Abstract

The Wunderkammer—a collection of wonders peculiar to the late Renaissance in Europe—has recently become a popular metaphor for new digital media for its ability to challenge modern categories of knowledge. Given that very little has been written on the Wunderkammer—and virtually nothing from the perspective of media history—its newfound popularity in contemporary scholarship on digital media warrants a closer look at its history. This thesis examines the classification techniques and representational strategies of the late Renaissance Wunderkammer through a case study of a proposal for an ideal collection written by Samuel Quiccheberg in 1565. The case study serves as a point of entry into an analysis of the conditions that made the Wunderkammer an effective method of producing knowledge for sixteenth-century collectors, as well as provides an opportunity to identify historical discontinuities between phenomena now considered ‘media’. I conclude by outlining a number of ways in which future media histories of the Wunderkammer might proceed.