Nature's Museums by Carla Yanni

Nature's Museums by Carla Yanni

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.

Carla Yanni is associate professor of art history at Rutgers University, New Brunswick. She received the Society of Architectural Historians Founders' Award for her article, "Divine Display or Secular Science: Definitions of Nature at the Natural History Museum in London," in 1996, and in 1994 she earned a doctorate in art history from the University of Pennsylvania. During the academic year 2002-2003 she was a Senior Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts at the National Gallery of Art, Washington DC. Yanni lives in Highland Park, New Jersey.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9781568984728
ISBN 10	1568984723
Title	Nature's Museums
Author	Carla Yanni
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Princeton Architectural Press
Year published	2005-06-01
Number of pages	215
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.