Nature's museums: Victorian science and the architecture of display

In Nature's Museums, author Carla Yanni brings together the history of architecture and the history of science in an engaging study of how the Victorians approached the housing and display of scientific artifacts. Focusing on the Oxford University Museum, the Edinburgh Museum of Science and Art, and the Natural History Museum of London, Yanni explores how such institutions reflected varying, often contradictory concepts of nature - from the handiwork of God to a resource to be exploited. She explains how the rise of museums accompanied and influenced the transformation of science from a gentleman's hobby to a paying profession. And she shows how the buildings themselves remain invaluable guides to the Victorians' ambiguous perception of the natural world. Through careful social and historical accounts of the buildings, their displays, and their reception, Yanni's work deepens our understanding of the emerging power of museums in Darwin's century. Previously published in hardcover by Johns Hopkins University Press.