Time to open the cabinet.

Hidden in an ornately-decorated room at Queen's College, Cambridge, there's a rather boring looking cabinet. But, if you open the drawers of this cabinet, you'll find quite a bit. The cabinet, made in 1704, contains nearly seven hundred objects: Seeds, minerals, pigments, fossils, shells, metals, salts, and more. It was assembled by John Francis Vigani, the first Professor of Chemistry at the University of Cambridge (1703-1712). The items are carefully catalogued and organized. It was a place that was both storing and creating knowledge.

I first saw this cabinet while visiting Cambridge. As I opened drawer after drawer, I was in awe of how Vigani was making sense of the world, object by object. Through his “cabinet of curiosities,” Vigani was imposing order onto the natural world. He wasn't alone: Many collectors and scholars of his day had their own “cabinets of curiosities.” Some of these cabinets went on to form the basis of major museum collections –– like the British Museum –– and others remained as private spaces or scientific research vehicles.

So, inspired by Vigani's cabinet, this newsletter seeks to create an electronic “curiosity cabinet.” Specifically, this newsletter collects objects –– objects from the past that have something to say about our present and our future. Each post will highlight one object, telling its story and explaining why it’s worthy of your attention. Through the past, we can learn something about how we interact with the tech and tools around us today.

A bit of history, a bit of material culture, a lot of curiosity.

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