Reports on Conferences and Publications by Year

October 28-29, 2011

The 5th International Conference on the Siebold Collection

Venue:  Shiga Prefecture Lake Biwa Museum and Otsu Civic Hall

Organizer:  National Museum of Japanese History (Kurushima, "General Coordinating Team")

大津市民会館 学会風景

The 5th International Conference on the Siebold Collection was held October 28-29, 2011 at the Shiga Prefecture Lake Biwa Museum and Otsu Civic Hall as a co-organized event with the Siebold Collection Internet Project (SCP). Otsu is where Siebold stopped on his journey to Edo and is also sister city to Siebold's birthplace, the city of Würzburg. The presentations delivered in Otsu included eight presentations on the 28th by scientists with expertise in the characteristics and collection of natural specimens under the rubric of "Contributions by Bürgar and Hoffman to the Formation of the Siebold Collection," and eight presentations on the 29th on the characteristics and condition of archival collections and on the circumstances Siebold's "Japan Museum" opened in Würzburg and Leiden under the rubric of "Reconstruction-oriented Research on Siebold's Specimens and Reconstuction of the 'Japan Musuem.'" Together these presentations shed new light on the formative process of the Siebold Collection. A presentation was also given by Prof. Mathias of Ruhr-Universität Bochum, which houses Siebold-related materials, and recommendations were offered by the president of the Brandenstein Siebold Association. It became clear that a list should be made to provide an overarching view of the scattered collection as a whole.

The conference was our largest to date, with a total of 55 researchers, including 24 researchers from overseas. Moreover, though the conference was conducted primarily in English, it was attended nonetheless by a total of 107 citizens. An excursion was also held on the 30th that explored the Kusatsu Post Station area visited by Siebold.

(Text: Kurushima)

See the program(PDF)

参加者集合写真 於大津市民会館

Photographs
Top: Conference at the Otsu Civic Hall; Right: Group photo of participants

 

ボン大学 トラウツ・アーカイブ
Presentation by Forrer with coments by Dr. Brandenstein
ボーフム大学 シーボルト・コレクション
Kusatsu: excursion