Wesleyan University Museum records

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.