response questions gr

1. It was significant that for the first time people of all genders and statuses could view their collection for a paid fee, like modern museums today, making knowledge open to all the public. Their collection is labeled an ark because it provides a hold to collect specimens of nature to preserve for the future so they won't be lost, and the knowledge they represent won't be lost.

2. The purpose of the Wunderkammer was to collect and display things from around the world that could not be seen normally by the general public in their lifetime before international travel was widespread and easy. These collections opened a sense of wonder to the viewers that encouraged people to learn about the world around them, including their classification, not just to be able to display them in cohesive collections, but to understand how these natural things are connected.

3. The Mark Dion cabinets seemed to be collected together by putting forth a criteria or process as to defining what they would search for to include in the cabinets and have a cohesive theme for it, where as the Tradescant collection seemed more old fashioned in the way that the first collections developed as a flashy way to flaunt the different exotic specimen they could collect which would speak to their class status that other cabinets probably would not have. The Mark Dion cabinets in this way seem more like a cabinet that would explore a subject, like a specific ecosystem or organism niche, and could provide a source for study to gain insight and knowledge of the subject. The Tradescant seems more of a pique in curiosity for humans and the unknown or seldom-encountered.

4. The museums of today do more than merely exhibit, they store a variety of specimen that are not on display and are kept for research to further preserve other specimens and enhance our knowledge of natural history. While doing this they still maintain their exhibitions and displaying a wide variety to provoke and educate their visitors about natural history.

West Nile Virus:
When the West Nile Virus broke out, museums were instrumental in helping track the course the virus could take and develop by studying mosquito specimens collected as early as 1914 to see how different strains of viruses were introduced and the timing of the introductions of those vectors of avian malaria and West Nile Virus in the United States.
-guillermo