ESHS/HSS Annual Meeting

The Museum of Fossils: Göttingen and Natural Histories of the Globe, ca. 1770-1799

• In Event: UNEARTHED I: The Many Lives of Res inanimatae

English Abstract

In the 18th century Göttingen became a leading center for the study of natural history, a reputation that mainly rested on its “academic museum,” a collection of fossils, bones, and anthropological material from across the globe. This talk focuses on the charismatic professor Johann Friedrich Blumenbach, sketching how he used objects from this collection to tackle questions about the history of the Earth. Blumenbach used objects from the university's museum to teach students about past geological catastrophes and the extinction of animal species. I will suggest some connections between his teachings about species loss and his anthropological research, linking the global collection of ethnographic objects to Blumenbach's growing conviction that the extinct animals excavated out of European soils would never again be "found" in the distant corners of the globe.

Author

• Jeremy R. Schneider