Researching the provenance in the colonial collection of the museum

The “Museum im Ritterhaus”, founded in 1900, has an ethnographic collection that was collected between 1884 and 1917. It comprises more than 600 objects. These include human remains and numerous objects from the former German colonies, the provenance of which has not yet been determined. When redesigning the permanent colonial exhibition in 2017, it became clear that extensive research and systematic recording of the provenance of our objects is necessary. This should be done within the project. In particular, the provenance of human remains needs to be clarified so that their restitution is possible. All results will be digitized and published. In addition, the respective provenance of the exhibits will be shown in our exhibitions. In close cooperation with institutions whose collections are similar to ours, but above all with people, institutions and scientists from the societies of origin, previous misinterpretations of cultural contexts are to be revised.

(c) Museum im Ritterhaus