Presentation of the Working Paper “Missionary Societies and Religious Orders in German Colonies and Their Contribution to Ethnographic Collections”“ | Colloquium Provenance Research

This presentation shed light on the complex entanglements between Christian missions and the appropriation of cultural objects during German colonial rule. Missionary actors, often underestimated in provenance research, played a significant role in the transfer of artifacts into European museum collections – not merely as intermediaries, but as powerful actors of cultural translation and appropriation.

Based on the current need for research regarding the acquisitions for missionary collections and ethnological museums, the aim of the newly released Working Paper by Dr. Jan Hüsgen (German Lost Art Foundation) is to provide an actual overview of those missionary societies and missionary orders that were active in German colonial territories.

The talk outlines both the structures of various missionary societies across the former German colonies in Africa, Oceania, and Asia, and examines their networks, motivations and legacies. For illustration, special attention will be given to the cases of West Africa and Oceania as well as current debates on transparency and accountability in museum practices. Information on archives is intended to facilitate provenance research on theses specific collections.

Dr. Ohiniko Mawussé Toffa (Zentralarchiv der Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin) contextualized the Working Paper in the current debate on collections of missionary societies.

The event was moderated by Isabella Bozsa (Museum der Kulturen Basel).