Unveiling the Inner Artist: InterArts Cabinet of Curiosity

Trinity College's Cabinet of Curiosity

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 with the Watkinson's near-century-long storage in Boardman Hall that began in 1900, it was sadly disbanded.

Besides expression of our collective creative interests and encapsulation of various performative media, 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.

This page has paths:

Contents of this path:

This page references: