Shaping scientific instrument collections

Abstract Many histories of scientific instruments concentrate on their manufacture and original function, but such artefacts as survive often do so in collections – many will have spent far longer in a museum than anywhere else. Alongside the rich literature on the history of scientific instruments, accordingly, there is a body of work on the histories of scientific instrument collections. This survey outlines genres and themes in the historiography of scientific instruments, focusing in particular on display and other collection-based functions. Fluid and contingent, collections are instrumental in the history, heritage, and historiography of science.