Wonder, Empire, Science: The Quagga and Other Extinctions on Display at Naturalis

Abstract

Naturalis, the Dutch national museum of natural history, celebrated its bicentennial in 2020 by launching the special exhibition, Nature’s Treasure Trove, featuring 25 ‘crown jewels’ from the collection – of which five are extinct. As a celebratory look back on the museum’s history of collecting, the exhibition navigates tensions between national culpability and national pride: culpability for colonialism and species loss, and pride in the Dutch tradition of scientific discovery. We argue that the exhibition can be seen as an exercise in repurposing a cultural memory that is essential to Dutch national identity, in a world that can no longer ignore the harm done by humans, including the Dutch.