosities exhibit. https://www.hmns.org/exhibits/morian-cabinet-of-curiosities/ https://www.hmns.org/exhibits/morian-cabinet-of-curiosities/

ChrisMarshallNY 3y ago

This was something that I learned, when watching one of the latest Connections[0] episodes. Good show. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connections_(British_TV_series)#Series_4_(2023) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connections_(British_TV_series...

ghaff 3y ago
Off topic but... it's pretty cheap but, seriously, another subscription stream?
- ChrisMarshallNY 3y ago
  Yeah, I suspect “bundles” will become a new business model, if they can remove the corruption (good luck with that). I find it to be a huge pain.
  - ghaff 3y ago
    The problem, as with cable TV bundles, is you end up with one or two reasonably worthwhile channels of content and a bunch of cheap filler.
    - pchristensen 3y ago
      But everyone has a different "worthwhile channel", which makes the economics of the bundle make sense.

blacksqr 3y ago

Also of interest on this topic is the episode "The Politics of Possession" from the series "Ways of Seeing." https://youtube.com/watch?v=Z7wi8jd7aC4 https://youtube.com/watch?v=Z7wi8jd7aC4

AaronNewcomer 3y ago

As a collector who is in the process of founding a museum, I think my favorite examples of this type of exhibit are: The Great cabinet of curiosities and their collection of collections at the Basel Historical Museum And then of course the Enlightenment gallery at the British Museum, which is essentially a collection of collections showing how people used to display their various types of collections.

browningstreet 3y ago

Recommended: Los Angeles’ Museum of Jurassic Technology.

interestica 3y ago

The first episode of the new "Connections" w James Burke has a cool look at one of these proto-museums.