Pandemic in Potosí: fear, loathing, and public piety in a colonial mining metropolis

Abstract

volume, where objects are scrutinized from different approaches to see how we have accommodated, taken ownership, and extended knowledge through them. The last two chapters are a case study of how objects have been classified in South America. Olaya Sanfuentes uses the index established by the bishop of Trujillo, Baltasar Jaime Martínez Compañón, at the end of the eighteenth century, to initiate a broader reflection on the selection, classification, description, packing, transport, and exhibition process, recognizing that despite the rational spirit of the time, subjectivity was involved in every step. These objects were sent to Spain in response to King Carlos III’s orders. Although some artifacts can be identified in Spanish collections, as evidenced by the images illustrating the chapter, the objects are not the focus of the analysis, but the process involved in building and making this collection and how the meaning and ways of displaying have changed through time. María Paola Rodríguez Prada approaches the scientific character of material culture through the foundational period of the Museo Nacional de Colombia, moving away from the colonial era into the republican regime. The museum was advertised as part of the government’s interest in promoting civilization and progress through public instruction and educational institutions. Rodríguez Prada’s analysis is based on printed sources, collections of specimens, and watercolours illustrating the material culture. In addition, she traced some samples that French scientists took back to France when they participated in Colombia’s promotion of scientific development. Many of the contributing authors to these conference proceedings had already published on similar or related topics. This collection of essays offers a combined vision of material studies of Spanish America in a single volume that will serve as a reference for further investigations on these and connected topics related to material culture. It is a field of study that will certainly yield many more results.