Virtual Museum Guide
Virtual Museum Guide
The collection and supplemental materials may be explored on-line as they relate to Cal Poly Humboldt, or by subject categories.
Cal Poly Humboldt Collection
The collection has been divided into three periods which correlate approximately to some major events in the life of science at the University. To place the instruments in context material is also presented on how science was taught at Humboldt: what was available, classes, majors, instructors, etc.
Thematic Groupings with Satellite Exhibits
A variety of instruments in the museum's collection are organized into thematic groups. Selected objects from these groups appear in Satellite exhibits physically displayed near the laboratories/facilities where they were used.
Special Exhibits
In most cases instruments outside of the museum's collection are also featured. These exhibits are of limited duration, but continue online after they are taken down (e.g. The Chemical Refratometer), the actual dates of the each physical display are given in brackets.
The Chemical Refractometer, 1890-1980 [2003–5 AY]
Early North Coast Scientific Instruments (c. 1850 – c. 1950) [January 2012–June 2013]
Alexander von Humboldt’s Latin American Expedition (1799–1804) [August 2013–December 2014]
Early Instruments – Replicas and Restorations by Richard A. Paselk [January 2015–June 2015]
Curator's Choice: A Selection of Instruments from the Museum Stores [December 2017–current]
Supplemental Materials
- Instruments & Apparatus Indexed by Category (August 2010): a listing of all of the instruments in the virtual museum as of August 2010, with links to individual instrument pages.
- Contemporary Instrument Literature: (extracts of books, pamphlets, catalogs etc. providing information on the use, design, and repair of instruments found in the collection): Optical character recognition scans of documents with figures presented as JPEG files. Occasionally scanned pages are provided to give a "feel" for the original documents. (May also be accessed via links from instrument descriptions.)
- Essays: Short essays written to provide additional background on instruments, manufacturers, etc. (May also be accessed via links from instrument descriptions.)
- References: To increase the usefulness of this site I have provided an annotated bibliography. These are works I have found particularly useful regarding the history and development of 20th century instruments.
- Curator's catalog collection: A variety of instrument catalogs are held by the curator. They are available by appointment on site at Humboldt. A listcan be downloaded at: https://scimushumboldt.edu/Catalogs by Decade.pdf . A reader for pdf documents can be downloaded from: http://www.adobe.com/products/reader.html
- About the Museum: A little background about the origins and philosophy of the museum.
- Instrument Care and Repair: In an effort to aid collectors, specifications and/or illustrations for parts, references etc. are being assembled here.
If you have additional information regarding the instruments you think I could/should include please share that information. I am particularly interested in additional contemporary catalog illustrations for the instruments missing that information. I am also interested in contemporary sources for the use of these instruments in teaching etc. I may be contacted by e-mail (preferred): rap1@humboldt.edu.