A brief history of natural history museums in the Ottoman Empire

Abstract

Natural history collections and museums made their appearance in the Ottoman in late 19th century through various attempts to build collections through field excursions, donations and exchanges among researchers, individuals and institutions around the world. Among them, the Imperial Medical School of the Ottoman Empire, schools of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) and other American educational groups and French colleges stand out with their vast collections from various parts of the Ottoman Empire and beyond. While these museums were created and built by eminent curators and researchers, a considerable amount of work was carried out by uncredited staff and the students. The history of these museums was often obscured by catastrophic events such as the great fires in Istanbul, the passing of the curators and other administrators and, particularly, the devastating effects of the First World War. However, long-lasting commercial science objects networks and the establishment of global natural history collections and museums are still operational today, supported by scientific exchange between other countries and the Ottoman Empire during the 19th and early 20th centuries. Drawing an outline of the history of the natural history collections of the Ottoman Empire can shed light on the evolution of both the naturalistic movement within the Ottoman society and an embryonic scientific network around the Middle East and the rest of the world.

Museums of Medicine and Health: Curating Public Health

“…The enthusiastic public response was also noticed by the Grand Vizier Mehmed Talat (1874-1921) and the Health Minister of the time, resulting in Hikmet Hamdi's appointment as the museum's first director with a salary of 3000 kuruş (19). 8 A technician by the name of Halit was hired to produce thirty wax moulages, or models, demonstrating lesions caused by certain diseases and was later awarded a Sanayi Madalyası (Medal of the Arts) for his services (19). Physician and professor of pathology Hamdi Suat (1873-1936), who later took Aknar as his last name, assisted in the efforts to prepare ten models displaying disease pathology.…”

Rediscovery of an ancient herbarium for Turkish botanical history: Bolu Girls Village Institute Herbarium

“…In 1938, the museum collections were transferred to Tarsus American College and part of the herbarium collections were sent to herbarium of Ankara University. Later, the collections at the Tarsus American College were sent to Robert College in İstanbul [8]. Other than the above-mentioned herbaria, several other schools had some plant collections.…”