The Popularity of the Cabinets - Article Example

The Cabinet of Curiosities Name Institutional Affiliation Instructor Date Initially, the cabinet of curiosities was a personal collection of things of wonder. They were also known as the “Cabinet of Wonders” or the Wunderkammer. The popularity of the cabinets reached its peak in the 17th century because they were the personal and eccentric collections of wealthy individuals and they contained both man-made and natural objects. The cabinets represented a world-view that cherished the “wonder” in a particular artifact more than the necessity of analyzing and classifying that artifact. In other words, the main role of the cabinet of curiosities was to instill sense of curiosity and wonder in the viewer. The cabinets mainly belonged to the professional and amateur scientists. They kept their precious and expensive specimens and finds. They used them to proudly display their finds for the society to see. The cabinets displayed their owners’ perception of art, science and spirituality in a physical form. The artefacts were classified based on their levels of defect and other three categories including man-made, scientific and spiritual categories of artefacts. The scientific category contained natural artefacts and findings while the spiritual category contained artefacts that portrayed a sense of wonder at God’s creation or works. The main concepts and philosophies behind the assembling of cabinets of curiosities include: Creating a connection across the whole area of human knowledge, discovering new examples of the manmade and the natural things and experiencing a sense of wonder in them and experimenting through arrangement, rearrangement and classification of parts of the world in different ways. The cabinets of curiosities were made of glass cases and they are considered the model for early modern practices of collecting and conserving precious finds because they were used at a time when there was not yet a universal system of classification. For this reason, each collection sported its own unique organizational structure. Though the traditional Wonder Rooms still existed during Victorian times, they were mainly the dominion of the academic institutions and the royalty. However, the custom of personal collection to exhibit reached the newly growing middle class, thus leading to the emergence of a singular glass curio cabinet containing most priced collection of both scientific and man-made artefacts. The cabinets of curiosities contained: Fossils including; feathers, rocks, and bones; Scientific artefacts like telescopes, stereoscopes, tricks and puzzles, gyroscopes and kaleidoscopes. Historical objects like old toys, stamps, books and photos. It also contained any other thing that looked strange and interesting. Examples of fascinating collections of early collectors include: Beatrix Potter Source: http://armitt.com/armitt_website/beatrix-potter/ Potter was best known for her self-illustrated children’s stories like the Tale of Squirrel Nutkin and The Tale of Peter Rabbit. She was also an accomplished amateur mycology who collected various illustrations on lichens and mushrooms and dried specimens (McDowell, 2013). Potter did not limit herself to studying fungus. She was also involved in the study of insects (entomology) and botany and collection of specimens for the same. Although she did not keep some of her illustrations in her personal collections, her biological specimens and illustrations were passed along to the Natural History Museum of London. However, she kept much of the archaeological artefacts and fossils in her personal cabinet where she proudly displayed them even after she moved to the countryside (McDowell, 2013). Ole Worm Source: http://mentalfloss.com/article/55324/11-wonderful-wunderkammer-or-curiosity-cabinets Ole Worm was one of the richest naturalist and physician. His cabinet of curiosity was one of the most notable in the 17th century. He collected specimens from the natural world, human skeletons, ancient runic texts and fossils from the New World. Being a personal physician to King Christian IV of Denmark did not stop him from collecting and writing about what he found interesting. At some point in time, his thoughts on various objects in his personal cabinet of curiosity were lucid and pre-modern. He would ridicule those who passed off narwhal tusks as unicorn horns, he supposed that possibly the traits attributed to the mythological unicorn horn still held true to the tusk. Worms collections were used to tech other people and that his illustrations indicated that two myths of the era were perceptibly not true. Like normal animals, lemmings did not appear from air, but reproduced and the birds of paradise indeed had feet. Ole Worm had inherited a Great Auk as his but he later included in his cabinet after its death (Crane, 2000). The Great Auk was the only live species during its life time that represented the species from life. All other was artefacts were either created from dead specimens or drawn from the sailors’ accounts of their encounters with live animals. Robert Edmond Grant Source: http://mentalfloss.com/article/55324/11-wonderful-wunderkammer-or-curiosity-cabinets Grant was a physician who preferred working with the natural history world. During the first half of his life, Grant already had one of the largest cabinets of invertebrates in England. Being a student of Erasmus Darwin’s college, Robert Grant learned the importance of dissection (Parker, Chatterjee & Cain, 2006). He later used his practice in dissection to teach Charles Darwin how to dissect marine invertebrates in their natural habitats. He taught comparative zoology during the second half of his life. However, the wages from his teaching could not sustain him owing to low enrolment in his course. Instead of selling his collection, Great chose to live in slums because he believed that the collections belonged to those who could benefit from them through learning (Parker, Chatterjee & Cain, 2006). Amusingly, Robert Grant would perhaps object his inclusion to the list of curious collections. Instead, he pushed for the Zoological Society collections to be curated by professionals instead of aristocratic amateurs. He also campaigned for the change of British Museum to become research institution rather than being a place to admire. JOSEPH MAYER Source: http://mentalfloss.com/article/55324/11-wonderful-wunderkammer-or-curiosity-cabinets He was a smart goldsmith of the 19th century who contributed and controlled large collections of antiques and curiosities. As a youth, he collected Greek coins and potteries but later sold his Greek coins to the French government. As his collection continued to grow, his ranged of collections expanded to include; cultural artefacts, pottery, Wedgewood, ancient enamels and historical ceramics (Mayer, 2008). His sale of Greek coins and flourished goldsmithing business gave him the financial muscle to establish a serious excavation of Anglo-Saxon artefacts within England. There wasn’t much interest in the field up until Mayer. Despite his numerous Egyptian acquisitions, Mayer had much interest in England, hence his credit for Anglo-Saxon archeology and communities around him. Like Grant, Mayer had a conviction that everyone is served when the society is given free access to lectures about the massive collections at their nearest convenience. FRANKLIN DELANO ROSEVELT Source: Smithsonian-http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/fdrs-stamp-design-funds-trip-to-antarctica-inspiring-hope-along-the-way-10665514/?no-ist President Franklin Roosevelt was a Philatelist. Since his childhood, he collected stamps and had collected massive stamps by the time he came to office. He did it as a hobby in that he was able to collect the stamps even kin hard times of Economic Depression. He loved stamp-collecting to an extent that the Postmaster General had to get his approval on every new design of stamps (Musso, 2006). Roosevelt did not only collect stamps but also sat down with the Postmaster General to design and create new stamp concepts. His love and passion for stamps help him keep his head up especially during his worst times in office (Musso, 2006). Apart from his popularity for stamp collection, Roosevelt also had a massive collection of coins, Hudson River Valley art, ship models and naval art. A larger portion of his collection is currently found at the Franklin Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum while a small portion of some of his stamp collection was dispersed to private collectors and other museums in the country. Given the curious nature of people in the society and their desire to collect, the modern museums have its roots strongly attached to the privately own collections of the cabinets of curiosity. They existed to not only inspire people to wonder but also to facilitate creative thought in them. The cabinets of curiosity contained treasures that that help man reflect his desire to find his place within the setting of nature and divine in the fullness of time. References Crane, S. A. (2000). Museums and memory. Stanford, Calif: Stanford Univ. Press. Joseph Mayer (2008). Early Exhibitions of Art in Liverpool. BiblioBazaar McDowell, M. (2013). Beatrix Potter's gardening life: The plants and places that inspired the classic children's tales. Musso, A. P. (2006). FDR and the post office: A young boy's fascination; a world leader's passion. Bloomington, IN: AuthorHouse. Parker, S. E., Chatterjee, H., & Cain, J. (2006). Robert Edmond Grant (1793-1874) and his Museum of Zoology and Comparative Anatomy. London: Grant Museum of Zoology, UCL. Annotated Bibliography Crane, S. A. (2000). Museums and memory. Stanford, Calif: Stanford Univ. Press. Susan Crane perceives museums today as cultural institutions and showplaces containing an accumulation of objects. They are the point of contact between collective and personal identities in relation to history and memory. The book considers museums from individual experience, history and memories from museum visitors, scholars and curators. The contributors discuss museums across the various disciplinary boundaries like anthropology, museum scholarships and art history. The author explores various exhibitions among them photography and Native American history. Musso, A. P. (2006). FDR and the post office: A young boy's fascination; a world leader's passion. Bloomington, IN: AuthorHouse. The author portrays Franklin Roosevelt as an individual whose love for stamps developed at a tender age when his family used to send him foreign postage while engaged in trade activities. Roosevelt embraced his hobby of stamp collection as a way of strengthening his interest in history and geography by documenting facts about each stamp’s origin and the significance behind it as it relates to the heritage of the country of issue. He found comfort working with his grown collection of stamps when he was stricken with infantile paralysis. The book reviews how Franklin Roosevelt’s passion and his hands-on involvement with stamps led to a new credibility and lasting presence of artwork treasures. Joseph Mayer (2008). Early Exhibitions of Art in Liverpool. BiblioBazaar Mayer’s interests in ancient times started at an early age. His collection entailed a wide array of products among them Wedgewood poetry, Egyptian and Roman artefacts, medieval and English paintings. The author describes Mayer as a person who travelled abroad regularly on business purpose but he used the opportunity to study and buy medieval art. Through his works of gathering Mayer was able to exhibit his collection and encourage his fellow citizens of Liverpool to view the wonders of the past. Mayer later offered his collection to the Liverpool Museum. McDowell, M. (2013). Beatrix Potter's gardening life: The plants and places that inspired the classic children's tales. Beatrix Potter’s Gardening Life explores the origin of her love for gardening plants and how her passion for plants came to be reflected in her work. The book commences by giving the Potter’s biography, giving an insight of her key moments and places she has been to and helped define her. The book also review Potter’s garden season by season giving an overview of what really brings live to her garden. The book concludes with a traveler’s guide, giving information about how and where to visit Beatrix gardens today. Parker, S. E., Chatterjee, H., & Cain, J. (2006). Robert Edmond Grant (1793-1874) and his Museum of Zoology and Comparative Anatomy. London: Grant Museum of Zoology, UCL. The book gives an overview of The Grant Museum of Zoology- the only remaining zoological university in London. It describes the specimens of the animal Kingdom. The author describes the museum as a teaching center with collections packed full of skeletons, mounted animals as well as specimens. Grant served as the first Professor of Zoology and comparative anatomy. Grant is portrayed as a passionate person who amassed the specimens, materials for dissection, lecture notes and diagrams hence forming the basis of the Grant Museum. After his death, the museum was named in honor and memory of its founder Robert Grant. Read More