Digital resources in the Social Sciences and Humanities OpenEdition Our platforms OpenEdition Books OpenEdition Journals Hypotheses Calenda Libraries OpenEdition Freemium Follow us

Interview: Working in the Archive

Research assistant Philip Eybing reflects on his work with the Blandowski papers. William Blandowski was a Prussian naturalist, who arrived in Australia in 1849 and who was appointed government zoologist at Melbourne’s newly founded Museum of Natural History in 1854. Blandowski lead an expedition to investigate the natural history of the region at the junction of the Darling and Murray Rivers in 1856/57. After he fell out with his employers, he returned to Berlin with a suitcase full of drawings made by him and others that are now held in the MfN’s archive.

What has been your biggest surprise in doing this work?

It was surprising to see how much information can be found in the space around the drawings. On some documents more space is taken up by handwritten text than by the actual depictions of animals. In his meticulous notes, Blandowski paid attention to the slightest differences in colour or length in a specimen. What also fascinates me is that he code-switches all the time! Some descriptions are given in German while others are in English. He was not a native English speaker, so there are minor spelling mistakes from time to time. Somehow, these mistakes make the drawings more authentic to me; they make Blandowski more of a person than a far-removed historical subject. Also, occasionally, he notes Indigenous names for specimen. All in all, these drawings present us with a historical entanglement of languages and cultures that I did not consider before I started working on this project.

What kind of expertise do you now have that you never thought you would develop?

I never thought that I would be able to read Kurrent (an old form of German-language handwriting). To be fair, it took me a while to get the hang of it, but I am now able to read letters and descriptions written in this style rather fluently. Although, it also very much depends on a person’s handwriting, of course. Blandowski’s handwriting, while not the most readable, is fine. Nowadays, it is a rather uncommon skill but it is absolutely necessary when I am working with old sources (and interestingly, reading Kurrent has since helped me in situations outside of work, too!).

Generally, before I started working in this project, I did not know that Germany and Australia had had this kind of historical relationship. Now, when I talk about my work with friends and family, they react the same way I did, when I first came into contact with Blandowski, the Schomburgks, and others. The fact that Germans emigrated and worked in Australia, and that some of their work would lay the foundations for our museum collections was unknown to me. I feel that I have gained a new understanding of how knowledge production took place 170 years ago, and I am excited to be part of a project that tries to bring to light this neglected side of scientific and colonial history.

 

Philip Eybing’s desk. Photo by Philip Eybing.


OpenEdition suggests that you cite this post as follows:
Collecting a Continent (March 22, 2021). Interview: Working in the Archive. Berlin's Australian Archive. Retrieved July 15, 2025 from https://doi.org/10.58079/n05l


You may also like...

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.