The global networks of the animal trading companies Reiche and Ruhe. Provenance research on the circulation of animals, humans and objects in the 19th and 20th century

The project was initiated by the Network Provenance Research in Lower Saxony as a collaboration between the Chair of Modern History of the Georg-August-University Göttingen and the Museum of the City of Alfeld. The aim was to take a closer look at the animal trading companies operating internationally from Alfeld and founded by the Reiche and Ruhe families. The need for this contextual research arose from a collection of taxidermies and ethnographies of unknown origin that was identified in 2018 during an initial check funded by the German Lost Art Foundation. Today, a total of 226 animal material (predominantly taxidermy) and 140 ethnographic objects, presumably from colonial contexts, are in the possession of the Museum of the city of Alfeld. The project traced the global routes and networks through which the two companies Reiche (c. 1840-1910) and Ruhe (c. 1850-1993) brought wild animals from their respective countries of origin to various locations and institutions. The focus was also on the recipient institutions, which were primarily located in Europe and North America, especially at the beginning of the growing wildlife trade. Of particular interest was also the extent to which ethnographic objects were appropriated in order to trade them in parallel. The research revealed that in both Reiche’s and Ruhe’s case, the objects were not specifically appropriated to trade them on the market for ethnographica, but rather to use them as symbolic capital or, even more so, to employ them for so-called ‘Völkerschauen’ (’human zoos’). In these, non-European people were ‘exhibited’ or performed together with (wild) animals and ethnographic objects. The findings show that the wildlife trade was closely interwoven with this practice. Moreover, people from the regions of origin were recruited to accompany the animals on their journey and to care for them after they arrived in Europe. Accordingly, it was not only wild animals that travelled along the routes of Reiche and Ruhe, but also objects and people. Both companies maintained long-standing relationships on almost every continent and relied heavily on the support and labour of local people. The results collected within the scope of the project and published here are intended to enable further research into the provenance of the ethnographica as well as zoologica in Alfeld. In the form of global microhistory, it furthermore aims to allow a better understanding of colonial activities and continuities and thus, contribute to the historiography of German colonialism in general and the global wildlife trade in particular.

© Lehrstuhl für Neuere Geschichte am Seminar für Geschichte der Georg-August-Universität Göttingen