Colonial Provenances of Nature. The expansion of the mammal collection around 1900

The project “Colonial Provenances of Nature. The expansion of the mammal collection at the Museum für Naturkunde around 1900” examined the history of the mammal collection at the Museum für Naturkunde (MfN) in the decades from 1880 to 1920. During this period the collection grew in quality and quantity from 8,000 to well over a hundred thousand objects. The aim of the project was, firstly, to reconstruct the interaction between the actors involved, particularly curator Paul Matschie (1861-1926), and analyze driving interests and motivations, central networks and the relevant historical framework conditions. In the online publication “Cameroon in Berlin”, the project shows how colonial collecting was institutionalized at the MfN. Secondly, the project contributed to an interdisciplinary history of colonial collecting: Since during the period under investigation “collecting” was almost always interdisciplinary, the history of zoological collecting is closely linked to the history of ethnological, biological-anthropological and other natural history collections in Berlin and must be examined in this context. Thirdly, the project aimed to establish and deepen local and global collaborations with interested communities. The project proposes a method of provenance research in natural history collections that is based on shipments as the unit of analysis, their management, evaluation, and accession process. Fourthly, the project focused on administrative practices and compiled a collection of archival records relating to the translocation of animal bodies from the former German colony “Kamerun” to Berlin between the 1870s and 1930s.

(c) Museum für Naturkunde