History of a fragmented natural history collection: A case study of Merzifon Anatolia College Museum

Abstract

This article investigates the history, dispersal, and partial recovery of the natural history collection of Merzifon Anatolia College, a missionary institution founded in 1886 in central Anatolia under the auspices of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. Developed through the scientific and pedagogical efforts of Professor Johannes Jacob Manissadjian and his students, the museum once housed thousands of botanical, entomological, zoological, geological, and paleontological specimens. Located in a purpose-built museum-library complex completed in the 1910s, the collection represented one of the most ambitious scientific enterprises undertaken by a non-state Ottoman institution. Following the upheavals of the First World War and the foundational transformations of the Turkish Republic, the college ceased operations, and the fate of its museum remained uncertain. Drawing upon archival materials, rediscovered catalogs, and specimen inventories, this study reconstructs the intellectual and institutional history of the collection, and traces its partial reconstitution through its unexpected rediscovery at Tarsus American College in the 2010s. By situating the Merzifon Anatolia College collection within the broader context of Late Ottoman scientific modernization and missionary education, this article argues that the forgotten marginal natural history collections are not merely the casualties of time, but the result of historiographical choices. In tracing the afterlife of the Merzifon collection, the article highlights the role of forgotten institutions and actors in shaping scientific knowledge beyond imperial centers.