The first international exhibition Teylers and van der Willigen were involved in was the
Centennial in Philadelphia. This was essentially a huge trade fair, emulating the 1851 Great
Exhibition in London, and was organised to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the signing of
the American Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia and to showcase the technological
achievements of the budding and increasingly influential United States of America. At the
time, this young nation was still healing from the discord and destruction wrought by the
American Civil War a little over a decade earlier.228
The Dutch government initially had strong reservations about participating. An earlier
international exhibition held in New York in 1853 had apparently had “disastrous effects” for
the contributors, and there was some scepticism about the rapid succession of international
exhibitions, or World’s Fairs. 29 These sentiments were expressed on the very first page of the
final report on the Dutch display at the Centennial:
“Whether this quick succession of world exhibitions, each of which attempts to surpass its
predecessors in extent and splendour, is desirable and corresponds to the conception of the
great initiator of the exhibitions, the late Prince Albert of England, is very much to be
doubted;”230
Nevertheless, the decision was taken to participate with an officially sanctioned Dutch display
H apparently also in order to avoid private individuals filling the void and giving the
impression they represented the Netherlands231 - and von Baumhauer, the secretary of the
Holland Society and also a member of Haarlem’s town council, was tasked with coordinating
the Dutch display.
The Centennial was ultimately considered a success with more than 10.000.000 visitors
attending. Much like the Great Exhibition, it provided an impetus for the American
museum world, with a lasting effect on the museums of Philadelphia and with the Arts and
Industries Building being constructed in Washington to house exhibits from the Philadelphia
show — this was the first building to be built for the Smithsonian Institution after “the
Castle”. As for von Baumhauer, his work has been described as the “climax of his
career”.234
Interestingly, Dutch instrument makers seem to have been reluctant to participate and were
accordingly underrepresented. The only exceptions, according to the organising committee’s
228 On the exhibition see for instance: Giberti, Designing the Centennial: a History o f the 1876 International
Exhibition in Philadelphia.
“noodlottige gevolgen”; Verslag aan Zijne Excellentie den Minister van binnenlandsche zaken over de
Nederlandsche Afdeeling op de Internationale Tentoonstelling, gehouden te Philadelphia van 10 Mei tot 10
November 1876 (Haarlem: De Erven Loosjes, 1877), 2.
23° «Qjp ^eze Sp 0 e c j i g e opvolging van wereldtentoonstellingen, waar telkens de nieuwe haar voorgangsters in
uitgebreidheid en pracht tracht te overschaduwen, gewenscht is en beantwoordt aan het denkbeeld van den
grooten stichter der tentoonstellingen, wijlen Prins Albert van Engeland, mag zeer worden betwijfeld;” Ibid., 1.
221 Ibid., 3.
232 Giberti, Designing the Centennial: a History o f the 1876 International Exhibition in Philadelphia, 210.
233 On the lasting impact o f the “Centennial”, particularly on Philadelphia, see: Ibid., 175-225.
2 4 “Hoogtepunt van zijn carrière”; Berkel, De Stem van de Wetenschap: Geschiedenis van de Koninklijke
Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen, 1:329.
final report, were “our famous Chronometer makers” and “The well-known Haarlem magnet
manufacturer, the Bros. Van Wetteren”. The latter were awarded a prize by the Centennial’s
jury “[f]or the manufacture, under the supervision of Prof. van der Willigen, of powerful
magnets, composed of plates.”235 According to a guidebook to the instrument collection at
Teylers Museum written by van der Willigen’s successor Elisa van der Ven in 1898, his
predecessor had contributed to the exhibition in Philadelphia in another way too, by sending
in a “collection of prisms, made of flint glass, spar and quartz”.236 According to van der Ven,
this had earned an “honourable mention”.237 Strangely enough, however, this is not backed up
by the official list of exhibits which were awarded prizes, as provided in the Dutch organising
committee’s final report.238 What is incontrovertible, though, is that the Teyler Foundation
sent in copies of the Archives. These were not only displayed in the section “Education”
(Opvoeding en Onderwijs), but also won a prize for the “[gjeneral excellence of the display”
• • • 239 and were subsequently donated to the Smithsonian Institution.
4. The Special Loan Collection at South Kensington
But while the world’s attention was focused on the Centennial in North America, another
major, international exhibition was taking place in London. This was the Special Loan
Collection of Scientific Apparatus. It is fascinating to see how various strands of history
merged here and, in as far as the overall status of scientific instruments at Teylers Museum
and in other collections is concerned, the Special Loan Collection is actually of far greater
importance than the Centennial.
The reason is that the organisers of the Special Loan Collection - the Committee of Council
on Education - had the ambition of organising more than one of “the numerous Industrial
Exhibitions which have been held in various countries”, as they explained in the Catalogue
accompanying the exhibition.240 They elaborated that these “[Industrial] Exhibitions appeal
235 “onze beroemde Chronometermakers”; “De bekende Haarlemsche magnetenfäbrikant, de Gebrs. Van
Wetteren”; “Voor de vervaardiging, onder opzicht van Prof. van der Willigen, van krachtige magneten,
samengesteld uit platen.” “Officieele Lijst Der Bekroonde Nederlandsche Inzenders,” in Verslag Aan Zijne
Excellentie Den Minister van Binnenlandsche Zaken over de Nederlandsche Afdeeling Op de Internationale
Tentoonstelling, Gehouden Te Philadelphia van 10 Mei Tot 10 November 1876 (Haarlem: De Erven Loosjes,
1877), 24.
236 “collectie prisma’s van flintglas, spath en kwarts”; Elisa van der Ven, Gids door de Verzameling Physische
Instrumenten in Teyler’s Museum (Haarlem: De Erven Loosjes, 1898), 14. The items in question are listed under
cat.-no. 543 in: Turner, The Practice o f Science in the Nineteenth Century: Teaching and Research Apparatus in
the Teyler Museum, 145.
237 “eervolle vermelding”; Ven, Gids door de Verzameling Physische Instrumenten in Teyler’s Museum, 14.
238 “Officieele Lijst Der Bekroonde Nederlandsche Inzenders.”
239 “Algemeene voortreffelijkheid van het tentoongestelde”; For the prize see: Ibid., 38. For the donation see:
Ibid., 72.
240 Catalogue o f the Special Loan Collection o f Scientific Apparatus at the South Kensington Museum, 3rd ed.
(London: Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1877), xiii.