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SUMMARY:Inventorying the Rhone: the scientific travels of Claude Jourdan c
 ollecting for the Natural History Museum of Lyon\, 1834–1869 - Déborah 
 Dubald (European University Institute\, Florence)
DTSTART:20180521T120000Z
DTEND:20180521T130000Z
UID:TALK104884@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Sebestian Kroupa
DESCRIPTION:Serving as the director of the Natural History Museum of Lyon 
 from 1834 to 1869\, Claude Jourdan managed the museum's collections for ne
 arly a lifetime with determination of his own. The museum's archive and hi
 s _Journal d'Entrées_ are particularly representative of the importance o
 f travel in Jourdan's collecting practices\, especially of his efforts to 
 assemble a comprehensive collection of minerals and fossils documenting th
 e geology of the Rhone river basin. The respective specimens shed light on
  locational patterns\, as well as pointing to the social dimension of Jour
 dan's mobility. The web of intermediaries and contacts patiently weaved to
 gether over decades provides insights into the collecting strategies devel
 oped by Jourdan\, but also into the construction of his own persona within
  the scholarly world.\n\nAs an employee of a municipal museum\, Jourdan al
 so operated as a servant of the public establishment. Therefore\, in addit
 ion to gathering specimens for the museum\, Jourdan was charged with defin
 ing professional competences in the context of a public institution\, as w
 ell as with negotiations with funding bodies\, which were simultaneously l
 ocal political authorities. Through looking at the prevailing and the pecu
 liar in Jourdan's collecting practices\, this paper will emphasise situati
 onal and contextual aspects of scientific knowledge production in Lyon. In
  particular\, I seek to expose the construction modalities of the museum a
 uthority as a site of scientific knowledge and interrogate the extent to w
 hich this was tied to the invention of the director's own authority and pe
 rsona.
LOCATION:Seminar Room 1\, Department of History and Philosophy of Science
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