3874 entries. Last updated May 25, 2013.

Museums Timeline Outline

  • Eras
  • Themes

8,000 BCE – 1,000 BCE

The Abu Salbikh Tablet Lost in the Iraq War
(Circa 2,500 BCE)

300 BCE – 30 CE

The Royal Library of Alexandria: The Largest Collection of Recorded Information…
(Circa 300 BCE)

500 CE – 600

Several pages from te Codex Climaci Rescriptus. (View Larger)
The Earliest Manuscript of the New Testament in Christian Palestinian Aramaic
(Circa 550)

An image from Codex Amiantinus. (Click to view larger.)
The Scriptorium and Library at the Vivarium
(Circa 560)

1300 – 1400

The courtyard of the Louvre, present day. (View Larger)
Charles V Establishes a Royal Library at the Louvre
(1368)

Saint Catherine in her Study with her Revolving Bookstand
(Circa 1399 – 1416)

1500 – 1550

Collecting Books and Prints in the Early Sixteenth Century
(Circa 1510 – 1539)

1550 – 1600

Construction of the Ufizzi
(1560 – 1581)

The First Treatise on Museums
(1565)

1600 – 1650

At Attempt to Record All Human Knowledge in Visual Form
(Circa 1625 – 1665)

1650 – 1700

The First Published Illustrated Catalogue of an Art Collection
(1660)

The First Book on Print Collecting
(1666)

1700 – 1750

Reflecting Surrealism Centuries Before Surrealism Became Fashionable
(1701 – 1725)

Founding the Library Company of Philadelphia
(July 1, 1731)

Foundation of the Greatest Museums of Florence
(February 18, 1743)

1750 – 1800

The British Museum is Founded
(January 11, 1753)

George II Donates the "Old Royal Library"
(1757)

The British Museum Opens
(1759)

The First Contemporary Art Exhibition
(April 21, 1760)

First Catalogue of the British Museum Library
(1787)

The First Historical Society in the United States
(January 24, 1791)

1800 – 1850

A Time-Capsule of Technology
(1819)

Genesis of the "Three-Age" System in Archaeology
(1836)

1850 – 1875

Foundation of the National Portrait Gallery
(December 2, 1856)

Foundation of the National Museum of Health and Medicine
(1862)

The Library and Museum Moved to the Site of Lincoln's Assassination
(1867)

1875 – 1900

The Earliest Exhibition Exclusively of Scientific Instruments
(1876)

1900 – 1910

Study of Museums and Research Libraries
(1905)

1910 – 1920

"Die Brucke" and its Goals for a World Information Clearing House
(June 11, 1911 – 1913)

1920 – 1930

Discovery of the Tomb of Tutankhamum
(November 4, 1922)

1960 – 1970

The Museum Computer Network
(1967)

The Machine as Seen at the End of the Mechanical Age
(1968)

The First U.S. Conference on Museum Computing
(April 1968)

1970 – 1980

UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property 1970
(November 14, 1970)

The British Library is Established as a Separate Entity
(1972)

Public Access to Electronic Information in a Museum
(1979)

Origins of the Computer History Museum
(September 1979)

1980 – 1990

The 1970 UNESCO Convention is Implemented in U.S. Law
(January 1983)

1990 – 2000

The Book and Beyond
(April 7 – October 1, 1995)

The First Museums and the Web Conference
(March 1997)

2000 – 2005

The Last Integrated Typefoundry, Letterpress Printer & Bindery
(2000)

Looting of the National Museum of Iraq
(April 6 – April 12, 2003)

Netpreserve.org
(July 2003)

The Site of the Original Library of Alexandria
(May 12, 2004)

2005 – 2010

Pixar at MOMA
(December 14, 2005)

Access to Nearly One Million Archive Collection Descriptions
(March 2006)

OCLC Merges with RLG
(July 1, 2006)

A Virtual Exhibition . . .
(November 18, 2008)

Europeana, the European Digital Library, Museum and Archive
(November 20, 2008)

2010 – 2011

The Most Successful Art Forger Ever
(May 12 – August 22, 2010)

2011 – 2013

British Library App
(January 2011)

The Google Art Project
(February 1, 2011)

The First Annual Report Issued by a Museum in an eBook Format
(May 7, 2012)

2013 – Present

An Innovative Interactive Museum Gallery Space with the Largest Multi-Touch Screen in the United States
(January 21, 2013)