Archival holdings
Document collection (holding identifier: S)
Administrative files, correspondence and documents
Access
The collections are reference collections and can only be viewed on site. Access to the archive is by prior appointment only, to be arranged via email: archiv@mfn.berlin
If you have any questions regarding responsibility or availability, we will be happy to advise you by email. It may take up to 14 days to process enquiries.
Due to the museum’s ongoing development, there may be temporary restrictions on access. The written records collection will be inaccessible from 1 July 2026 until, it is expected, the fourth quarter of 2027.
Overview
The archive’s collection of written records comprises the files of the museum administration, the curatorial departments and other sections dating back to the museum’s foundation in the early 19th century. It documents the museum’s institutional development, research activities and collection work over more than 200 years.
It includes, amongst other things:
- Administrative and organisational documents
- Records of the museum management and administration
- Documents relating to staff, structure and development of the institution
- Documents from exhibition and service departments
- Scholarly writings
- Correspondence, manuscripts and printed matter
- Catalogues and object lists
- Expedition reports and documentation from collecting trips
- Material on researchers and networks
- Written records by and about figures such as
Hermann Burmeister (1807–1892), Adelbert von Chamisso (1781–1838),
Ernst Haeckel (1834–1919), Alexander von Humboldt (1769–1859),
Martin Hinrich Lichtenstein (1780–1857), Ignaz von Olfers (1793–1871),
Ernst Friedrich von Schlotheim (1764–1832), Friedrich Sellow (1789–1831),
Georg August Zenker (1855–1922) and others - Correspondence with institutions such as the Zoologischer Garten Berlin, the Märkisches Museum or Václav Frič’s natural history trade (Prague)
- Written records by and about figures such as
- Documents from museum staff
- Documents by, amongst others, Johann Karl Wilhelm Illiger (1775–1813),
Wilhelm Peters (1815–1883), Anton Reichenow (1847–1941),
Erwin Stresemann (1889–1972), Werner Janensch (1878–1969),
Walther Gothan (1879–1954) and others
- Documents by, amongst others, Johann Karl Wilhelm Illiger (1775–1813),
Structure
The collection of documents is organised according to the principle of provenance and is based on the museum’s historical administrative structures. It covers, in particular, the fields of zoology, mineralogy and palaeontology.
The documents cover several institutional phases:
- early collections of the Zoological and Mineralogical Museum (from 1810/1813)
- University Museum of Natural History (1889–1968)
- University Museum of Natural History (1969–1993)
- Natural History Research Institute (1994–2008)
- Museum für Naturkunde as a Leibniz Institute (since 2009)
The collection of written records thus forms the central basis for research into the institution, its collection and the scientific networks associated with it.
Contact
Mandy Ullmann
Archive Management
Email: mandy.ullmann@mfn.berlin
Telephone: +49 30 889140-8519