Between 19th and 20th centuries the scientific graphical representation became very popular in schools and universities. The University of Padua preserves some important historic collections of wall-charts, photographs and illustrated books. These documents show the importance scholars gave to images in communicating science to students and colleagues.

As regards to the historical documentation dedicated to teaching paleontology and geology, during last two centuries the Geological sciences Department saw  its collections growing in importance and size. In parallel, the Museum of Geology and Paleontology collected and exhibited important items that often were reproduced in the graphical collections.

The teaching collections of the Geological sciences Department are the result of the work of many scholars, among which we must quote prof. Giovanni Omboni. Prints, drawings and photographs are now preserved within the Cartoteca of the Geological sciences Library. These historic collections include specimens from the series edited A. K. von Zittel and K. von Haushofer and from local series made by teachers and designers of the University of Padua.

In recent years the Geological sciences Library  has launched a digitization project involving these teaching collections  and the images are visible in Phaidra's database.

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