Thousands of items from the University of Aberdeen’s Marischal Museum and 
Natural Philosophy Collection are to be made available for higher education in 
the UK through a prestigious grant to create a database of digital images and 
information.  The project, LEMUR (LEarning with MUseum Resources), will run for 
three years and is being funded by the Joint Information Systems Committee 
(JISC). It will bring previously unseen collections into teaching use for the  
first time, in support of the government's plan to deliver high quality 
teaching materials across the internet. 

Marischal Museum and the Natural Philosophy Collection are of national 
importance. Marischal Museum contains 70,000 items, with particular strengths 
in Scottish history and archaeology, Mediterranean Archaeology, Foreign 
Ethnography, Fine Art and Numismatics.  Since the University was founded in 
1495, much of the material has been donated by staff, students and generous 
benefactors from all over the world. 

The Natural Philosophy Collection of scientific instruments is one of the 
finest of its type in the UK, and contains over 2,000 objects.  Items of 
special interest include late 18th century equipment from the first semi-public 
astronomical observatory in Scotland to be furnished with modern instruments, 
equipment used by both the British and Germans during World War II, pioneering 
fine measuring equipment by RV Jones, and instruments from the first national 
meteorological observing network. 

In the past, difficult access to the collections limited their use in teaching. 
Following a major grant from JISC, the £241,000 LEMUR project will make the 
collections available to anyone, anywhere with an internet connection, and they 
will be used in learning packages bridging the arts, sciences and social 
sciences. 

At the University of Aberdeen, the resources will be used by a wide variety of 
departments and distributed learning programs.  Interactive learning resources 
will be developed in the first instance by lecturers from the University’s 
Departments of Physics, History of Art, Cultural History and History and 
Philosophy of Science working together with colleagues in the Learning 
Technology Unit.  As the project develops, other staff teaching Anthropology, 
Scottish Ethnology, Philosophy, History of Art and Continuing Education will 
also incorporate the material into their courses. 

Dr Alan Knox, manager of the University's Historic Collections, said: "Most 
museums have far more material than can ever be put on display. LEMUR is going 
to put a lot of ours straight into mainstream teaching for the first time. We
are very excited." 
  

----------------------
Neil Curtis
Senior Curator
Marischal Museum
University of Aberdeen Historic Collections
Marischal College
Aberdeen AB10 1YS
T: (+44) (0) 1224 274304
F: (+44) (0) 1224 274302
E: [log in to unmask]







%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%