/ Forschung / Marie Muschalek u.a.
Provenance, Science & Profit
By tracing the worldwide procurement networks of the Umlauff family firm, this contribution highlights their pivotal yet understudied role in building zoological and ethnographic collections, particularly within colonial contexts.
Natural history traders have been crucial, yet under-researched contributors to museum collections. The Hamburg-based J.F.G. Umlauff family company, founded in the mid-19th century, exemplifies this significance. For nearly 100 years, members of the Umlauff family supplied zoological and ethnographic specimens to museums all over the world. During a two-day workshop, an interdisciplinary group of museum practitioners, archivists, as well as scholars from the fields of History and Cultural Studies, mapped Umlauff's impact on natural history collections, particularly in German museums, by reconstructing their global trading networks. Research questions include identifying beneficiary institutions nationally and internationally and tracing interdisciplinary procurement practices, especially for collections from colonial contexts.
This publication provides a concise overview of the presentations delivered during the recent two‑day workshop on the Umlauff family, hosted by the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin: https://www.museumfuernaturkunde.berlin/en/umlauff-workshop.
Prof. Dr. Marie Muschalek contributed to the article as a co‑author alongside the other participants of the workshop: https://riojournal.com/article/181653/
Bischoff E, Buschmann RF, Fisher C, Hoes C, Kaiser K, Koch A, Kressig H, Krieger AS, Lange B, von Mering S, Muschalek M, Reimer JC, Thode-Arora H, Tsogang Fossi R, Ville S, Wörrle B, Zouna J (2026) Provenance, Science & Profit: Natural History Museums and the Global Network of the Umlauff Natural History Trading Houses. Research Ideas and Outcomes 12: e181653. https://doi.org/10.3897/rio.12.e181653