Ashmolean Museum: FAQ 3 - The Historical Development of the Ashmolean (1)

	Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology
	Frequently Asked Questions
	The Historical Development of the Ashmolean (Page 1 of 4)


With the opening of its doors on 24 May 1683, the Ashmolean Museum provided a setting in which the private collection emerged into the public domain. Even the use of the term `Museum' was a novelty in English: a few years later the New World of Words (1706) defined it as `a Study, or Library; also a College, or Publick Place for the Resort of Learned Men', with a specific entry for `Ashmole's Museum', described as `a neat Building in the City of Oxford'.		Old Ashmolean c.1760
Elias Ashmole (1617-92)	The collection presented to the University of Oxford by Elias Ashmole (1617-92) was in origin already half a century old by this time, having been founded by John Tradescant (died 1638) and displayed to the public (for a fee), first by him and later by his son John (1608-62) in their dwelling house at Lambeth, widely known as `The Ark'. The contents were universal in scope, with man-made and natural specimens from every corner of the known world.
By the time it passed to Ashmole by deed of gift, the Tradescants' collection of miscellaneous curiosities had grown in scale and stature to the point where its new owner could present it to the University as a major scientific resource. So it was that the Museum opened in Broad Street under its first curator, Dr Robert Plot, as an integrated, three-part institution, comprising the collection itself, a chemistry laboratory for experimentation and teaching, and rooms for undergraduate lectures. From the time of its opening the public was also admitted, a liberal measure that was by no means universally welcomed: one German visitor in 1710 expressed his displeasure at the presence of `ordinary folk' in the Museum and surprise that the collection survived their attentions, `... since the people impetuously handle everything in the usual English fashion and ... even the women are allowed up here for sixpence; they run here and there, grabbing at everything and taking no rebuff from the sub-custos'.		John Tradescant the Elder (died 1638) John Tradescant (1608-62)

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Last updated: jcm/4-oct-1999