Contributions to the history of university museums and collections in Europe

Abstract

The recent history of museums, from the sixteenth and seventeenth century wunderkammer to the present, is relatively welldocumented. In marked contrast, the pre-history of university museums remains largely unstudied. This is an important task: if the origin and singularity of university museums and collections remain unknown, their scientific and social roles will remain undervalued, their identity will remain in crisis and their heritage will be at risk. This paper aims to contribute to the knowledge of that history. Five historical landmarks that shaped the diversity and complexity of contemporary university museums and collections - the teaching collection, the teaching museum, the study collection, the research collection and the university museum - will be outlined, followed by some notes on developments during the twentieth century.