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

 





 Semester:   Fall 

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 Year offered:  2014 

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 Link: [Course Website](https://courses.my.harvard.edu/psp/courses/EMPLOYEE/EMPL/h/?tab=HU_CLASS_SEARCH…) 

 

 

 

**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.



 

 



 

 See also:- [ Courses 2014/15 and earlier ](/course-categories/past-courses)