Academic collections – spanning the arts, sciences, and medicine – are a prominent feature of many major universities. But the history of these collections, and the cultures that have cultivated them, has been strangely neglected. This interdisciplinary volume explores aspects of the history of academic collections as a university of things – represented by research, representation, application, and commodification. A group of international authors examines the nature of objects as a resource for the history of science and culture, in ways that have helped shape the research university of today.

Academic collections – spanning the arts, sciences, and medicine – are a prominent feature of many major universities. But the history of these collections, and the cultures that have cultivated them, has been strangely neglected. This interdisciplinary volume explores aspects of the history of academic collections as a university of things – represented by research, representation, application, and commodification. A group of international authors examines the nature of objects as a resource for the history of science and culture, in ways that have helped shape the research university of today.

Academic collections – spanning the arts, sciences, and medicine – are a prominent feature of many major universities. But the history of these collections, and the cultures that have cultivated them, has been strangely neglected. This interdisciplinary volume explores aspects of the history of academic collections as a university of things – represented by research, representation, application, and commodification. A group of international authors examines the nature of objects as a resource for the history of science and culture, in ways that have helped shape the research university of today.