Museums of the Federal University of Pará: teaching, research and extension

Abstract

In Brazil, university museums emerged with the incorporation of existing institutions or with the creation of museums attached to the university environment. These spaces have particularities that differentiate them from other museums, however without excluding the definitions adopted in a larger sphere. At the Federal University of Pará (UFPA), there are around 12 spaces that show themselves as a museum or university collection. For this significant number, the question that guides this work is “what are the actions that these places promote?”; considering the university environment and the university triad of teaching, research and extension that governs Brazilian Universities. The objective is to present what actions UFPA museums and university collections develop. The information collected was through the sites of these spaces, their institutes and the UFPA Portal, including the institutional documents of the University and Institutes, in order to observe how these spaces are cited and how they are portrayed. The results indicate that not all spaces are mentioned by their Institutes or by the University itself, although they develop activities that contribute to teaching, research and extension. Museums and university collections have the potential to contribute to the scientific, cultural and technological diffusion, raising the visibility of the diversity of the institution's collections. Though, it is essential to recognize these places in order to enable their development and the growth of the University.