Overview
Located in the Yungay Quarter, the Gabriela Mistral Education Museum offers a compilation of the history of education in Chile through a permanent exhibit, an interactive room and a valuable photographic archive.
It is housed in the former Escuela Normal de Niñas No. 1 “Brígida Walker” (1886), a school whose original mission was to educate women to become elementary school teachers, where poetess Gabriela Mistral passed her qualifying examination.
After 21 years, it reopened its doors in March 2006 with a new museography and a renewed museological orientation. Its specific contribution involves raising awareness of the concepts of heritage and memory through the compilation of the history of education in Chile, teacher education, and the role of the State in education processes.
The collection includes over 6,500 pieces and a specialized library with over 6,000 titles.
History
The Gabriela Mistral Education Museum was created as a result of the education exhibition organized at the Fine Arts Museum in 1941, as part of the Fourth Centennial celebrations of the foundation of Santiago.
The exhibition included posters, teaching material, artistic paintings and statistical data, among others. Upon conclusion of the exhibition, it was considered essential to keep this material in a place where people could see it. Thanks to this initiative, the Pedagogical Museum of Chile was founded on September 13, 1941.
The collection originated from the compilation of school material and furniture that was in disuse or not inventoried, from all the schools in the country and from their libraries.
After occupying various facilities, in 1981, it was established in the Escuela Normal de Niñas No. 1 “Brigida Walker” (1886).
The earthquake of 1985 caused serious damage to the building, making it necessary to suspend its activities for the public. The repair process was launched in 2000, and the museum was reopened on March 8, 2006.
Permanente Collection
Objects
The collection totals 6,522 pieces, mostly coming from old educational establishments in the country. Highlights include electrostatic machines for teaching physics; teaching illustrations; a complete set of maps by famous cartographers; desks and abaci, among other school items used in various periods of the past.
Library
The Specialized Library in Education Sciences has over 40,000 works and texts.
Photographs
The Photographic Archive
Compañía de Jesús, 3150, Santiago.