I musei didattici tra Ottocento e Novecento in Italia come fonti per la storia della scuola e patrimonio storico educativo

International and Italian scholastic historiography has focused on the material school culture, meant as a privileged source for accessing the “black box of schooling”. Some attention has been paid to didactic collections and didactic museums of the 19th century. A special impulse has come from the celebrations of the 150th anniversary of the Unity in Italy, which helped old schools to rediscover their educational history and highlight their documentary and material heritage. This paper outlines the reasons for the birth of didactic museums, illustrates some pioneering experiences and the commercial distribution and shows their heuristic value for the history of education and teaching as historical educational heritage for present and future communities.