The University Museum, the first of its kind in Japan, was founded in May 1997. It has taken over from the University Storage Center for Research Materials the important functions of collecting, classifying, and preserving research data and materials. The University of Tokyo has acquired over 6 million items of research materials since its foundation over 120 years ago. In this respect we owe what we are today to the endeavours of our predecessors. By the same token it is incumbent on us to make similar efforts for posterity. Along with such efforts, however, it has also become the task of the University Museum today to create a new field of its own for research and education. What distinguishes the interdisciplinary innovations of the university museum from those of other organizations is the use and availability of abundant research data and materials. Taking full advantage of these data and materials, the University Museum will create a new interdisciplinary field.

Systema Naturae: The Specimen Speaks