Wesleyan University Museum records
Scope and Contents
The Wesleyan Museum records contains annual reports, correspondence, invoices, inventories, catalogues, accession books, photos, and other materials. It is organized into four series.
Series 1 contains Annual Reports of the museum. Series 2 contains Administrative materials, such as correspondence, used in the daily operations of the museum. Series 3, the largest series, is Accessions, Catalogues and Inventories. These materials reflect the museum's natural history focus, with many bird, fish, mammal and insect specimens. There are also detailed lists of shells, minerals, wood samples, coins, marbles, and even a detailed description of the museum's mummy. There are also catalogs of some of the curiosities donated to the museum by collectors or groups. Series 4 is Images, a small collection of photographs and negatives.
Dates
- Creation: 1836-1985
Creator
- Wesleyan University (Middletown, Conn.) (Organization)
Conditions Governing Access
Collection is open for research. Some of the bound albums are fragile and should be handled with care.
Conditions Governing Use
University records - Copyright held by Wesleyan University; all other copyright is retained by the creator - In Copyright – Non-Commercial Use Permitted
Some material is in public domain - No Copyright - United States
Biographical / Historical
The Wesleyan Museum (1871-1957) was an integral part of the science curriculum at Wesleyan University. Materials collected by faculty, students, and other donors were intended to help students study the natural world. Materials collected included shells, rocks, fossils, wood specimens, mineral specimens, birds, fish, animals, insects, and dried plants. In addition, American Indian artifacts, coins, certain artworks, and a mummy also found a home in the museum. Wesleyan closely followed the 19th century "curiosity cabinet" model of natural history museums.
The Museum opened on the third and fourth floors of Judd Hall in 1871. By the end of the decade, a number of students and faculty members were using the museum's materials in their research. It later expanded into some rooms on the second floor of the building in 1886. In the late 1880s, the museum added a focus on ethnological collections, related to humans.
Towards the end of the 1890s, the institution's interest in the museum lessened, with less funding alotted. The museum moved out of the second floor of Judd Hall. New faculty preferred laboratory work to studying museum specimens, and the museum became less relevant to the curriculum. The Museum remained open but largely unused in the curriculum.
In 1938, the museum had an offical re-opening to signify renewed interest in the museum. Funds were alocated for repairs and remodeling. School groups regularly toured the museum, and were perhaps its primary visitors until the Museum closed in 1957.
When the Wesleyan Museum closed, there were thousands of specimens to disperse. Many went to the Smithsonian Institution; others were donated or put on loan to Connecticut institutions. Some of the materials were divided up among science departments at Wesleyan. Other materials were dispersed to storage locations across campus, often without a record of the transfer.
In the 1970s, some faculty took an interest in cataloging the materials within their own departments, especially archaeological and anthropological materials. The museum's mummy came to national prominence in the late 1970s when it was unwrapped and studied by Professor Stephen Dyson.
Extent
8 Linear Feet (4 hollinger boxes, 3 half hollinger boxes, 4 small flat hollinger boxes, and 1 large flat hollinger box)
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
The Wesleyan Museum was created in 1871 to supplement the science curriculum at Wesleyan University. Its collections of natural history materials as well as enthnographic artifacts made it popular with students and faculty in the late 19th century. It became less important to the university as new methods of studying supplanted the museum, and it was closed in 1957. The Wesleyan Museum Records contains annual reports, correspondence, invoices, inventories, catalogues, accession books, photos, and other materials related to the operations and collections of the museum.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Materials were transferred from the Geology Department in August 1984.
Subject
- Wesleyan University (Middletown, Conn.) (Organization)
- Title
- Wesleyan University Museum records, 1836-1985
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Processed by Valerie Gillispie, June 2007 Encoded by Valerie Gillispie, June 2007 Migrated to ArchivesSpace by Jenny Miglus, June 2020
- Date
- June 19, 2020
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- Undetermined
- Script of description
- Code for undetermined script
- Language of description note
- English
Repository Details
Part of the University Archives Repository