Intriguingly, at that very same meeting a suggestion by Oosten de Bruijn to expand Teyler’s
numismatic collection was rejected by the trustees, despite Oosten de Bruijn’s protestations.
The reason given is interesting: the trustees did not consider it worthwhile spending much
money or effort on the collection, because public access to it was so restricted through
Teyler’s instructions as to how they were to be handled. What might also have brought about
Oosten de Bruijn being snubbed were his Orangist allegiances. By 1782, political tension in
the Dutch Republic was increasing.
As for the trustees’ question regarding the arrangement of the Oval Room itself, the members
of the Second Society agreed to inspect the Oval Room in its unfinished state. On November
8th they convened at the building site, where they happened to run into the architect, Viervant.
In a subsequent discussion with Viervant they came up with two major ideas concerning the
way the Oval Room was to be furbished.
The first concerned the cupboards lining the walls of the building’s interior. This, in fact, was
what the trustees were most concerned about and what they had asked the Society to voice an
opinion on. Together with Viervant the members of the Second Society agreed that the
cupboards lining the gallery in the upper section of the Oval Room were to be furbished as
bookcases and “provided with curtains”, whereas the cupboards below were to be fitted with
glass panes. Crucially, they were of the opinion that the cupboards on the ground floor level
“could best be used for the storage of Physical Instruments, and other related objects”.139 This
is the first time any mention is made of an instrument collection to be acquired by the
Foundation.
The second suggestion concerned some furniture the members wished to see added. They
were hoping the Foundation would buy “two of the best and latest globes” which in turn could
be placed “on either side of the large table which will be indispensible in the Museum”.140
The minutes of later meetings reveal that what they had in mind were two globes built by the
exquisite instrument maker John Adams of London — they were indeed acquired, but only
some years later, when van Marum travelled to London. As for the “large table”, over the
course of subsequent meetings this gradually evolved into a flat-top cabinet of table-height,
which should also serve “for the storage of art books and portfolios with drawings and prints”,
and which was soon installed in the Oval Room.141
But let us return to the idea of reserving the cupboards on the ground floor level for a
collection of scientific instruments. Taking into account that these were neither small
cupboards nor few in number, it is clear that somebody — surely van Marum - had far-
reaching plans of which no previous record exists. Was van Marum perhaps reviving plans he
and Bamaart had drawn up earlier? This is what he implies in his recollections. Or was he
pursuing his own agenda? If so, he did so cleverly, because he evidently secured the other
1 “voorzien van gordijnen”; “’t beste konden dienen tot berging van Phÿsische Instrumenten, en andere zaaken,
daaraan verknocht”; “Notulen Tweede Genootschap”, 08.11.1782, Haarlem, ATS, vol. 1382.
“twee van de beste en nieuwste globens”; “te weder-zijde van de groote tafel, die in ‘t Museum onontbeerlijk
zijn zal”. Ibid.
141 “tevens [...] tot berging van kunst-boeken en portefeuilles met tekeningen, en prenten”; “Notulen Tweede
Genootschap”, 17.01.1783, Haarlem, ATS, vol. 1382.
members’ backing for his acquisition plans. They were put to the trustees at the following
joint meeting on January 17th 1783, the same meeting at which van Marum presented and
explained all the specimens from van der Meulen’s collection he had acquired in Amsterdam
for a total of f3667,8,-.
The only extant account of van Marum’s initial plans for the instrument collection stems from
van Marum’s recollections from the 1820s. Here, he summarises how he wanted three types
of device acquired: firstly, instruments “which may serve for making discoveries in the
Knowledge of Nature [NatuurkennisY, by which he meant ones that were too expensive to be
acquired by private individuals; secondly, models of technological or mechanical devices and
machines that had some bearing on everyday life (such as windmills); and thirdly, “to
furthermore make a more generally useful entity of this collection”, instruments that were
necessary for experimental research (such as optical devices).14
Whatever the details of the plans van Marum presented to the trustees, they were not
immediately enamoured with his ideas. On the contrary, both accounts of the meeting that
have been preserved - one recorded by the trustees, the other by the members of the Second
Society - show that the trustees initially resisted van Marum’s proposals, on the grounds that
both the acquisition of and the maintenance required by these instruments was too costly,
especially as the trustees doubted they would be used much by the members of the Second
Society. Although he was still presenting these plans in the name of the Second Society, the
trustees were perhaps beginning to sense that van Marum had plans that went far beyond both
the Foundation’s and those of his fellow members of the Second Society. Again, it is probably
down to van Marum’s negotiating skills that they eventually did accept a watered down
version of his ideas. The trustees’ account reads as follows:
“The second Society proposes that in the Museum will be brought together a Collection of
Physical Instruments and Models of Machines; which proposal, although not entirely
endorsed by the Directors, has yet been adopted in this sense that the Cabinets in the basement
of the Museum, except two that are suitable for fossils, will be fitted so that such a Collection
of Phys. Instr: & Models can be placed there.“1
The Second Society’s account implies that it was mainly van Zeebergh who had been
sceptical of the plans, even suggesting that only models and no instruments should be
acquired, but that he too had eventually agreed to their proposal, albeit on condition that “not
too much should be acquired at the same time”.
142 “die tot het doen van ontdekkingen in de Natuurkennis kunnen dienen”; “om wijders van deze verzameling
een meer algemeen nuttig geheel te maken”; Martinus van Marum: “De Geschiedenis van de oprigting van
Teyler’s Museum”, 1823-1833, Haarlem, NHA, Archief van Marum, vol. 529, nr. 9, fol. 15-16.
143 “Het tweede Collegie proponeert dat in het Musaeum mögt werden aangelegd Eene Collectie Physische
Instrumenten en Modellen van Werktuigen; welk voorstel schoon door Directeuren niet ten vollen toegestemd,
nogtans in zoverre is aangenomen, dat de Kassen beneden in het Musaeum behalve twee voor fossilia geschikt,
zodanig ingerigt worden dat er zodanige Collectie Phis. Instr: & Modellen zoude können geplaatst worden.
“Directienotulen”, 17.01.1783, Haarlem, ATS, vol. 5.
44 “men maar niet al te veel t’eener tijd wilde hebben” ; “Notulen Tweede Genootschap”, 17.01.1783, Haarlem,
ATS, vol. 1382.