HAA 270y. From the Philosophy Chamber: Harvard and the Arts in the Early Republic

Ethan W. Lasser and Jennifer L. Roberts

This seminar will focus on the extraordinary collection of portraits,
prints, books, coins, scientific instruments and non-western artifacts that
Harvard College amassed between 1766 and 1820. Stored and displayed
in three adjacent spaces on the second floor of Harvard Hall—the
Apparatus Chamber, the University Museum, and the Philosophy
Chamber—this collection included full-length portraits by John Singleton
Copley, mezzotints after the old masters, instruments used in teaching
and research, and a range of material from Asia, North America, and the
Pacific collected by Harvard graduates on their travels.

In the spring of 2017, the Harvard Art Museums will present a selection
of these objects in a major temporary exhibition tentatively entitled
Treasures from the Philosophy Chamber. This seminar is designed to
produce a body of useful knowledge that will be integrated into the
exhibition and accompanying catalogue. Participants will examine and
interpret objects that were originally displayed in the Apparatus
Chamber, the University Museum, and the Philosophy Chamber and
investigate the role these objects played in Harvard's (and early
America's) academic and ritual life. Participants will also engage with
questions of innovative curatorial practice, and help determine the scope
and structure of the Harvard Art Museums' exhibition.