The history of the National Museum of Mexico during the first half century after its foundation in 1825 has been largely ignored. This is partly because at that time the museum failed to meet contemporary ideals of national museums as repositories of a nation's most representative objects and as forgers of meanings about these objects. This essay argues against reading intrinsic values into the early National Museum of Mexico and proposes paths for reconstructing its history as an emerging entity. Focusing on the Museum's strategies for collecting, exhibiting, and studying objects, I suggest that, rather than following pre-established protocols, the Museum took shape in practice, in the context of volatile national politics, material limitations, and international competition for collections.

中文翻译：

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墨西哥国家博物馆：1825-1867

墨西哥国家博物馆在 1825 年成立后的前半个世纪的历史在很大程度上被忽视了。部分原因是当时博物馆未能满足当代国家博物馆作为一个国家最具代表性的物品的储存库以及这些物品的意义的伪造者的理想。本文反对将内在价值读入早期的墨西哥国家博物馆，并提出将其历史重建为新兴实体的途径。专注于博物馆收藏、展览和研究物品的策略，我建议，在动荡的国家政治、物质限制和国际收藏竞争的背景下，博物馆在实践中形成，而不是遵循预先制定的协议。