Reports on Research Surveys by Year

June 22-July 4, 2014

Survey of Siebold and Trautz Collections at the University of Bonn and Ruhr-Universität Bochum

Conducted by National Museum of Japanese History (Miyasaka, "Alexander and Heinrich Team")

Locations surveyed: University of Bonn and Ruhr-Universität Bochum libraries

Local contacts: Shiro Yukawa (lecturer, University of Bonn) and Regine Mathias (professor, Ruhr-Universität Bochum)

Participants: Katsunori Miyazaki (Seinan Gakuin University), Sven Osterkamp (professor, Faculty of East Asian Studies, Ruhr-Universität Bochum)

At University of Bonn, the team surveyed materials collected by Trautz, the first Siebold scholar. In 1938, after resigning his position as director of the Japanish-Deutsches Kulturinstitut Kyoto, Trautz returned to his home, Karlsruhe. In 1942, as the English military bombed Karlsruhe, Trautz "lent" a portion of his collection to the museum in Bamberg City. Following his death in 1952, the collection became the property of Bamberg with the consent of his widow, Hilda Trautz. Subsequently, at the request of his widow Hilda, a portion of the items donated to Bamberg, including glass plates and other photographic material as well as materials directly related to Japan studies, were transported to the University of Bonn, in part because the materials were not being cataloged and exhibited (this is why the Trautz collection is split between the University of Bonn and the Bamberg Museum). Today, this is the "Trautz Archive" at the University of Bonn; and the team learned that it possesses an edition of NIPPON that belonged to the Japaninstitut Berlin. Shiro Yukawa, lecturer at the University of Bonn, has mentioned that a Kaken application has been submitted in Germany to study the circumstances of Siebold studies in Germany and Japan around 1930 using the Trautz Collection. Though hardly used before, the Trautz Collection will likely be used increasingly for research.

Meanwhile, the jointly conducted survey of the Siebold Collection at Ruhr-Universität Bochum with Dr. Sven Osterkamp (professor, Faculty of East Asian Studies, Ruhr-Universität Bochum) revealed that Bürger, who accompanied Siebold to Dejima as an aid, not only remained on Dejima even after Siebold's departure in 1829 and continued to help with the collection of animal and plant specimens for Siebold's Japan research, but also that he collected Japanese books which he later sold to Siebold in 1838. It will be necessary to re-survey the Japanese books at the Ruhr-Universität Bochum library.

(Text: Miyazaki)

Trautz Archive at the University of Bonn
Trautz Archive at the University of Bonn
 
The Siebold Collection at the Ruhr-Universität Bochum
The Siebold Collection at the Ruhr-Universität Bochum