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Preservation of the estates of important biologists
The research archive on the history of biology houses more than 50,000 works from the fields of natural history, zoology and botany as well as extensive archival material. Enquiries come from universities, museums, the media and private individuals from Germany and abroad. They concern the transcription of manuscripts, the search for specific estates and co-operation in the field of art history. Here it is above all the biohistorical and entomological expertise on artists such as Maria Sibylla Merian (1647-1717) and Rachel Ruysch (1664-1750).
Correspondence, diaries, books and magazines
Correspondence from the 19th century, such as letters from the biologist Fritz Müller (1822-1897), who emigrated to southern Brazil in 1852, are particularly in demand. Drawings by the African researcher Georg Schweinfurth (1836-1925) on the landscapes and animals of Central Africa also invite us to analyse biodiversity change. He was closely associated with Alexander Koenig. A rich fund of zoological and botanical documents from the Rhineland can be found in the archive of the Natural History Society of the Rhineland and Westphalia (NHV), which is also kept in the Biohistoricum.
Co-operations for knowledge transfer
Cooperation exists, for example, with the German Archaeological Institute (DAI) in Cairo and the International Maria Sibylla Merian Society in Amsterdam, of which the director of the Biohistoricum is a founding and board member. She is also a board member of the German Society for the History and Theory of Biology, based at the LIB, Museum Koenig Bonn, and a leading member of the Leibniz Research Network "Value of the Past".
There is close co-operation with many national and international scientists with regard to research and knowledge transfer.
Related collections
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Projects
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Provenance research at the Museum Koenig
Management: Dr. André Koch
Publications
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2026/04
Über den Entomologen Erich Schmidt (1890–1969), seine vorzeitige Entlassung aus dem Museum Koenig Bonn und das NS-Komplott gegen die Gründung der Alexander-Koenig-Stiftung
Bonner Geschichtsblätter, 74
2026/03
The entomologist Erich Schmidt (1890–1969), his premature dismissal from the Museum Koenig Bonn, and the Nazi plot against the Alexander Koenig Foundation
Natural History Collections and Museomics, 3
2026/02
Provenance, Science & Profit: Natural History Museums and the Global Network of the Umlauff Natural History Trading Houses
Research Ideas and Outcomes, 12
2025/12
Revised Taxonomy of the Varanus (Odatria) timorensis Species Complex (Squamata: Varanidae) from the Timor Archipelago: Two New Microendemic Taxa from the Islands of Kisar and Ndao
Russian Journal of Herpetology, 4, 32
2025/11
Carl Hagenbeck’s Trade in Reptiles, His Historical Reptile Exhibitions, and His Herpetological Legacy
2025/10
The Bug‐Network (BugNet): A Global Experimental Network Testing the Effects of Invertebrate Herbivores and Fungal Pathogens on Plant Communities and Ecosystem Function in Open Ecosystems
Ecology and Evolution, 10, 15
2025/09
Maria Sibylla Merian in/en Surinam. Von der ungewöhnlichen Forschungsreise einer außerordentlichen Frau an der Schwelle zum 18. Jahrhundert. Sobre el insólito viaje de investigación de una extraordinaria mujer en el umbra del siglo XVII. Kipu-Verlag, Bielefeld 2025
2025/07
Wie wild wollen wir unsere Natur? Gedanken, Konzepte und praktische Erfahrungen zur „Neuen Wildnis“
2025/07
Buchbesprechung: Böhme, Wolfgang 2025 Von Kiel nach Bonn und anderswohin: Auto- und Allobiographisches, mit herpetologischem Fokus. Mertensiella (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Herpetologie und Terrarienkunde (DGHT e.V.), Nummer 34, 376 S., ISSN 0934-6643, ISBN978-3-945043-48-6. Koenigiana 19: 77-78
2025/07
Vom politischen Mythos der „Bundesgiraffe(n)“ … und anderen hohen Tieren im Museum Koenig Bonn
2024/11
The Diversity and Beauty of Nature
2024/11
Conservation perceptions and attitudes regarding monitor lizards in West Bengal, India
Nature Conservation, 56
2024/09
Der Einfluss der Hamburger Handelshäuser Hagenbeck und Umlauff auf die Herpetologie und Terrarienkunde im deutschsprachigen Raum
2024/09
Kaspar Georg Karl Reinwardt (1773 – 1854)
2024/09
Paul Benedict Sarasin (1856 – 1929) und Karl Friedrich (Fritz) Sarasin (1859 – 1942)
2024/01
Felix Kopstein (1893 – 1939)
2023/04
Zur Provenienz der beiden großen Gangesgaviale in der Schausammlung des Naturhistorischen Museums Wien
Annalen des Naturhistorischen Museums in Wien. Serie B für Botanik und Zoologie, 125
2023/00
On the Provenance of the two large Gharials in the Display Collection of the Natural History Museum Vienna
2022/10
Januarfund einer Schlingnatter in Rheinland-Pfalz
Feldherpetologisches Magazin, 18
2022/01
Die turbulente Geschichte des China-Alligators Mao und drei seiner Artgenossen: ein ungewöhnliches Weihnachtsgeschenk des Entomologen Hermann Höne an das Aquarium des Berliner …
Sekretär, 22
2021/05
Statement of the SAB on taxonomic vandalism for the Reptile Database
2021/00
Die Kobra aus Querum und die Schlangenweihe aus Formosa–Zwei zoologische Relikte der Hagenbeck’schen Völkerschauen
Völkerschau-Objekte.–Die Lübecker Museen, Völkerkundesammlung, Lübeck
2021/00
Varanus rainerguentheri. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2021: e. T83778466A83778474
2021/00
Varanus indicus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2021: e. T200972722A1533318
2021/00
Varanus salvator. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2021: e. T178214A113138439
2026
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2022
2021
Employees
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Dr. Katharina Schmidt-Loske
ztm Biohistoricum ScientistPhone: +49 228 9122 269
E-mail: k.schmidt-loske@leibniz-lib.de/leibniz-lib.de/fileadmin/user_upload/home/Bilder/LIB/Ueber_das_LIB/Mitarbeitende/Bonn/01_20241120_MKB_Portraits_LowRes_TschanGeorg_FKurceren_6N0A6417.jpg%3F1739269726)
Dr. Georg F. Tschan
ztm Biohistoricum ScientistPhone: +49 228 9122 247
E-mail: g.tschan@leibniz-lib.de