History of the Karl Braun Collection

As part of a project funded by the German Lost Art Foundation, the Museen Stade (Germany) have been researching the provenance of over 600 collection items from present-day Tanzania in cooperation with the National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR) since May 2022. The collection includes jewellery, household items, tools and instruments. The german botanist Karl Braun (1870–1935) acquired most of these items during his work for the Imperial Biological-agricultural Institute Amani (Kaiserlich Biologisch-Landwirtschaftliches Institut Amani, short: Amani Institute) in the former colony of "German East-Africa" ("Deutsch-Ostafrika") from 1904 to 1920 and exported them to Germany. Following his colonial service, Braun became head of the Biological Imperial Institute for Agriculture and Forestry Department Stade (Biologische Reichsanstalt für Land- und Forstwirtschaft Zweigstelle Stade) and left the so-called "Kolonialsammlung Braun" (Colonial Collection Braun) to the town a year before his death. Apart from an exhibition in 1942, the objects remained unnoticed for decades. It was only during renovation work in 2014 that they were found packed in two sea chests and a suitcase in the attic of the Museum Schwedenspeicher. As part of a restoration project in 2016, the objects were inventoried for the first time and recorded in an internal database.

The results of the ongoing provenance research are continuously published in the online collection in Swahili, English and German in order to make them accessible to the Tanzanian, German and international public. The object information is obtained on the one hand by analysing historical sources and on the other hand through field research in Tanzania: Karl Braun's extensive records in German and Swiss archives provide a broad historical source base for this. It can be assumed that the information handed down by Karl Braun conveys colonial ideas, may be incorrect and reflects his interests as a botanist on behalf of the Imperial Colonial Office. In the online collection, these sources are identified and supplemented by a contemporary Tanzanian perspective.

Sensitive content
The research material we work with is primarily colonial-era written sources. Quotes, book titles, exhibition titles and other material contain words, terms and phrases that are false, inaccurate, derogatory and/or hurtful to people and communities from Tanzania and its diaspora. We recognise that the source material may cause physical and psychological distress and evoke strong emotions. The material does not represent the views of our research team. We take a strong anti-colonial and anti-racist stance and affirm that we focus on the perspective of historically marginalised and disenfranchised communities.

Further information
Using the methods of "oral history", the project attempts to counter the predominance of written colonial-era sources and the focus on the colonial actor Karl Braun and to allow a contemporary interpretation of the objects. As part of several field research projects, interviews will be conducted and made accessible in the online collection in order to incorporate the knowledge and memories of the people who can provide information about the objects

A detailed project description and press releases can be found on our website. In addition, we continuously publish our research findings - including on the German colonial history of the Amani Institute, the biography of Karl Braun and the history of the collection items - on our English-language project wiki. We will keep you informed about events and happenings on Facebook and Instagram using the hashtags #AmaniStadeProject and #CollectionKarlBraun

In spring 2025, an exhibition will be held at the Stade Museums and a trilingual catalogue will be published. Their transfer to Tanzania is planned afterwards.