'To Polish and Adorn the Mind': The United States Naval Lyceum at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, 1833-89

The United States Naval Lyceum, a museum and library at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, offers a revealing insight into the history of American science, material culture, and museums. This article explores the Lyceum's history to enlarge our understanding of the ways the nineteenth-century museums used...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inMuseum history journal Vol. 7; no. 1; pp. 84 - 102
Main Author Lubar, Steven
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Routledge 01.01.2014
Subjects
American history
Brooklyn
Brooklyn Navy Yard
history of collections
history of natural history
museum history
naval history
Naval Lyceum
New York City
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:The United States Naval Lyceum, a museum and library at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, offers a revealing insight into the history of American science, material culture, and museums. This article explores the Lyceum's history to enlarge our understanding of the ways the nineteenth-century museums used artefacts of natural and human history to tell meaningful stories. The Naval Lyceum was a place where navy officers, as curators, could perform their worldliness, demonstrate their scientific expertise, and create connections to community and to the past, and where visitors might make emotional links to the worlds of nature and humanity.
ISSN:1936-9816
1936-9824
DOI:10.1179/1936981613Z.00000000023