Anniversary volumes

Joachim Scholz & Karin Afshar

Letters to the living – stories from the Senckenberg Museum

Written on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the Senckenberg Society for Nature Research 

Citizen science, a buzzword from recent times, is in reality and on closer inspection not at all an invention of these recent times. »Bürgerwissenschaft« is the German word. A civil society – the Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung (SGN) – was founded 200 years ago on November 22, 1817. The history of its founding, of protagonists and antagonists, of egomaniacs and altruists, of conflicts and creativity, has created an order that has withstood all the turbulence of the times, not only despite, but precisely because of its contradictions.

We tell the story in letters with a view to people who have long since died, using selected finds from the archives of the SGN (Frankfurt). We mainly look at the first 100 years from 1817 to 1917, preceded by a prelude from the 16th century, because Senckenberg did not precipitate out of the vacuum. The epilogue takes place in Dresden and points to the future, which accommodates the period up to the present day: Senckenberg is no longer an exclusively Frankfurt-based civil society.

2017, 144 pages, 74 illustrations, color throughout, 20 x 22.5 cm
ISBN 978-3-929907-93-3, paperback, € 12.90

Available in German only.

The book is available for €12.90 (plus shipping costs) directly from the Schriftentausch, Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung, Senckenberganlage 25, 60325 Frankfurt am Main, by e-mail: order-ffm@senckenberg.de.

Julia Hammerschmidt

200 years of the Natural History Society and Museum of Natural History Görlitz

At the end of the anniversary year 2011, the Senckenberg Museum of Natural History Görlitz published a chronicle entitled “200 years of the Natural History Society and Museum of Natural History Görlitz”. High-quality commemorative medals were minted last year to mark the occasion.

The last overview of the museum’s history was published on the occasion of its 175th anniversary in 1986 and was edited by the then director Prof. Dr. Wolfram Dunger. The focus of the content was on the development of the museum collections.

Historian Julia Hammerschmidt wrote the texts for the current booklet, which summarizes the entire history of the house on Marienplatz on 147 pages. She describes the founding of the Görlitz Ornithological Society in 1811 and its development into the Natural History Society. Its activities ultimately resulted in the opening of the Görlitz Natural History Museum in 1860, which still exists today. However, the dark sides and the decline of the society and the museum between and during the world wars are also described. The development of scientific research after 1945, which led to the re-founding of the Natural History Society in 1990 and the museum becoming an internationally recognized research institution within the Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung, is given a great deal of attention.

Particularly noteworthy are the 120 illustrations, many of which are being published for the first time. There is also a picture gallery showing all the chairmen of the Ornithological Society, the Natural History Society and the museum directors.

The chronicle is a treasure trove for anyone interested in Görlitz history as well as friends of the museum and the natural history society.

Available in German only.

Orders for the brochure can be placed at the museum library in Görlitz on 03581-47605260 or ilse.grosche@senckenberg.de.

The brochure costs €9 (plus shipping costs).
147 pages, 120 illustrations, color throughout
2nd revised edition (2018)
ISBN 978-3-9809854-7-5