Contribution of Carl Linnaeus (1707–1778) to the development of museum field

Abstract

In May 2022, the 315th anniversary of the birth of Carl Linnaeus was celebrated. He was the famous Swedish naturalist and taxonomist of wildlife. During his life, he studied many natural sciences: botany, zoology, mineralogy, assay and others. He devoted several years to practical medicine. His significant role in the development of natural science is reflected in numerous publications. However, his contribution to the development of museum field is not mentioned at all or mentioned in passing. In fact his activity was closely connected with collections, the development of their storage and the creation of museums. There is no separate publication on this topic among Russian museological researches, so it seems necessary to fill this gap. The article is devoted to the role of Carl Linnaeus in the history of the development of museum field. The authors trace the life story of Carl Linnaeus, highlighting the important episodes that he devoted to museum activities. They included his work on the description and storage of famous European collections, the research of his own natural science collection and the publication of their results. Also he has constructed a building for manuscripts and collected natural materials. For many years Carl Linnaeus studied the flora and fauna of Sweden, as well as the way of life and customs of the peoples who inhabited its northern part. His trip to Lapland played an important role for the development of European local lore and ethnography. Other scientific works raise issues of terminology and principles of storage and description of natural science collections. The article reveals the history of the Uppsala Botanical Garden, the Linnaean Museum of Natural History and its collection, the contents of several scientific works and dissertations and the contribution of Linnaean Russian students to the development of domestic scientific knowledge and museum practice.