The first project to establish a university Museum of Education was conceived by Romeo Taverni, Professor of Pedagogy at the University of Padua from 1882 to 1888. During his brief tenure, Taverni envisioned the collection of school texts from every era, legal provisions concerning education, and monographs on individual educational institutions, all with the aim of founding a Museum dedicated to public education. His proposed layout resembled the “Museum of Instruction and Education” established in Rome in 1874 by Minister Bonghi, though the latter had already fallen into decline a few years after its creation. Taverni, reflecting the mindset of his time, intended to create a vast and diverse collection of printed sources to lay the foundation for a History of Public Education in Italy. However, his approach was more bibliophilic than philological or historical. Taverni also emphasized the need for a suitable location for the collection’s preservation and accessibility, alongside meticulous classification and cataloging. Unfortunately, no trace of the material he collected remains, possibly due to the abrupt end of his relationship with the University of Padua.
The project was later revisited, but never fully realized, by other professors of Pedagogy, including Giovanni Marchesini, who held the chair during the first three decades of the 20th century. Marchesini deserves credit for creating a small “Pedagogical Library” that housed printed works and other educational materials.
A major turning point occurred at the end of the 1980s when the Chair of History of School and Educational Institutions (held by Professor Francesco De Vivo) actively worked towards the creation of a School Museum. This Museum was designed not only to collect written sources but also to preserve a broader range of materials, allowing for a more comprehensive and effective approach to the educational and scholastic past. With the support of the then Department of Educational Sciences, the collection grew to include books, notebooks, objects, and artifacts related to educational institutions.