Genom två museer

Abstract

This essay discusses, in a tentative way, the intertwined production of classifications and object-lessons in the history of museums. The essay is especially focused on two museums. The first example is Linnaeus' Hammarby, a museum located at a small estate outside the city of Uppsala that was bought by Carl Linnaeus in 1758. The second museum discussed in the paper is a collection of weapons used in connection with acts of suicide in Sweden in the late 19th century. This exhibition was arranged by a medical institute in Stockholm in the 1890s, and was open to students of forensic medicine as well as to a general audience.