News
Exhibition “A German (?) Expedition to Maluku”
29 Oct 2026
Traces in the University Archives: An exhibition on ethnological fieldwork, colonialism, and a critical culture of remembrance.
© UB der LMU München
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In 1910, participation in the “Second Freiburg Moluccas Expedition” took the aspiring zoologist Erwin Stresemann to various islands of the Indonesian archipelago for two years. He documented this research trip to Southeast Asia in several diaries. Today, they form part of Stresemann’s estate in the LMU University Archives.
His estate contains a wealth of diverse records from the expedition. These include, among other things, correspondence, cartographic sketches, and linguistic vocabulary collections—written on slips of paper and strung together on threads and wires—which were intended to aid in the later compilation of dictionaries. But how did the German expedition members go about obtaining coveted information and objects in the Moluccas?
Ethnologist Luisa Marten-Paschall and historian Lorenz Ullmann explore this question in their jointly curated exhibition. They highlight the power dynamics within which the expedition operated, focusing on members of the local population and representatives of the Dutch colonial power. The exhibition invites visitors to discover the multifaceted history of the expedition and its significance for the present day.
An exhibition in cooperation with the Institute of Ethnology at LMU.
Exhibition Dates and Location
- Exhibition Dates: October 29, 2026 – January 10, 2027
- Hours: Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
- Location: Foyer of the Historicum Specialized Library, Schellingstraße 12, 80799 Munich
Contacts
Luisa Marie Marten-Paschall, M.A.
Institute of Ethnology, LMU Munich
Email: luisa.marten@ethnologie.lmu.de
The Mailopu Archive
Lorenz Ullmann, M.A.
University Library of LMU Munich
Special Collections Department
University Archive Division
Email: lorenz.ullmann@ub.uni-muenchen.de
Dr. Susanne Wanninger
University Library of LMU Munich
Special Collections Department
University Archive Division
Email: susanne.wanninger@ub.uni-muenchen.de