The National Museum of Mexico: 1825–1867

The history of the National Museum of Mexico during the first half century after its foundation in 1825 has been largely ignored. This is partly because at that time the museum failed to meet contemporary ideals of national museums as repositories of a nation's most representative objects and as forgers of meanings about these objects. This essay argues against reading intrinsic values into the early National Museum of Mexico and proposes paths for reconstructing its history as an emerging entity. Focusing on the Museum's strategies for collecting, exhibiting, and studying objects, I suggest that, rather than following pre-established protocols, the Museum took shape in practice, in the context of volatile national politics, material limitations, and international competition for collections.