Useful objects : museums, science, and literature in nineteenth-century America /
"Useful Objects: Museums, Science, and Literature in Nineteenth-Century America explores the debates that surrounded the development of American museums during the nineteenth century. Throughout this period, museums included a wide range of objects, from botanical and zoological specimens to an...
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| Format: | Book |
| Language: | English |
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New York, NY :
Oxford University Press,
[2021]
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| Summary: | "Useful Objects: Museums, Science, and Literature in Nineteenth-Century America explores the debates that surrounded the development of American museums during the nineteenth century. Throughout this period, museums included a wide range of objects, from botanical and zoological specimens to antiquarian artifacts and technological models. Intended to promote "useful knowledge," these collections generated broader discussions about how objects were selected, preserved, and classified. In guidebooks and periodicals, visitors described their experiences within museum galleries and marveled at the objects they encountered. And in fiction, essays, and poems, writers embraced the imaginative possibilities represented by collections and proposed alternative systems of arrangement. These conversations spanned across spheres of American culture, raising deeper questions about how objects are valued-and who gets to decide"-- |
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| Physical Description: | 266 pages : illustrations (black and white). ; 25 cm |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| ISBN: | 9780197553480 0197553486 |