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<p>This article explores the history and transformation of service culture collections—repositories designed to conserve, catalogue, and distribute microorganisms beyond specialized research. Between the 1920s and 1970s, efforts to standardize microbial collecting evolved amid complex geopolitical, institutional, and scientific power dynamics. The article examines how postwar collections were shaped by (post)colonial politics, scientific internationalism, and shifting notions of microbial value, especially in relation to tensions between centralized and decentralized models of conservation. Based on archival sources from several countries and organizations, the study traces the trajectories of key institutions such as the International Federation of Culture Collections (IFCC), the British Commonwealth Committee on Collections of Microorganisms (BCCC), and the World Federation of Culture Collections (WFCC). While early attempts at reorganizing microbial classification were led by the United States and the United Kingdom in the 1930s, a postwar centralizing initiative in Lausanne—backed by UNESCO and the IAMS—faced resistance from Commonwealth and US scientists, who promoted a decentralized framework. Japan soon joined this camp, reinforcing the alternative approach. These tensions culminated in the creation of the WFCC (1962–1970), which prioritized the exchange of microbial data over physical samples, marked a broader shift toward service-oriented viable collections, and published the first World Directory of Culture Collections in 1972. Ultimately, the rise of molecular taxonomy and patent regimes challenged traditional microbial archives and redefined their scientific and political significance, shifting away from the early ideal of universal “palace” of living microbes.</p>

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Culture, Codes, Communities: Culture Collections’ Transformation from Microbial Palaces to Networked Services (1890–1972)

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2026年3月1日

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  • Frédéric Vagneron,
  • Claas Kirchhelle

摘要

This article explores the history and transformation of service culture collections—repositories designed to conserve, catalogue, and distribute microorganisms beyond specialized research. Between the 1920s and 1970s, efforts to standardize microbial collecting evolved amid complex geopolitical, institutional, and scientific power dynamics. The article examines how postwar collections were shaped by (post)colonial politics, scientific internationalism, and shifting notions of microbial value, especially in relation to tensions between centralized and decentralized models of conservation. Based on archival sources from several countries and organizations, the study traces the trajectories of key institutions such as the International Federation of Culture Collections (IFCC), the British Commonwealth Committee on Collections of Microorganisms (BCCC), and the World Federation of Culture Collections (WFCC). While early attempts at reorganizing microbial classification were led by the United States and the United Kingdom in the 1930s, a postwar centralizing initiative in Lausanne—backed by UNESCO and the IAMS—faced resistance from Commonwealth and US scientists, who promoted a decentralized framework. Japan soon joined this camp, reinforcing the alternative approach. These tensions culminated in the creation of the WFCC (1962–1970), which prioritized the exchange of microbial data over physical samples, marked a broader shift toward service-oriented viable collections, and published the first World Directory of Culture Collections in 1972. Ultimately, the rise of molecular taxonomy and patent regimes challenged traditional microbial archives and redefined their scientific and political significance, shifting away from the early ideal of universal “palace” of living microbes.