- Title
- Collectors of nature's curiosities: science, popular culture and the rise of natural history museums
- Creator
- Cheater, Christine
- Relation
- Frankenstein's Science: Experimentation and Discovery in Romantic Culture, 1780-1830 p. 167-181
- Relation
- http://www.ashgate.com/default.aspx?page=637&calctitle=1&pageSubject=462&pagecount=4&title_id=7703&edition_id=8878
- Publisher
- Ashgate
- Resource Type
- book chapter
- Date
- 2008
- Description
- Frankenstein's pursuit of nature confined him to solitary chambers and exposed him to the horrors of collecting body parts. He escaped the torment and terrors he experienced as a result of these pursuits by taking long rambles in the country and contemplating nature's beauty. By the mid-nineteenth century, the pursuit of nature had become a craze. Men, women and children from all levels of society were exhorted to 'make collections of common objects, animal vegetable and mineral' because 'such studies tend to sharpen the natural faculties, while they humanise the intellect'. Collecting nature's curiosities remained a popular pasttime in the early years of the twentieth century. It progressively spread from the upper to the lower classes, mutating over time to reflect the enthusiasms of those involved. Collectors could be a combination of virtuoso, naturalist, aesthete, biological scientist or amateur enthusiast: their collections were for amusement, spectacle or serious study.
- Subject
- collectors; nature; Frankenstein; natural history; museums; collections
- Identifier
- uon:6763
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/804897
- Identifier
- ISBN:9780754654476
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