Marble Busts and Fish Fossils: The Catalog of the Museum of naturalia and artificialia at the University of Padua (1797) (2016)
Canadelli, Elena (Author)
Nuncius: Annali di Storia della Scienza
Volume: 31
Issue: 2
Pages: 439-483
The historical catalogs of the museum collections contain a wealth of information for historians seeking to reconstruct their contents, how they were displayed and the ways in which they were used. This paper will present the complete transcription of a draft catalog that was prepared in 1797 for the Museum of Natural History and Antiquities of the University of Padua. Conserved in the university’s Museum of Geology and Paleontology, the catalog was the first to be compiled of the museum, which was established in 1733 thanks to the donation by Antonio Vallisneri Jr. of his father Antonio Vallisneri Sr.’s collection of antiquities and natural history. The catalog was compiled by the custodian of the museum, the herbalist and amateur naturalist Bartolomeo Fabris. It is of great interest because it provides a record of the number and nature of the pieces conserved in the museum at a time when natural history and archeology collections were still undivided. It also provides indications as to how such collections were arranged for display in the public halls of a university at the end of the eighteenth century. Based on this catalog, with additional information drawn from other manuscript and published sources and museum catalogs from the 1830s conserved in various institutes at the University of Padua, it is possible to reconstruct the contents and layout of a significant late 18th-century natural history collection.
...MoreSimilar Citations
Article
Thomas, Jennifer M.;
(2012)
The Documentation of the British Museum's Natural History Collections, 1760--1836
(/isis/citation/CBB001220858/)
Book
Mauro Varotto;
Giovanni Donadelli;
Chiara Gallanti;
Elena Canadelli;
(2020)
Esplora Misura Racconta. Alle origini del primo Museo di Geografia in Italia
(/isis/citation/CBB967809411/)
Book
Francesco Luzzini;
(2013)
Il miracolo inutile. Antonio Vallisneri e le scienze della Terra in Europa tra XVII e XVIII secolo
(/isis/citation/CBB451473673/)
Chapter
Warren D. Allmon;
Gregory P. Dietl;
Jonathan R. Hendricks;
Robert M. Ross;
(2018)
Bridging the two fossil records: Paleontology’s “big data” future resides in museum collections
(/isis/citation/CBB301778497/)
Chapter
Gwen S. Antell;
(2018)
Digitization reveals and remediates challenges to research on dispersed museum collections from Florissant fossil beds, Colorado
(/isis/citation/CBB854174352/)
Chapter
Bruce S. Lieberman;
Julien Kimmig;
(2018)
Museums, paleontology, and a biodiversity science–based approach
(/isis/citation/CBB045609940/)
Article
Loriano Ballarin;
Ester Zancanaro;
Paola Nicolosi;
(2019)
Giovanni Canestrini's Catalogue of the Marine Malacological Collection at the Museo Di Zoologia, Padua
(/isis/citation/CBB769802402/)
Article
Manganelli, Giuseppe;
Benocci, Andrea;
Spadini, Valeriano;
(2006)
The Scientific Bibliography of Roberto Lawley (1818--1881) and His Contribution to the Study of Fossil Sharks
(/isis/citation/CBB000772489/)
Book
Longair, Sarah;
McAleer, John;
(2012)
Curating Empire: Museums and the British Imperial Experience
(/isis/citation/CBB001201464/)
Article
Beer, Liang de;
(2014)
Voor iedere vriend van de wetenschap. Het publiek van het naturaliënkabinet van de Hollandsche Maatschappij der Wetenschappen in de jaren 1772--1830
(/isis/citation/CBB001321075/)
Book
Susanne Köstering;
(2018)
Ein Museum für Weltnatur: Die Geschichte des Naturhistorischen Museums in Hamburg
(/isis/citation/CBB080940339/)
Chapter
Maria Toscano;
(2017)
Giuseppe Saverio Poli as a Collector between Natural History and Antiquarianism
(/isis/citation/CBB463592702/)
Article
Laura Colli;
Antonella Salvini;
Elena Pecchioni;
Sandra Cencetti;
(2017)
Conservation of Paleontological Finds: the Restoration Materials of the “Problematica Verrucana”
(/isis/citation/CBB575061092/)
Article
Ramos, Paulo Oliveira;
(2014)
The Royal Decree of 1721 and the Ephemeral Archaeological Collection of the Royal Academy of Portuguese History
(/isis/citation/CBB001421842/)
Article
Alberto Zanatta;
Giuliano Scattolin;
Gaetano Thiene;
Fabio Zampieri;
(2016)
Phrenology between anthropology and neurology in a nineteenth-century collection of skulls
(/isis/citation/CBB513838346/)
Chapter
Filiberto Agostini;
(2020)
A source for the study of the University of Padua in the early nineteenth century: the Rector's annual reports
(/isis/citation/CBB822139479/)
Article
Podgorny, Irina;
(2013)
Travelling Museums and Itinerant Collections in Nineteenth-Century Latin America
(/isis/citation/CBB001421588/)
Chapter
Pimentel, Juan;
(2009)
Across Nations and Ages: The Creole Collector and the Many Lives of the Megatherium
(/isis/citation/CBB000954200/)
Article
Bennett, Tony;
Dibley, Ben;
Harrison, Rodney;
(2014)
Introduction: Anthropology, Collecting and Colonial Governmentalities
(/isis/citation/CBB001201581/)
Article
Perry, Sara;
Challis, Debbie;
(2013)
Flinders Petrie and the Curation of Heads
(/isis/citation/CBB001201230/)
Be the first to comment!