Elias Ashmole

Elias Ashmole acquired the cabinet of curiosities assembled by the gardeners John Tradescant the elder and younger, in circumstances the Tradescant family contested, and gave it with his own collection to the University of Oxford. The Ashmolean Museum opened in 1683, often called Britain's first public museum. Oxford's curators have since transformed it into a museum of art and archaeology that is free to visit.