Tartu ülikooli õppetahvlid - õppevahendist museaaliks ja uurimisobjektiks

Wallcharts of the University of Tartu - from teaching aid to museum and research object

Abstract

The University of Tartu Museum, the Estonian Art Museum, and
the Estonian Academy of Arts conducted a collaborative project from
2021 to 2023 to highlight the role of visual culture as a mediator of
knowledge. During the project, visual materials used in teaching and
research from the 19th and 20th centuries were mapped in Estonian
memory institutions. At the University of Tartu Museum, this resulted
in the digitization of approximately 2,000 educational wallcharts,
slightly more than half of their total number in the museum. Additionally,
the primary conservation of 3,046 wallcharts was conducted.
In general, the role of scientific illustrations and their creators
in university history, as well as in Estonian science and art history,
has so far remained unnoticed. Thus, a systematic approach to the
material under study has helped to bring into focus scientific illustrators
who worked at the University of Tartu in the second half of the
19th and the beginning of the 20th century. Their activities were only
discovered thanks to preserved scientific illustrations, wallcharts,
and other visual materials.
The use of visual materials in education began during the Renaissance.
The invention of the printing press in the 15th century
and the adoption of new techniques allowed for the reproduction of
images, leading to the widespread use of visual materials in teaching.
In the 18th century, universities began to open specialized cabinets
with collections necessary for scientific and educational work, further
increasing the importance of visual materials in education. At the
German-speaking University of Tartu, reopened in 1802, scientific
and educational collections were formed from the very beginning and
were increasingly supplemented with visual material.
From the 1820s onwards, educational wallcharts played an essential
role in illustrating teaching and assessing knowledge in European
universities, gaining particular popularity in Germany. Their
production was facilitated by the invention of lithography in 1798,

which made reproducing images faster and cheaper. The advantage
of wallcharts over various models and natural specimens was that
they could be viewed by the entire audience at once – the boards
were placed in a visible location. Additionally, the wallcharts enabled
the depiction of context, providing a comprehensive overview of the
object or highlighting details or parts that would not otherwise be
visible to the naked eye.
The great pedagogical potential of wallcharts inspired university
lecturers and students to create them by hand, allowing for better
adaptation of topics to local teaching and research work and helping
to save costs. Until the very last decades of the 20th century, university
collections of wallcharts were constantly being supplemented
by new orders and self-made efforts. Unfortunately, most of these
wallcharts
have been discarded from teaching activities today as new
technology and media have replaced them, putting their preservation
at risk. Fortunately, a considerable selection of wallcharts at the University
of Tartu has reached the University of Tartu Museum.
The conservation work of historical wallcharts at the University of
Tartu Museum was organized from 2020 to 2023 according to a wellthought-
out plan of action to make them preservable in the museum
while also being easily accessible and usable for everyone. Only after
the information and images of these wallcharts were made accessible
in the Museums Public Portal MuIS could researchers and curators
start working more thoroughly with the material. The wallcharts selected
for the “Art or Science” exhibition from the digitized collection
were additionally conserved, and the solutions developed during this
process can be further used according to needs and possibilities.
In the 19th century and early 20th century, several scientific illustrators
probably worked at the University of Tartu. Most of their
work remains anonymous. Only a few names are known for sure,
such as Eduard Saksand (1847–1897), who mainly illustrated medical
works; student Aleksander Slavjanov (1880–1958); professors
Aleksander Gubarev (1855–1931) and Albert Valdes (1884–1971);
and one of Estonia’s first professional female artists, Hilda Kamdron
(1900–72).
Wallcharts began to play an essential role in higher education and
science communication at the beginning of the 19th century. Initially, they spread widely in German-speaking regions and later in other parts of Europe. The collection of handmade wallcharts at the University
of Tartu Museum is remarkable for its size and diversity of
topics. Thanks to the work of the museum’s curators, conservators,
and interns, they are now digitally accessible, allowing their public
and non-restricted use in teaching and research.