Ashmole, Elias definition of Ashmole, Elias in the Free Online Encyclopedia.

Ashmole, Elias (ăsh`mōl), 1617–92, English archaeologist and antiquary. He made exhaustive antiquarian studies, especially The Institution, Laws and Ceremonies of the Order of the Garter (1672) and The Antiquities of Berkshire (3 vol., 1719). In 1677 he donated to Oxford Univ. a collection of curiosities, including his own contributions and those bequeathed to him by a friend. His gift formed the nucleus of the

Ashmolean Museum (ăshmō`lēən), the first such public institution in England. He later donated his library to Oxford, and the whole was housed in a building erected by Sir Christopher Wren Wren, Sir Christopher, 1632–1723, English architect. A mathematical prodigy, he studied at Oxford. He was professor of astronomy at Gresham College, London, from 1657 to 1661, when he became Savilian professor of astronomy at Oxford.
..... Click the link for more information. . The collection is now in a 19th-century building and includes European works of art from medieval to present times as well as Asian works.

Bibliography

See his Autobiographical and Historical Notes and Correspondence, ed. by C. H. Josten (1967).