Useful Objects: Nineteenth-Century Museums and American Culture

What can the history of museums tell us about their role in American culture today? What kinds of objects were considered worth collecting, and who decided their value? Join Reed Gochberg, author of Useful Objects: Museums, Science, and Literature in Nineteenth-Century America (Oxford University Press, September 2021) to learn about the early history of American museums, including Harvard’s Museum of Comparative Zoology. In conversation with HMSC Executive Director Brenda Tindal, she examines how writers and visitors reflected on a wide range of nineteenth-century collections—and how their ideas continue to inform ongoing debates about the challenges and possibilities museums face today.

Presented by the Harvard Museum of Natural History, the Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, and the Harvard Museums of Science & Culture.