Brief History

The University of San Carlos Museum was formally inaugurated on 23 April 1967 by Fr. Pres. Rudolf Rahmann, SVD with First Lady Imelda Romualdez Marcos, a few minutes before husband Pres. Ferdinand Marcos delivered the commencement address to the graduating class. From 1952 onwards, however, its growing collection of excavated ceramics, rare and exotic flora and fauna as well as exemplary ecclesiastical, historical and ethnographic objects were already carefully collected, studied, catalogued and exhibited. Prior to this, a museum with cabinets of curiosity was inaugurated in 1908 at the old Seminario-Colegio de San Carlos located at the original campus beside Plaza Independencia. That museum was unfortunately destroyed, together with its precious collection, during the American liberation bombings in 1945. The USC Museum is located at the University’s Downtown (formerly Main) Campus on P. Del Rosario Street. It occupies both the north and south wings of the ground floor of the Arthur Dingman Building, dissected by the lobby that also serves as the main entrance to the campus. The Dingman building, named after the first rector of USC, is a four-storey neoclassical architectural treasure in downtown Cebu City where the University President also holds office and where the University Board of Trustees meet to chart the future of the university. The Dingman Building was constructed in 1948 on the very foundations of the pre-war Colegio de San Carlos Building that was destroyed during the September 12, 1944 pre-liberation bombings of Cebu.

The USC Museum also collaborates with the Department of Biology which maintains the Entomological Collection and the Marine Biology Collection, both of which are located on the 3rd floor of the Josef Baumgartner Learning Resource Center in Talamban Campus.