The Catalog of the Mineralogical Collection of the Emperor Leopold Ii (1747–1792): Collecting and Learning in Eighteenth-Century Europe

Abstract

The Collectio Mineralium (1765) currently preserved at the Historical Archive of the Natural History Museum of the University of Firenze, is the unpublished catalog of the mineralogical collection that belonged to Emperor Leopold II (1747–1792). The catalog is a 110-page register, with the golden emblem of the House of Habsburg at the center of the binding, containing information about 242 mineralogical samples. Each specimen is carefully described (i.e., habit, metal content, product value) and its locality given. The interpretation of the text has also returned information on most of the mining deposits in the Austro-Hungarian territories in the eighteenth century. Therefore, the interpretation of this catalog—that on the basis of the literature appears to be the first catalog of a collection belonged to a Habsburg emperor—represents an important step toward enhancing our understanding of Habsburg natural history collections and reflected the transition from wonder-rooms to commodity collecting. Leopold's private collection was no longer an ‘instrument of wonder’ but it became representative of scientific collecting characterized by the establishment of systematic mineralogy, and by a careful economic evaluation of the mineralogical samples collected as a symbol of the power of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Meteorites as a Scientific Heritage

“…It reveals not only the scientific importance attributed to the meteorite Renazzo since its discovery, but also the primary role played by the meteorite exchange within naturalistic collections [10][11]. Furthermore, it is interesting to note how Ranzani did not send the meteorite specimen directly to Bardi, but to Leopold II, thus confirming the importance of the House of the Habsburg in the mineralogical collecting in the nineteenth century [116][117][118][119].…”

Alice a Bruxelles

“…Per quanto riguarda Città di Castello, si pensi che nel 1896, quindi 5 anni prima dell'apertura della scuola della Montesca, frequentano le elementari della città 543 alunni, mentre 1220 sono quelli scolarizzati nelle zone rurali, dove si poteva seguire unicamente il corso inferiore cioè triennale (Tacchini 1988, 103); solo il 40% dei nati tra il 1895 e il 1901 frequentava la scuola elementare (Tacchini 1988, 228) nel 1907, anche se l'obbligo scolastico era in vigore già da tempo; e infine, per capire le condizioni socio-economiche della zona, si consideri che tra il 1900-1909, localmente, la mortalità infantile dei bambini di meno di 10 anni rappresentava il 39% del totale dei decessi 13 .…”