Colloque

The Original Design of The Peter Redpath Museum at McGill University: The Genesis and Expression of an Idea about Natural History

Susan Bronson

Membre a labase

Susan Bronson

Résumé du colloque

The Peter Redpath Museum at McGill University, inaugurated in 1882, was the first Canadian building designed to house a museum of natural history. As such, it is architecturally, scientifically and museologically significant. A masterful expression of the 'museum idea' of its founder, John William Dawson (who lived from 1820-1899), its architecture and arrangement represented his vision of the meaning of natural history and the role that McGill's museum should play in the preservation, presentation and the proliferation of its knowledge. Dawson wanted the Peter Redpath Museum to be a 'Greek temple of science'. He made allusions both to the early 19th century European temples of art and the air of Athenian dignity traditionally associated with scholarly institutions, including the University of Edinburgh. When the collections were installed, in a single glance one could grasp the complete history of the entire realm of the natural world, the full extent and impressive diversity of God's design. The idea of changing, or expanding, this arrangement was out of the question; it represented a complete and finite statement.