Showcasing science : the history of Teylers Museum in the nineteenth century / Martin P.M. Weiss.

Includes bibliographies and index.

Teylers Museum, the first and oldest museum of the Netherlands, was founded in 1784 and very soon became one of the most important centres of Dutch science. The Museum's first director, Martinus van Marum, famously had the world's largest electrostatic generator built and set up in Haarlem. This subsequently became the most prominent item in the Museum's world-class, publicly accessible, and constantly growing collections. These comprised scientific instruments, mineralogical and palaeontological specimens, prints, drawings, paintings, and coins. Van Marum's successors continued to uphold the institution's prestige and use the collections for research purposes, while it was increasingly perceived as an art museum by the public. In the early 20th century, the Nobel Prize Laureate Hendrik Antoon Lorentz was appointed head of the scientific instrument collection and conducted experiments on the Museum's premises.0This book charts the history of Teylers Museum from its inception until Lorentz' tenure. From the vantage point of the Museum's scientific instrument collection, it gives an analysis of the changing public role of Teylers Museum over the course of the 19th century.

Cover; Table of Contents; 1. Introduction; I Teylers at the Paris Electrical Exhibition; II Teylers Museum; III Museums and Popular Science; IV Structure and Intended Readership of the Book; 2. The Birth of a Musaeum; I The Museum's Pre-History; Martinus van Marum and the Beginning of the Age of Museums; Martinus van Marum's Formative Years and The Holland Society of Sciences; Pieter Teyler van der Hulst; The Contents of Pieter Teyler's Last Will and Testament; Contextualising the Will: Mennonite Governors in Haarlem; Teyler's Choice of "Arts and Sciences"

II The Establishment of Teylers MuseumA Financial Setback; The Teyler Foundation's First Trustees; The Appointment of a Kastelein; The Foundation's Buildings; The Haarlem Drawing Academy; Teylers Learned Societies; Prize Essay Competitions; Pieter Teyler's Prints and Drawings; Birth of a Musaeum; The Design of the Oval Room; Ideas for the Oval Room; Van Marum is Appointed Director of Teylers Museum; Teylers Museum and the Public; Musaeum or Museum; 3. Van Marum -- Empiricism and Empire; I Van Marum's Work at Teylers Museum; Van der Vinne Resigns

Experiments with the Cuthbertson Electrostatic GeneratorVan Marum Generates Attention; From Physics to Chemistry; A Financial Windfall; The Addition of a Laboratory; Van Marum's Acquisition Plans; Amateurs and Professionals; London and the Aftermath; Van Marum's Practical Appliances; Van Marum and the Earth Sciences; French Occupation; Cuvier and the Mosasaur; Homo Diluvii Testis, Lying Stones, and Ohio; A Matter of Faith; Aesthetic Value; Van Marum's Dispute with the Trustees; II Van Marum's "Philosophy of Science"; Van Marum's Take on Kant; A Matter of Belief; Relying on Experiments

The Practical TurnVan Marum's Lectures During the French Occupation; A Summary of Van Marum's Ideals; III Open All Hours: Public Accessibility of Teylers Museum 1780-1840; Tourism Emerges; Selection of Visitors?; Early Travel Reports of Teylers Museum; Teylers Museum as "Testimony to the History of Physics"; IV The Forgotten Art; No Great Connoisseur of Pictures; Christina of Sweden's Collection of Drawings; Changing Definitions of "Art"; Paintings by Contemporary Artists; 4. Van der Willigen -- Precision and the Discipline of Physics; I An Unexpected Guessing Game (Intro)

II Volkert Simon Maarten van der Willigen (I): Early YearsA New Methodology; The Athenaeum in Deventer; Amateurs, Specialists, and True Physics; III The Art of Presenting; The Rise of Public Art Exhibitions; The First Art Gallery, a Permanent Exhibition?; The More Visitors, the More Exclusive?; IV Changing Definition of Museums; From Scholarly Musaeum to Educational Museum; The Great Exhibition, "Albertopolis", and the South Kensington Museum; The Public Museum in Support of Public Mores; Prince Albert and the History of Art; London to Haarlem

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