This page is referenced by:

• 1 media/dinosaur.jpg 2021-04-30T14:30:55+00:00 Trinity College's Cabinet of Curiosity: From History to Modernity 39 image_header 2021-05-13T18:46:58+00:00

  Preface

  Cabinets of Curiosity, also commonly referred to as Kunstkabinett, Kunstkammer, Wunderkammer, Cabinets of Wonder, or wonder-rooms, are a type of proto-museum from the late sixteenth century (and which were especially prominent during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries). Similar to museums of the modern day, they comprise eclectic assortments of artistic, aesthetic, and scientific wares, particularly arranged for display. Cabinets, however, seek not only to please, educate, and excite their viewers, but also compel them to interpret and subjectify their exhibits. Contents are oriented in such a way so as to relate narratives, allude to themes, provide contexts, and capture ideas relevant to their composition. The objective of such displays is to, rather than deposit information or knowledge into the minds of subjects, inspire intellectual investigation and discussion that emphasize explanation and description alike.
  
  Trinity College, unbeknownst to most, has a long history with Cabinets of Curiosity. With the initial migration of the Watkinson Library to Trinity in 1827, it brought with it an eclectic assortment of goods and artistic wares, which were housed in the Chapel of the college's former campus on Capitol Hill. In 1878, the Watkinson Cabinet decorated Summit campus's Seabury Hall with replicas of prehistoric creatures, ancient fossils, and vintage paintings, and was overseen by first librarian of the Watkinson Library James Hammond Trumbull (elected 1863). Beginning in 1890, the Library entered a contractual agreement with Trinity, and was officially distinguished as a non-circulating research collection to remain indefinitely on campus. The Cabinet, however, would be retired soon after: in 1970, at the end of the Watkinson's near-century-long storage in Boardman Hall that began in 1900, it was sadly disbanded.
  
  Besides expression of our InterArts class's collective creative interests and encapsulation of the various performative media of its constituent artists, this digital Cabinet of Curiosity hopes in large part to reanimate the spirit of the old, and continue the legacy of artistic exploration which has long been present on campus. Our class efforts have updated an antiquated conception of curiosity into one far more compatible with modern Trinity College's mission to innovate, educate, and inspire.

  Bibliography

  Impey, MacGregor, Oliver, Arthur. The Origins of Museums: The Cabinet of Curiosities in Sixteenth- and Seventeenth-Century Europe. Oxford University Press. p. 737.

  Stoykovich, Eric. “Welcome to the Watkinson Library.” InterArts Gateway Program. InterArts Gateway Program, 11 Mar. 2021, Hartford, Connecticut.

  “Watkinson History.” Library & Information Technology Services, www.trincoll.edu/lits/watkinson/about-the-watkinson/about/.