Travelling museums and itinerant collections in nineteenth-century Latin America

Abstract

There is one genre of museums that remains little understood — travelling collections. These museums put on display natural history collections, anatomical specimens, and ethnographical models in wax. Maintained by itinerate charlatans and impresarios, their exhibits were displayed and interpreted in ever changing varieties. Travelling museums appealed to both the general public and the scientific community. As is evident from the reviews in newspapers and the catalogues that spread information about the specimens on display, travelling museums blurred the boundaries between science, commerce, and entertainment. Based on the analysis of sources dispersed across several repositories and archives in South America and Europe, and focusing on travelling museums that passed through Buenos Aires in the 1880s, this paper sheds new light on the manifold social and cultural practices involved in the circulation of knowledge.