Collective Wisdom: Collecting in the Early Modern Academy

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The purpose of this grant is for an international network of scholars to explore how and why members of the Royal Society (RS), the Society of Antiquaries of London (SAL) and the Leopoldina (German Academy of Science, Halle) collected specimens of the natural world, art, and archaeology in the 17th and 18th centuries. These scholarly societies, founded before knowledge became subspecialised, had many common members. They explored natural philosophy (what we call science), antiquarianism (archaeology), and medicine in an interdisciplinary manner. In fact, the Leopoldina was begun not by scientists, but by doctors in 1652. Several of the fellows of the RS (founded 1660) and SAL (founded 1717), were also physicians and apothecaries. The overall shift from curiosity cabinets with objects playfully crossing the domains of art and nature, to their well-ordered Enlightenment museums is well known. What has to be explored fully is the process through which this transformation occurred, and the role of members of these academies in developing new techniques of classifying and organising objects to create the modern museum. How did academy fellows relate collections of art and nature in new ways, categorising knowledge and shaping global scientific enterprise? How was collection of ethnographic objects related to empire?Results from three of the network's workshops held from 2018-2019 will be used to develop a digital application of these academies' private and public collections that is integrated and pan-European. The workshops will be attended by a network of early-career and established scholars from the academic and heritage sectors who will draw in the histories of science, art, antiquarianism and material culture, and engage closely with a range of key public collections at the respective organisations. Workshop 1:Early modern collecting networks and practice: medicine and natural philosophy (At Leopoldina). As the RS, SAL and the Leopoldina consisted of a large number of doctors, we will analyse these early modern physicians and their approaches to collecting. Participants will also engage with the Leopoldina archives and the early museum housed in the August Francke Orphanage in Halle. In the 17th c., Francke created a global art and science museum as an experiential teaching tool for the children in his care; his learning-by-doing approach included teaching the children music that they publicly performed. The Francke Orphanage was a model for Coram's Foundling Hospital founded in 18th-century London, which via public concerts of music of Handel (who was from Halle) also raised money for the orphans. The network will consider the wider utility of collecting, antiquarianism and society, taking as its lead the involvement of medical and antiquarian collectors and their museums in early modern charity. To engage the public with our work, we will sponsor benefit music concerts in Halle and London for the Coram and Francke Museum and Foundation.Workshop 2:Antiquarian Science in the Scholarly Society (At SAL). Beyond the disciplines of medicine and natural history, physical scientists like mathematician and astronomer Martin Folkes (1690-1754) also were connoisseurs and antiquarians. Folkes was Sir Isaac Newton's protege, President of both the RS and SAL, and he tried to unite the two societies as they had many common members and interests. We will discuss the interplay and disciplinary boundaries between antiquarianism and natural philosophy and engage with the early modern museum collection at the SAL. This workshop would be a joint event with SAL as one of its Research Seminars. Workshop 3:Digital scientific collections: future afterlives (At RS). To plan our digital application, we will analyse current and developing digital approaches in surveying collections over time with the assistance of the RS-Google initiative, including integration of extant databases, data-mining and digital modelling of museum objects