Ashmolean Museum

Explore, Learn, Be Inspired

The Ashmolean came into existence in 1682, when the wealthy antiquary Elias Ashmole gifted his collection to the University. It opened as Britain’s first public museum, and the world’s first university museum, in 1683.

Though the collection has evolved considerably, the founding principle remains: that knowledge of humanity across cultures and across times is important to society. A laudable intention, but the uncomfortable truth is that much of the collection was inevitably selected and obtained as a result of colonial power.

John Tradescant and 'The Ark'

Elias Ashmole acquired his collection from two gardeners: John Tradescant, father and son. Employed by the wealthy Earl of Salisbury, the Tradescants had travelled the world known to Europeans, shipping back new and exotic plant specimens for the Earl's gardens. In the course of their travels they also acquired a remarkable collection of botanical, geological and zoological items as well as man-made objects.

The Tradescant’s themselves established a museum in Lambeth, South London, known as ‘The Ark’ to house their collection in 1634. A visitor to this original museum commented that ‘a man might in one day behold…more curiosities than he should see if he spent all his life in travel.’ The collection contained treasures such as the ‘mantle’ (actually a wall hanging) of Pocahontas's father Powhatan, and the stuffed body of a dodo.

Gifted to the University of Oxford

When Ashmole gifted this collection to the University, it was combined with an older University collection, which included Guy Fawkes’s lantern and Jacob’s Coat of Many Colours (long since lost). The original Ashmolean Museum opened on Broad Street in 1683, in the building that is now the History of Science Museum. Members of the public were admitted to the Ashmolean Museum from the outset (a controversial policy in the 17th century). Alongside the collection, this building was designed to house a chemistry laboratory and rooms for undergraduate lectures.

During the 18th century, an audit of the Ashmolean collections revealed the extent of decay and loss of original specimens. Most notably, the Tradescant’s famous dodo was in such an advanced state of decay it was considered beyond redemption and removed from display (today the head and one foot survive in the University Museum of Natural History).