museum of natural history

museum of natural history

The Evolution of Museums of Natural History: From Curiosity Cabinets to Modern Institutions

1. Introduction to Museums of Natural History

One physical location houses natural history displays, including those which are children’s favorites: fossil dinosaurs. According to the museum’s website, more than 125 million visitors have visited the National Museum since it opened in 1910, welcoming an annual average of 7 million visitors for a variety of events and exhibitions, and being free and open to the public on every day of the year except December 25th. Of course, the interests of the public of one century ago were not equal to those of today, so a response to change in the nature of what is considered to be popular should be viewed as more an adaptation, based on new considerations. This perspective can be better understood by the museum’s recent transformation.

In this chapter, we will sketch the evolution of the natural history museum, from the original baubles under lock and key that were ‘cabinets of the curious’ created between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries, to the modern, ‘open to the public’ palatial buildings that contain exhibitions of natural science and anthropology. We will explore the latest exhibit at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History: the transformation of a top museum that was founded in 1910 in the USA capital city, comprising a collection built up from donations and from the selection of the best of previous collections in other institutions.

2. Historical Development of Museums of Natural History

The essence of a museum concept is not that of a form of collecting and acquiring objects, records, and relics alone, but to maintain, exhibit, and communicate about their significance to the wider public in society. The center of attraction was the abundant exotic, rarified, as the curiosity cabinets were generally associated with courts and the nobility. The cabinets were enriched with rare, exotic, valuable, and precious stones, religious and magical objects to inspire awe, wonder, and a thirst for knowledge among the eager audience. Thus, the motive to create curiosity cabinets practices a mixture of religious, political, and prestige interests. By the turn of the 16th century and during the period of the 17th century, the rapidly expanding interest of the merchant class in the exotic and enigmatic wonders of nature.

The search for knowledge and the human inclination towards curiosity underlay the achievements of generations. The historical background of natural history museums reflects the cultural and social conditions, as well as the climate of science, during the age in which they were formed. The portable objects of study, such as paintings, manuscripts, and physical objects, started to be assembled, collected, and curated as early as ancient times. Curiosity cabinets and apothecary shops are considered forerunner institutions of the museums of today. By the Middle Ages, mineral and animal specimens were included in these collections. Objects so gathered were primarily of a general nature, with the artists-cum-scholars collecting fossils and mineral specimens from various dig sites.

3. The Role of Museums of Natural History in Science and Education

In many ways, museums tell a story about the natural world, a story that is constantly being revised as new research finds new evidence, which in turn is discussed and can serve as the basis for new museum exhibits. Public understanding of science, including the public’s understanding of the research process and uncertainty in research results, is extremely important, especially in discussions of contemporary issues like climate change, the spread of deadly new infections, and the impact of humans on the natural world. Collectively, such discussions fall under the category of science communication, and museums are “communication machines,” with their large public audiences. By acting as centers of informal and formal learning, museums play special roles in sparking curiosity, creativity, and appreciation for the natural world. Furthermore, I say that part of the job of a museum is to show us not just where we are in the world, but how miraculous it is that we are here at all.

Museums of natural history are not just mere collections of objects, although, of course, that is an essential aspect of them. They were, and many continue to be, active research centers, where naturalists collected data about the natural world. In fact, many larger museums of natural history still fund their own researchers, two cases in point being the museums that I am associated with: The Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University and the Rehnquist National History Library located in Trenton, New Jersey, both of which have a rich history of conducting research. These museums have been visited by hundreds of scientists over the decades, and in turn they have provided resources for students, including distinctive research collections and an exciting environment in which to work. But faculty are the first to acknowledge that museums are also extremely important tools for outreach, teaching, public education, and entertainment.

4. Challenges and Opportunities Facing Museums of Natural History Today

For some decades, natural history museums have been considered as institutions that must have urgent changes in their aims, mainly to justify their existence in terms of social benefits. This condition is particularly evident among researchers who are gathered homogeneously in their tasks without accompanying society’s improvements. The changes that are required should mainly encourage visitors to visit these cultural landmarks as a recreational activity, which goes beyond the belongings of an institution. To achieve this, it is necessary to propose designing changes of diversity to provide potential visitors with experiences far from the usual attractions or to become people who favor scenic resources instead of other cultural goods. This would inevitably cause experiments, reliability, and new knowledge types that would result in increased social benefits for contemporary generations.

Modern museums have faced significant changes during the past few decades due to the scientific and technological revolution that has involved all aspects of human activity. Museums of Natural History, in particular, are not exempt from this process, as they must rethink their functions and reasons for being, and put into practice necessary changes to maintain market positioning. In this way, museum authorities, as well as leaders in informing museums, should be oriented through changes with the purpose of offering not only a role to their institutions, but also developing different qualities that would help them consolidate as organizations of the future. This can be achieved by using their collections, complemented methods, scientific knowledge, and by offering diverse cultural and recreational products in alliance with other cultural agents.