Educational role of Peale's museum and the formation of visual education under Republicanism

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24501276
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Museology
• Research Institution: The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo
• Principal Investigator: YOKOYAMA Saki 独立行政法人国立美術館国立西洋美術館, 学芸課, 主任研究員 (70435741)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: チャールズ・ウィルソン・ピール / トマス・ジェファソン / 博物学 / 展示 / アメリカ退化説 / 理神論 / 視覚 / 共和主義

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The museum which Charles Willson Pleale opened in Philadelphia in 1786 was the first public museum in the United States. Unlike preceding Kunstkammer, its display was quite education-oriented by adopting Linneaean taxionomy to show the world orders and systems. This idea itself is the fruit of Enlighentment thought in the 18th century, as well as Republican educational philosophy during the founding era. On the other hand, this display was the counterevidence to American degeneracy hypothesis that was led by Buffon and expanded through the continent. Peale's display inteded to visualize and indicate American citizens that their land has rich flora and fauna and even prehistoric life like Mastodon used to wander around, so it has never been degenerated. Furthermore, Thomas Jefferson played a key role to Peale's museum by taking the chair of its board and exchanging ideas over the museum based on his Republicanism and Deism, which is again deeply connected to Enlighenment thoughts.

Free Research Field

博物館学