Nature's Museums

"Through careful social historical accounts of the buildings, their displays and their reception, Nature's Museums reveals how natural knowledge was locally produced. By embracing contradictory concepts of nature - from nature as resource to be capitalised by the empire, to nature as the second book of God - Nature's Museums allows the buildings themselves to act as a guide to the Victorians' understanding of the natural world. The book brings the display of nature into the light of contemporary discourse, enhancing our understanding of the nature of museums in Darwin's century."--Jacket.