The first museums were collections privately held. These collections were started during the 16th and 17th centuries. They were usually named Curiosity Cabinets in the English speaking countries. Though other names were used such as, Cabinet's of Wonders, Wunder-kammer, Rariteitenkabinett, and Chamber's of Curiosities. These collections usually were divided into three segments. Natural, artificial, and scientific. The collector's could be found from the Pope to a local Tavern with the most spectacular one's largely owned by the wealthy.

While specimens that were either exotic, rare, or had anomalies most collections also contained artifacts from the owner's ancestor's and specimens that were representative of the locale in which the collector lived.

Collector's traveled far and wide in search of specimens that had never been seen before. They enjoyed the thrill of family and friends who were shown such things as shrunken heads, weapons, paintings, fossils, and stuffed animals never seen before in Britain and North America.

Elias Ashmole donated his collection to the Oxford University in 1691 and it became the Ashmolean Museum. This museum was Britain's first public museum and went on display in 1693.

Not only was the Curiosity Cabinet's precursor's to museums but because of the diversity found in them they were also a basis for modern humanities and science.

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