Museum Godeffroy

during their travels. They were expressly told to collect birds, shells, and other animals as well as cultural objects from all localities they visited. As a result, Godeffroy had soon accumulated a large number of natural history specimens and cultural artifacts from the South Pacific and was storing them in a cluttered warehouse. It was time to find a proper place to house and organize them, thereby better ascertaining their value. In 1860 Godeffroy wrote to Dr. Eduard Gräffe (1833-1919) in Switzerland to request his services in founding a museum and collecting in the South Seas. The 28-year old Gräffe accepted and in 1861 boarded a train for Hamburg. After a short time helping set up the Museum Godeffroy, Gräffe was sent to the Pacific in October 1861 where he even- tually settled in Apia and directed the Godeffroy operations there for the next ten years while also collecting in Australia, Samoa, Tahiti, Fiji, Tonga, and other South Pacific Islands. Gräffe’s arrival in Apia was apparently reluctantly well thought of by his employ- ers: “Dr. Graeffe ist ein Genie, aber fürchterlich unordentlich u. schmutzig, er machte aus meinen besten Zimmern bald einen wahren Schweinestall, u. es war ein Glück für ihn, dass meine Frau abwesend war.” (letter from J.C. Godeffroy VII to his father J.C. VI in Hoffmann, 1999). Other scientific collectors were hired by the company over the years who, working in different areas of the vast Pacific ocean, helped increase the holdings of the Godef froy Museum with their successful collecting or fishes, birds, shells, insects, and plants (see Table 1 for a list of some of the collectors known to have been employed by the Godeffroy company). In 1863, after interaction on his behalf by the well-known Hamburg naturalist broth- Fiji Arthropods–VII: Evenhuis—Godeffroy sale catalogs 19 Table 1. Preliminary List of Known Godeffroy Collectors Known Dates NameCollected Where Collected Dämel, Eduard (1821-1900)1867-1874Australia (NSW, Queensl.) Decker ?? Dietrich, Amalie (1821-1891)1863-1873Australia (Queensl.) Garrett, Andrew (1823-1878)1866-1870Hawaii, Samoa, Fiji, Cook Is, Society Is, Tuamotus, Marquesas Gräffe, Eduard (1833-1919)1862–1872Australia, Samoa, Fiji, Tonga, Tuamotus, Tahiti, numerous smaller Polynesian and Micronesian islands Hennings 1863Fiji Holsten ?“Südseeinseln” Hübner, Franz (1846-1877)1875-1877Samoa, Tonga, New Britain Kleinschmidt, Johann Theodor (1834-1881) 1875-1881Fiji, Solomons Is, Vanuatu Kubary, Jan Stanislaus (1846-1896)1869-1879Micronesia Rachau, C 1861+“Südseeinseln” Tetens, Alfred (1835-1909) 1862-1866Palau, Caroline Is, islands off shore of northern Papua New Guinea Wendt, H W 1873Marshall Is Ship captains named by Gräffe in Scheps (2005: 268) as helping collect specimens for the Godeffroy Museum. Further information on them obtained from Hoffman (1999). Fiji Arthropods–VII: Evenhuis—Godeffroy sale catalogs 21 Figure 1. Cover of the second sale catalog of the Godeffroy Museum. From copy held in the Bishop Museum Library. BISHOP MUSEUM OCCASIONAL PAPERS: No. 91, 2007 22 Figure 2. Cover of the fourth sale catalog of the Godeffroy Museum. From copy held in the Bishop Museum Library. Fiji Arthropods–VII: Evenhuis—Godeffroy sale catalogs 23 Figure 3.Typical page of the listing of specimens in the Godeffroy sale catalogs showing specimen number, scientific name, locality, and price.