FIND – Women in Natural History
Critically examining gender representation in the museum and unearthing and visibly documenting the stories of women who have been associated with the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin
They really did exist! A search for clues at the museum
Visitors to the mammal collection at the Museum für Naturkunde will come across a mounted musk ox in the corridors, with an enlarged version of this historical photograph on the wall behind it. Who are the two smiling women who had their photograph taken sitting on the animal, holding stuffed spectacled bears in their arms?
Questions like this mark the beginning of the search for traces of women who have worked for the Museum für Naturkunde since its beginnings in the 19th century, be it in research, collections, exhibitions or administration. Compared to the numerous men who are honoured as researchers, collectors or patrons with statues, busts, oil paintings or on plaques on the building and in the exhibition, there is hardly any reference to the activities of women in the museum or in natural history in general.
In recent years, studies on women in natural history as a still underrepresented and marginalised group have increased. This research offers new insights into the history of science as well as the history of individual institutions and collections. This research exposes the natural history museum as a place where social ideas of gender roles are reproduced and consolidated. Additionally, it emphasises the contributions of individual women to science, which were ignored for a long time in natural history and defined as a male domain.
We founded the 'FIND – Women in Natural History' working group in 2024 to critically scrutinise the representation of gender in the museum by unearthing and visibly documenting the history(ies) of women who were associated with the Museum für Naturkunde. This involves both publicly known women, such as the biologist and science historian Ilse Jahn (1922 – 2010), as well as the many researchers, unskilled labourers, collection caretakers, scientific illustrators, taxidermists, librarians, archivists and photographers who have thus far remained invisible.
We have already identified more than 100 women who were associated with the museum. We now also know that Elsbeth Mundt (1892 – 1938), draughtswoman and first female technical employee of the mammal collection, can be seen on the right of the photograph. The woman on her left is Else Blum (1894, murdered in Auschwitz in 1943). Almost nothing is yet known about her work at the museum.
The FIND working group organises lectures and workshops (see Activities below). It meets at irregular intervals and is open to all interested colleagues and external parties.
FIND is a founding member of the international network WOMNH – Women in Natural History Museums and Collections.
Activities
- November/December 2025:
WOMNH Autumn 2025 Seminar Series, an online lecture series comprising three talks, co-organised by the core team of the international network on women in natural history - 4 November 2025:
“Hidden in Plain Sight — Identifying and Acknowledging Women in Natural History”, lecture by Dr Sabine von Mering (Museum für Naturkunde Berlin) at the SYMBIOSIS 2025 conference in Austria - 18 September 2025:
"Women in Ornithology – Making Forgotten Actors Visible", Dr Sabine von Mering, Dr Sylke Frahnert (both Museum für Naturkunde Berlin), Ulrike Jager & Dorit Visbeck-Liebers (both German Oceanographic Museum Stralsund): Poster presented at the Annual Conference of the German Ornithological Society in Erfurt (1st Poster Prize) - 31 August 2025:
Dr Sabine von Mering and Sophia Gräfe, podcast episode “The Invisibles” on the work of “FIND – Women in Natural History”, Beats & Bones podcast by the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin - 8 July 2025: “Women Botanists Hidden in Male-Dominated Networks: A Spotlight
on the Silesian Botanist Käthe Hoffmann (1883–1960)”
Dr Sabine von Mering (Museum für Naturkunde Berlin), lecture in the WOMNH session “Paper, Pens and Specimens: Using Archival Media to Reclaim the Agency of Women in Natural History” at the annual conference of the British Society for the History of Science in Cambridge - 11 June 2025:
“Secret Service: Women. Research. Senckenberg – Stories from the Archive”
Dr Luisa Kapp (Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum, Frankfurt), guest lecture on the BMBF project “Secret Service: Women. Research. Senckenberg” - 5 April 2025:
“From Acourtia to Zuckia – Plant genera named after women. The Women Genera Project or How we created a dynamic Wikidata set together”
Dr Sabine von Mering (Museum für Naturkunde Berlin), invited keynote lecture during FemNetzCon 2025 in Neu-Ulm - 5 April 2025:
“Making Hidden Figures Visible in Wikidata”
Dr Sabine von Mering (Museum für Naturkunde Berlin), Wikidata workshop during FemNetzCon 2025 in Neu-Ulm - 10 March 2025:
1st WOMNH Seminar ‘Tracing Sarah Mary Fitton (1795–1874)’
Prof. Marie Mianowski (Grenoble Alpes University) presents her research; Dr Nessa Cronin (University of Galway) comments as respondent. - 5 March 2025:
‘Invisible – forgotten – rediscovered. Women in natural history museums and collections’
Dr Sabine von Mering (Museum für Naturkunde Berlin), guest lecture at the Natural History Museum Vienna - 27 January 2025: ‘13 Women – From
the History of the NHM Vienna’
Dr Stefanie Jovanovic-Kruspel (Natural History Museum Vienna), presentation of the NHM Vienna’s book project at the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin 10–11 December 2024:
Workshop ‘Tell me where the women are’
WOMNH Network Launching Event (co-organised by FIND)- Winter semester 2024/25:
Seminar ‘Women in Natural History – Visual Stories from the Museum Archive’
Sophia Gräfe, HU Berlin and visiting researcher at the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin, with guest seminars by Dr Sabine von Mering (Museum für Naturkunde Berlin) and Dr Stefanie Jovanovic-Kruspel (Natural History Museum Vienna)