Grundlagen- und Kontextforschung zum Norddeutschen Lloyd als Big Player des deutschen Kolonialismus: Maritime Infrastrukturen und Sammlernetzwerke

The project Basic and Context Research on the Northern German Lloyd as a Big Player in German Colonialism: Maritime Infrastructures and Collector Networks explores the role of the largest German shipping company in the translocation of cultural heritage from the Pacific region during the time of German Empire. Based on the collections and archives of the German Maritime Museum | Leibniz-Institute for Maritime History in Bremerhaven, the Übersee-Museum in Bremen and the Südsee-Sammlung Obergünzburg, the project provides a systematic recording and initial review of documentation relating to collecting activities under the aegis of Northern German Lloyd (NDL). In addition to the development of quantitative processes for the appropriation of objects, a qualitative contextualization of the NDL is undertaken by using the example of collection components that can be clearly assigned to the NDL: With the inclusion of colonial-era sources from archives and libraries as well as reception objects, these examples of colonial-era collecting are intended to be investigated in the context of a superordinate history of empire, colonial Expansion and seafaring. The methodical approach aims to create new context knowledge of use all museums that were historically supplied by the NDL and its agents with comparable cultural assets. Within the scope of the project research results will be made accessible to an international audience in the form of a multilingual research guide, a journal article as well as an upcoming online presence. The project is accompanied by a museum expert as International Fellow from among the communities of origin.

(c) Deutsches Schifffahrtsmuseums, Leibniz-Institut für Maritime Geschichte in Bremerhaven