History and Collection
Established in 1895, the Ethnological Collection contains over 20,000 artefacts from various geographical regions, including Africa, the Americas, Asia, Australia, Oceania and Ancient Egypt. A significant proportion of these came to Freiburg during the German colonial period.
The collection includes a wide range of everyday objects, ritual items and works of art, which together provide evidence of the global diversity of material culture, beliefs and craftsmanship. These objects provide a valuable resource for temporary exhibitions and scholarly research.
The collection also includes a historic photographic archive of approximately 4,000 images, both positive and negative. These are mainly anthropological and ethnographic photographs from Africa, Asia, Oceania and the Americas, taken between 1860 and the late 1990s.
Motivation
The Ethnographic Collection aims to promote understanding and respect for other regions of the world, to convey the equality of all cultures and to stimulate interest in the diversity of human life and realities. The team works globally with individuals, groups and institutions to develop exhibitions and projects.
The museum identifies itself as a non-university research and non-formal education institution. Staff engage in critical discourse on the history of the collections. Through digitisation, provenance research and collaboration, they increase transparency and access to the collections. The team adheres to the guidelines of the International Council of Museums (ICOM) and the Deutscher Museumsbund e. V. (DMB) and has signed the Heidelberg Declaration and the Zurich Declaration.
Digitisation
The digitisation of the Ethnological Collection has increased the transparency and accessibility of its holdings. The digital records can be consulted in public and globally accessible databases, including the Digital Collection of the Städtische Museen Freiburg. This has facilitated access to the collections for scholars, interested members of the public and descendants of what are referred to as source societies from all over the world.
Provenance Research
Archival material, photographs, letters and books are studied and analysed in order to determine the provenance of each object, i.e. the circumstances of its acquisition and its history. They also consult the files, inventories and card indexes that have been created since the objects entered the collection. The Ethnological Collection team also researches the cultural-historical significance of the objects in collaboration with descendants of the original societies and scholars from the source regions.
