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    History of Natural History Museums in India: History of Science Museums and Planetariums in India, #1
    History of Natural History Museums in India: History of Science Museums and Planetariums in India, #1
    History of Natural History Museums in India: History of Science Museums and Planetariums in India, #1
    Ebook98 pages52 minutes

    History of Natural History Museums in India: History of Science Museums and Planetariums in India, #1

    By Dr Jayanta Sthanapati

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    About this ebook

    The book presents a concise history of the natural history museums in India established since 1814. We believe it to be only of its kind available in the literature. It is the first volume of a series of books on History of Science Museums and Planetariums in India by the same author. The book is an outcome of a project completed under the sponsorship of the Indian National Commission for History of Science of the Indian National Science Academy.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherDr Jayanta Sthanapati
    Release dateOct 15, 2018
    ISBN9781386985402
    History of Natural History Museums in India: History of Science Museums and Planetariums in India, #1
    Author

    Dr Jayanta Sthanapati

    Dr Jayanta Sthanapati, son of Mrs Malina Sthanapati and Mr Ananta Bhusan Sthanapati, was born in Kolkata in 1951. After completing schooling at Jadavpur Vidyapith, in Kolkata, he went to Jadavpur University (JU) and studied physics. From JU he received B. Sc. (Physics Honors) and M. Sc. (Physics) degrees. Sthanapati in his college days had earned First prizes from Jadavpur University, Jagadis Bose National Science Talent Search and Birla Industrial & Technological Museum for innovative scientific model making.  During 1973-78 Sthanapati was a Research Fellow in the Department of Magnetism (now Solid State Physics) of the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science (IACS), Kolkata. Based on his experimental research work in IASC he then earned PhD (Physics) degree from the University of Calcutta.  Jayanta Sthanapati started his career in National Council of Science Museums (NCSM) as a Curator in 1978. He served the NCSM for thirty-three years and held positions of Director, Birla Industrial and Technological Museum; Director, NCSM (Headquarters); and Deputy Director General, NCSM. After his superannuation from regular service in 2011, he wrote a doctoral thesis in the history of science and earned PhD (History) degree from Jadavpur University in 2013.  Dr Sthanapati had worked as a Research Associate with Prof Samarendra Nath Sen during 1990-91 for a research project in the history of science sponsored by the Indian National Science Academy (INSA).  He had further researched on ‘History of Science Museums and Planetariums in India’ during 2013-2016 as a Project Investigator of the research project sponsored by the INSA.     

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      Book preview

      History of Natural History Museums in India - Dr Jayanta Sthanapati

      Chapter 1

      General Introduction

      Natural History Museums — definition, number and diversity

      How many museums are there in the world at present? According to a report on museums by UNESCO, there are 55,000 museums. We also learn from the directory of museums titled ‘Museums of the World 2017’ published by De Gruyter Inc., there were over 55,000 museums in 202 countries. [1,2]Geoffrey D. Lewis, classified museums into five basic types (i) General or multi-disciplinary, (ii) Natural history and natural science,  (iii) Science and technology, (iv) History and (v) Art. [3]  From a survey it transpires that India now has over 650 museums, many of which are general or multidisciplinary, and the remaining museums have been broadly  dealing with subjects like Agriculture, Anthropology, Archaeology,  Art,  Crafts, Culture, Engineering, Forest, History, Industry,  Medical, Memorial, Military, Natural History, Religious, Science, Technology, Transport, etc. [3,4] 

      The term Natural History is used for the scientific study of all objects of the natural world, covering major subject areas such as zoology, botany, geology and their allied fields like palaeontology and physical anthropology. [5] Collections of natural history provide information on biodiversity on Earth. They are studied worldwide to get answers to the fundamental questions in biogeography, evolution, population genetics, conservation, and so on. [6]

      There have been several definitions of a natural history museum, almost similar to each other and we shall discuss only two here, one suggested way back in 1939 and the other formulated in 2013. Prof. A.E. Parr in 1939 suggested that the major function of a natural history museum would be in research and public entertainment. Such museums, besides maintaining their own educational programs, should also support formal educational programs of other institutions. [7] According to a 2013 resolution of the International Council of Museums (ICOM), Natural History Museums are institutions that collect, display and research materials, collected or extracted from the natural world. The multifaceted purpose of such a museum is to: (i) build or store natural history collections, (ii) conduct research and interpret the results, (iii) support the purpose of science and biological conservation, (iv) enhance public understanding and appreciation of the natural world, and (v) collaborate with the public in deriving their own meaning from the natural heritage they encounter in the museum and in nature. [8]

      Early Natural History Museums in the World

      During the 18th century, only two natural history museums were established in the world. The Italian ‘Imperial and Royal Museum of Physics and Natural History’, founded in 1775, in the city of Florence, was the first public museum to display natural products comprehensively. The collections of the natural history section included specimens of animals, exotic plants, fossils and minerals. In the course of time, it was transformed into the ‘Museum of Natural History’ of the University of Florence. It now has exhibits divided into eight major subject areas, namely, Anthropology & Ethnology, Biomedical, Botany, Botanical Garden, Chemistry, Geology & Palaeontology, Mineralogy & Lithology, and Zoology, which are located in different parts of Florence. [9] The next such museum was the ‘National Museum of Natural History’, established in 1793 in Paris with a huge collection of specimens of fossils, plants and animals. The museum now extends across fourteen sites in France, including four in Paris. [10]

      The four major natural history museums, established during the 19th century were, the Canadian Museum of Nature in Ottawa (1856), American Museum of Natural History in New York (1869), Natural History Museum in London (1881), and Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh (1986). Several worth mentioning natural history museums were founded in the 20th century, such as the National Museum of Natural History in Washington DC (1910), the Chinese National Central Museum of Natural History in Beijing (1951), and the Museum of Natural History, the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor (1956).  Collections of all these museums included specimens of zoology, botany, and geology.

      Natural History Museums in India

      The museum's movement began in India, as early as in 1814, with the foundation of the ‘Oriental Museum of the Asiatic Society of Bengal’, in Calcutta. This multidisciplinary museum had various natural history objects on display from the very beginning.

      Since then, within a span of two hundred years, fifty-nine more natural history museums or natural history galleries were set up in various parts of the country. Further, their distribution in sixteen states is as follows: Uttar Pradesh (14), Maharashtra (6), Tamil Nadu (6), Gujarat (4), Kerala (3), Uttarakhand (3), West Bengal (3), Assam (2), Bihar (2), Karnataka (3), Madhya Pradesh (2), Odisha (2), Punjab (2), Rajasthan (2), Telangana (2), Chhattisgarh (1), Manipur (1).  Only two Union Territories of Chandigarh and New Delhi, are having natural history museums, one in each place.

      In India 20 natural history galleries were

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