The unique and magical “Cabinet of Curiosities” exhibit at The Houston Museum of Natural Science is a place full of wonder, with fascinating objects from around the world—many of which may be unknown to visitors. Based on the mid-sixteenth-century German “Wunderkammer”—rooms where folks of means collected and displayed all manner of wondrous and exotic objects from global travels, and then invited friends in to ogle them—the Cabinet of Curiosities is essentially a museum origin story. Museum President Joel A. Bartsch, Curator of Paleontology David Temple, and avid fossil collector Samuel E. Stubbs share their love for these early rooms of collectibles, their personal collection stories, and their struggles with “collector’s disease,” an affliction that may be behind our love of museums today.
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