Curators are the keepers or custodians of a museum, library or other collection. The term is derived from the Latin curare, meaning to take care. Its linguistic history is intriguing, but the connotation of “guardianship” was maintained throughout.
In Ancient Rome, curatores were civil servants in charge of public works, overseeing the Empire’s aqueducts, bathhouses and sewers. From the early fifteenth century onward to the medieval period, the curatus was a parish priest devoted to the care (cura) of minors, “lunatics,” and other vulnerable people. During the 1660s, individuals charged with the care and preservation of precious collections of art, books and artifacts (initially at private estates) were referred to as curators. [Read more…] about Collecting for Posterity: America’s First Curators
