‘Wonderful Objects’ and ‘Disagreeable Operations’: Encountering the Leverian Museum in Writing for Children, 1800-05

Abstract

The Leverian Museum was one of the eighteenth century’s most important natural history collections. While its significance has been discussed from a range of perspectives, little attention has been paid to the museum’s representation in children’s literature. This article examines two such works: The School-Room Party (1800) and Visits to the Leverian (c. 1805). Driven by pedagogic agendas, these texts suggest that the museum could challenge, as well as inform, its visitors. Focussing on the affective and ethical responses that the museum elicits, this article proposes that these works complicate and enrich current understandings of the period’s writing for children.