As part of the University’s ongoing centenary celebrations, the University’s museum and archive collections have selected 100 gems to showcase in an online virtual exhibition entitled the Cabinet of Curiosities.
Highlights include the skeleton of Daniel, the first gorilla to be successfully raised in captivity in Great Britain; the silver trowel used by Winston Churchill to lay the foundation stone for Engineering in 1951 (pictured right); the gloves (signed) that Laurence Olivier wore in the original production of The Entertainer; Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s notebooks; and rare plants from the Botanic Garden.
Each exhibit is accompanied by text that tells the story of its acquisition, identity, history or use.
The exhibition gets its name from early incarnations of what we now call museums. Initially created in the sixteenth century by wealthy aristocrats, cabinets of curiosities were rooms crammed full of collected specimens of natural history, artworks, antiquities and other historical artefacts. They were both sources of inspiration and wonder, and important resources for academic research.
Unknown to many, the University has two registered museums (Geology and the Theatre Collection), a Botanic Garden, archives of international significance, and a wealth of artefacts, artwork and other objects, all housed in collections around the University.
The collections participating in the Cabinet of Curiosities include:
- Archaeology and Anthropology Collections (Department of Archaeology and Anthropology)
- Botanic Garden (School of Biological Sciences)
- CHOMBEC: Centre for the History of Music in Britain, the Empire and the Commonwealth (Department of Music)
- Geology Museum (Department of Earth Sciences)
- Special Collections (University Library)
- Spelaeological Society Museum
- Theatre Collection (Department of Drama)
- Veterinary Anatomy Museum (Department of Anatomy)
Some of the collections are open to the public, and a further selection will be accessible on Doors Open Day on Saturday 12 September 2009.
In the meantime, venture inside the Cabinet of Curiosities.