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Natural history artefacts from former colonial territories bear witness not only to scientific curiosity, but also to power dynamics and the use of force. What responsibilities does this entail for natural history museums today? The Museum für Naturkunde Berlin has been addressing this question for years through various initiatives and research projects. Examining its own history sheds light on past and present research and museum practices and is being pursued in close collaboration with other academic institutions, civil society initiatives and researchers from various disciplines.
The publication *Dealing with Colonial Natural History Objects: Recommendations, Research, Reflections*, which was produced with funding from the Future Plan
, brings together recommendations for action, current research findings and insights from international museum professionals. It offers new perspectives for interdisciplinary and international dialogue on colonialism and natural history and demonstrates the potentialof integrated interdisciplinary work. This publication should be seen as a starting point and a living document – open to further development, adaptable to different contexts, and underpinned by the commitment to treat natural history collections not only with scientific excellence, but also with historical responsibility and cultural respect.
As an open, integrated research museum, the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin is breaking new ground with this guide in its approach to collection items from colonial contexts. Through participatory approaches, exchange formats and workshops with researchers from around the world, knowledge has been shared, common perspectives on research as well as on the dissemination and accessibility of knowledge have been established, and further developed through dialogue.
„This guide is an interim summary of a journey we began over ten years ago and which we will continue. We share our knowledge and learn from our experiences – including our mistakes. We are an open research museum that seeks to continue learning through exchange with others,“ said Prof. Johannes Vogel, Director General of the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin.
One aim of the ongoing cataloguing of the museum’s collection, comprising 30 million objects, is to create new avenues of access for diverse user interests worldwide, to democratise access to existing knowledge, and to facilitate participation in and the co-creation of new knowledge. The guide is thus also the result of the museum’s ongoing evolution, which, in addition to the reorganisation of the collection and the transfer of knowledge, also includes the museum’s architectural development into the 21st century.
A recent example of this is the opening of the new galleries ‘Deer and Horned Animals’ and ‘Mammal Skulls’ as part of guided tours. They were developed through an international co-curation process involving nine co-curators from Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, Zambia, Togo, Cameroon, Kenya, Namibia and Egypt. Together with the museum’s natural and humanities research groups, such as the Centre for Humanities of Nature, scientific findings were brought together with local knowledge systems, cultural experiences and historical perspectives. The new displays, which were developed using funding from the Future Plan, exemplify how natural history collections can today be made accessible to a broad public in a dialogue-oriented and responsible manner.
The publication is aimed at anyone who works with natural history objects – in museums, collections, archives, research institutions or universities. It has been published in German and English and is freely accessible to all (open access).
Kaiser, Katja and Heumann, Ina (eds.): Dealing with Colonial Natural History Objects: Recommendations, Research, Reflections, Heidelberg: arthistoricum.net, 2026. https://doi.org/10.11588/arthistoricum.1749
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