Natural history collections

The Role of Extinction in Evolution. Extinktion ‹ bezeichnet heutzutage das Ende evolutionärer Stammlinien durch den Tod aller Nachkommen. Nach Charles Darwin handelt sich um einen Prozess, der allmählich und andauernd in der Geschichte des Lebens und den langen und langsamen Zeiten der Geologie geschieht; er ist eng verbunden mit dem Prozess der natürlichen Selektion und somit ein vitaler Aspekt der Evolution. 1 Diese Verbindung erlaubte es, die ebenso langsamen Zeiten der biologischen Evolution und des Aus sterbens zu konzipieren : Kurz nach dem Erscheinen von Darwins On the Origin of Species (1859) begann der deutsch-baltische Zoologe Karl Ernst von Baer sich mit dem Problem des Aussterbens in historischer Zeit, d. h. innerhalb der 5.000 Jahre der menschlichen Schriftkultur, zu beschäf-tigen. 2 Er war nicht der erste, der versuchte, die historischen Perioden und die Gegenwart mit der langen Geschichte der Erde zu verbinden : Bereits Georges Cuvier hatte in seinem Discours préliminaire nicht nur ausführlich die theoretische Möglichkeit einer zukünftigen Auslöschung von Arten dis-kutiert, sondern dafür auch Quellen aus der Antike als Brücke zwischen der aktuellen Weltordnung und den tiefen geologischen Zeiten genutzt. 3 Allerdings interessierte sich von Baer 1860 vor allem für den Untergang von Arten, die mit dem Menschen in historischer Zeit zusammen gelebt hatten, und damit für eine neue Dimension des menschli-chen Ein wirkens auf die Natur. Insbesondere ging es ihm darum, eine Ant-wort auf die Frage zu erhalten, ob das Aussterben sich auch in der Gegen-wart fortsetze, und wie man diese Dimension, die man heute als Zeitalter des Anthropozäns bezeichnet, registrieren könne. Doch um 1860 blieb die Frage ohne definitive Antwort. Im Gegensatz zur immer größer werdenden Anzahl der ausgestorbenen Arten des geologischen fossil record war die Zahl der Tierarten, deren Aussterben sich historisch dokumentieren ließ, klein und überdies war ihr Aussterben auch schwierig zu beweisen. Im Folgenden sollen die Medien und Quellen präsentiert werden, die herangezogen wur-den, um den historischen und gegenwärtigen Prozess des Aussterbens von tierischen Arten und seine zeitliche Dimension sichtbar zu machen.

Natural history museums preserve a considerable, yet often unacknowledged part of the world's colonial heritage. Their identity, collections, exhibitions and, importantly, much of their research activities are based on objects which underwent multifold translocations from colonized territories to museums in the Global North.
Natural history museums took advantage of colonial endeavors and were deeply entangled in the exploitation of the colonies. However, natural objects are often displayed as "of Nature"-and framed within a narrative of Western scientific endeavors and rationality. The complex histories of acquisition as well as the political context of the discovery and translocation of objects are thus rendered invisible.

The conference takes the growing tension between the entangled history of natural history museums and colonialism on the one hand and the invisibility of those entanglements on the other as a starting point for considerations about decolonization.

Based on research undertaken for WAAS and Museums Worcestershire's Lost Landscapes project, this talk traces the history of our understanding of the archaeology, geology, and natural history of the Ice Age, and presents the fascinating stories of local characters at the forefront of research. Beginning in the heady days of the mid-19th century we steer a path through colonial controversies, enlightened ecclesia, humble handaxe-hunters, and trowelblazing teachers, up to current research and priorities for the future.

Abstract

Helmis Natural History Museum is located in Zakynthos, in the village of Agia Marina Fagia, only twenty minutes distance from the centre of the city of Zakynthos. The enlargement of the private collection of Panagiotis Helmis, a collection of natural history that originally included natural history exhibits acquired by the collector to meet his needs, was a challenge for the exhibition of this collection in a museum environment. Moreover, the museum was founded to introduce to the visitors the value of nature, to present information on lesser known fauna and flora species of the island and to focus on geology exhibits.

Keywords: Museum Education, Minerals, Geology, Zakynthos, Natural History.


Περίληψη

H ανακοίνωση εστιάζει στο κοινωνικό αντίκτυπο της μουσειακής συλλογής των συλλογών γεωλογίας στο Μουσείο Χέλμη στη Ζάκυνθο. Το μουσείο βρίσκεται στο χωριό «Αγία Μαρίνα του Φαγιά» σε ορεινή θέση, είκοσι λεπτά από το κέντρο της χώρας της Ζακύνθου. Ειδικότερα, πρόκειται για μία προσωπική συλλογή εκθεμάτων φυσικής ιστορίας που με την πάροδο του χρόνου διευρύνθηκε.  Η συλλογή οργανώθηκε μουσειολογικά  και μουσειογραφικά ώστε να συμβάλλει στην επιμόρφωση της τοπικής κοινότητας, την εκπαίδευση και ψυχαγωγία των μαθητών αλλά και των ποικίλων ομάδων επισκεπτών. Με σκοπό να πραγματοποιηθούν εκπαιδευτικές δράσεις, να αναδειχθεί η τοπική αλλά και παγκόσμια φυσική κληρονομιά (χλωρίδα/πανίδα) και να αποτελέσει το μουσείο, αρωγό γνώσης και μέσο ψυχαγωγίας. Η συλλογή ορυκτών  του Παναγιώτη Χέλμη περιελάμβανε αρχικά είδη πετρωμάτων που συνέλεγε ο συλλέκτης από διάφορες γεωγραφικές περιοχές στη Ζάκυνθο και εμπλουτίστηκε αργότερα με διάφορα είδη εκθεμάτων γεωλογίας και απολιθωμάτων που προέκυψαν από ιδιωτικές αγορές. Το μουσείο πραγματοποιεί εκπαιδευτικά προγράμματα στο γνωστικό αντικείμενο της γεωλογίας με τρόπο προσιτό αλλά και εύπεπτο και συνεχώς επαναπροσδιορίζει τον ρόλο του κοινωνικά.

Λέξεις κλειδιά:
Μουσειακή Εκπαίδευση, Ορυκτά, Γεωλογία, Ζάκυνθος, Φυσική Ιστορία.

This pathbreaking and stunningly illustrated book recovers the intersections between natural history, politics, art, and philosophy in the late sixteenth-century Low Countries. Insect Artifice explores the moment when the seismic forces of the Dutch Revolt wreaked havoc on the region’s creative and intellectual community, compelling its members to seek solace in intimate exchanges of art and knowledge. At its center is a neglected treasure of the late Renaissance: the Four Elements manuscripts of Joris Hoefnagel (1542–1600), a learned Netherlandish merchant, miniaturist, and itinerant draftsman who turned to the study of nature in this era of political and spiritual upheaval. Presented here for the first time are more than eighty pages in color facsimile of Hoefnagel’s encyclopedic masterwork, which showcase both the splendor and eccentricity of its meticulously painted animals, insects, and botanical specimens.

Marisa Anne Bass unfolds the circumstances that drove the creation of the Four Elements by delving into Hoefnagel’s writings and larger oeuvre, the works of his friends, and the rich world of classical learning and empirical inquiry in which he participated. Bass reveals how Hoefnagel and his colleagues engaged with natural philosophy as a means to reflect on their experiences of war and exile, and found refuge from the threats of iconoclasm and inquisition in the manuscript medium itself. This is a book about how destruction and violence can lead to cultural renewal, and about the transformation of Netherlandish identity on the eve of the Dutch Golden Age.

https://press.princeton.edu/titles/13413.html

De nombreuses et nombreux scientifiques travaillent au quotidien, bénévolement ou non, pour collecter ces informations naturalistes. Elles sont par la suite stockées dans les musées ou dans les associations, attendant qu’un spécialiste vienne utiliser,publier, confirmer, enrichir ou infirmer une donnée. Si, théoriquement et avec les moyens à disposition dans les musées, ce sont les responsables de collection qui valorisent les collections, qui s’occupe du patrimoine associatif, universitaire, celui des collèges et des particuliers ? Le travail présenté effectué en 2018 sur une collection de Lépidoptères de la collection Barragué appartenant à l’association Giraz, montre que l’on peut redonner du sens aux collections anciennes, aux publications relatives à celles-ci, et les rendre exploitables par les scientifiques d’aujourd’hui afin d’enrichir, d’affiner l’analyse et la compréhension de notre environnement.

One of France's colonial enterprises in the eighteenth century was to acclimatize nutmeg, native to the Maluku islands, in the French colony of Isle de France (today's Mauritius). Exploring the acclimatization of nutmeg as a practice, this paper reveals the practical challenges of transferring knowledge between Indo-Pacific islands in the second half of the eighteenth century. This essay will look at the process through which knowledge was created-including ruptures and fractures-as opposed to looking at the mere circulation of knowledge. I argue that nutmeg cultivation on Isle de France was a complex process of creolizing expertise originating from the local populations of the plants' native islands with the horticultural knowledge of colonists, settlers, labourers and slaves living on Isle de France. In this respect, creolization describes a process of knowledge production rather than a form of knowledge. Once on Isle de France, nutmeg took root in climate and soil conditions which were different from those of its native South East Asian islands. It was cultivated by slaves and colonists who lacked prior experience with the cultivation of this particular spice. Experienced horticulturalists experimented with their own traditions. While they relied on old assumptions, they also came to question them. By examining cultivation as an applied practice, this paper argues that the creolization of knowledge was a critical aspect in French colonial botany.

"To see and know God in the natural world: the scientific interests of San Juan de Ribera (1532-1611) and his paintings"

This article analyzes the scientific collection owned by San Juan de Ribera, Archbishop of Valencia between 1569 and 1611. Rather than adopt a traditional perspective that treats the possession of scientific and artistic objects as a mere catalog, this article considers the phenomenon of Ribera’s collecting as an intellectual construction and ideological discourse. In this way, it combines an examination of Ribera’s 1611 post mortem inventory, his personal library and the 1615 post mortem auctions of his possessions with quotes of Fray Luis de Granada's Introducción del símbolo de la fe (1583). This catechetical treatise is fundamental for understanding that San Juan de Ribera's objects of naturalia and artificialia, as well as his genre paintings, could accommodate religious readings about God's creative activity, reflecting his goodness and wisdom in the natural world.