[Non-European collections from the former Anthropology Museum at the University of Porto's Faculty of Science].

Abstract

The collections of the former Anthropology Museum at the Faculty of Science (established in 1912) are now part of the Natural History and Science Museum at the University of Porto. The museum contains 125,000 objects in archaeology, ethnography, biological anthropology and numismatics, including some collections of non-European origin. This study investigates how the non-European ethnographic collections (around 1,100 objects) were incorporated throughout the twentieth century, examining documentary sources and surveying biographies of the objects and collections to identify provenance and associated actors. Exploring how objects were incorporated and documented allows us to glimpse how changes in the scientific paradigm reflect in the organization of collections in memory institutions.