Provenance, Science & Profit: Natural History Museums and the Global Network of the Umlauff Natural History Trading House
In addition to private and institutional collectors, natural history traders have historically been important sources of specimens and information for natural history museums in the past. They have been shown to have contributed to the development of historical collections that still form the basis of exhibitions and research activities in natural history museums today. However, the history and significance of the natural history traders is still little known and researched. One such naturalia trader with worldwide trading partners was the long-established Hamburg company of the J. F. G. Umlauff family. Founded in the mid 19th century, Umlauff supplied both natural history and ethnographic museums with zoological and ethnographic objects from all over the world for almost 100 years. Umlauff's market position and availability of material was enhanced by family ties to the Hanseatic family business of Carl Hagenbeck, founder of the Hamburg Zoological Gardens, among others.
The aim of the workshop is to discuss the significance of the Umlauff family's natural history trade for the development of natural history collections, especially in German museums. To this end, the trading networks of the Umlauff natural history firm and its worldwide trading partners will be reconstructed and visualized. Which institutions benefited from Umlauff's trading activities on a national and international level? Which procurement channels and appropriation practices of the various objects can be traced, especially with a focus on collections from colonial contexts? These questions are intended to outline an interdisciplinary field of research that sheds light on the intertwining of economic, political, and scientific interests in a central phase of natural history museums.
Workshop programme
Thursday, 15 May 2025
(7:00 – 10:00 CEST)
07:00 Welcome & Introduction
07:15 André Koch (Museum Koenig Bonn) & Katja Kaiser (Museum für Naturkunde Berlin): Traces and Spaces. Tracing Natural History Specimens from Umlauff and their Documentation at the Museum Koenig Bonn and the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin
07:30 Hilke Thode-Arora (Museum Fünf Kontinente, München): Between Academia and Show Business – the Umlauff Companies as Dealers in Ethnographic Artefacts
Q&A
08:00 Rainer Buschmann (California State University Channel Islands): Linking the ‘Fence’: The Umlauff Family’s Role in the Clandestine Commercialization of Ethnographic Artifacts
Q&A
08:30 BREAK
08:45 Richard Tsogang Fossi (Technische Universität Berlin): “Under normal circumstances, they are hardly to give them…”. What Umlauff Teaches us about Colonial Collecting Practices
Q&A
09:15 Flashlights & Case Studies
Bernhard Wörrle (Deutsches Museum München): The Acquisitions of the Deutsches Museum from J.F.G. Umlauff
Jana C. Reimer (Museum am Rothenbaum Kulturen und Künste der Welt, Hamburg): Dealing with Ethnographic Collections – Holdings from the Umlauff Trading Company at MARKK Hamburg
Joël Zouna (Technische Universität Berlin): Cameroonian Cultural Heritage in Umlauff Transactions
Q&A
9:40 General Discussion & Wrap up
10:00 End of Day 1
Friday, 16 May 2025
(7:00 – 10:45 CEST)
07:00 Welcome Day 2 & Summary of Day 1
07:15 Britta Lange (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin): (Other) Economies
Q&A
07:45 Hannah Kressig (Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin): Final Station Hotel Banana City. Johannes Umlauff’s Great Ape Taxidermies in the Natural History Museum Winterthur
08:05 Annekathrin Krieger (Landesmuseum Hannover): Response
Q&A
08:20 BREAK
08:35 Marie Muschalek (University of Basel): Killing ‘Carefully’ and the Commodity Value of a Collected Animal: Violence, Economy, and Natural History.
Q&A
09:05 Flashlights & Case Studies
Charlotte Hoes (University of Göttingen): Transimperial Opportunism. Divergent Methods and Adaptive Strategies in the Wildlife Trade
Callum Fisher (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin): Between Nature and Culture: The Dispersed Collection of the Former Museum Godeffroy
Q&A
09:25 BREAK
09:35 Simon Ville (University of Wollongong): Networks and Transactions. The Key Strategies of the Natural History Trader
Q&A
10:05 Sabine von Mering (Museum für Naturkunde Berlin): Entangled Ventures. The Potential of Wikidata to Document and Visualise Natural History Trade Networks
Q&A
10:30 Questions & Wrap up, Next Steps
10:45 End of Day 2
Confirmed speakers:
- Prof. Rainer F. Buschmann, California State University Channel Islands, USA
- Dr. Richard Tsogang Fossi, Technical University Berlin, Germany
- Dr. André Koch, Museum Koenig Bonn, Germany
- Hanna Kressig M.A., Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Germany
- PD Dr. Britta Lange, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany
- Jana C. Reimer M.A., MARKK Museum am Rothenbaum Hamburg, Germany
- Dr. Hilke Thode-Arora, Museum Fünf Kontinente München, Germany
- Prof. Simon Ville, University of Wollongong, Australia