ARTH3004: Collecting the World

Step behind the scenes of the University of Cincinnati’s hidden collections and discover how the objects we preserve help us understand the past and shape the future. This experiential seminar combines field trips, guest speakers, and reflective projects to explore how UC’s collections—from rare manuscripts to scientific devices—connect to some of the world’s most pressing challenges.

Through hands-on experiences, students will:

• Visit UC’s archives, museums, and laboratories to examine collections firsthand.

• Learn how researchers and pioneers at UC used these collections to cure diseases, explore space, and push human knowledge forward.

• Reflect on the role of collecting in history-making and knowledge-building.

• Connect their own experiences to UC’s legacy of discovery through short essays and a creative final project.

This course invites you to see the University from a new perspective—through the artifacts, stories, and innovations that make UC a global leader in research and creativity.

Honors students go where few have gone before, to view UC’s ‘hidden gems’

Since its founding in 1819, the University of Cincinnati has collected an extraordinary range of objects: books, manuscripts, plants, minerals, artworks, musical instruments, costumes, scientific devices, and even sports memorabilia. Highlights include an autographed photo of Marie Curie, Neil Armstrong’s flight mask, and a life-size marble Venus carved by Napoleon’s sculptor.

This course explores the history of collecting at UC and its impact on disciplines such as astronomy, biology, medicine, art, drama, history, and classics. Students will investigate how the act of collecting—selecting, preserving, and displaying objects—is a form of history-making that shapes how we see our place in the world.

Through direct engagement with UC’s collections, students will confront objects firsthand, meet the experts who care for them, and uncover how these “hidden gems” reflect humanity’s biggest challenges over the last two centuries—from scientific breakthroughs to cultural revolutions.

Students will complete reflective essays, a creative final project, and an oral presentation that connect UC’s history of collecting with their own personal and academic journeys.