Gustav Friedrich Klemm

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Gustav Friedrich Klemm (painting by Karl Gottlieb Rolle, ca.1845)
Signature Gustav Friedrich Klemm.PNG

Gustav Friedrich Klemm (born November 12, 1802 in Chemnitz , † August 26, 1867 in Dresden ) was a German cultural historian and librarian .

Life

Gustav Friedrich Klemm (often just called Gustav Klemm) was the son of the royal Saxon General Accis chief collector Johann Heinrich Gottlob Klemm. He received his school education in Freiberg and Chemnitz . From 1821 he was matriculated at the University of Leipzig . Although law was actually intended for him, he devoted himself to historical studies and the study of cultural history. He submitted his dissertation on library science to the University of Jena in 1825.

In 1825 he moved to Dresden. Here he wrote or finished some historical writings and also tried his hand as a poet. In 1830 he went to Nuremberg as editor of the newspaper "Friedens- und Kriegs-Courier" . After a year he took up a position as second secretary at the Dresden Royal Public Library (now the Saxon State Library ). In 1833 he was given a part-time job overseeing the royal porcelain collection . In 1834 he was appointed librarian. In Dresden he was a member of the Masonic lodge Zum golden Apfel .

In 1838 he traveled through Italy with the then Saxon Prince Johann . He evaluated the trip literarily. In 1852 he gave up the management of the Dresden Porcelain Collection and became head of the Royal Public Library. By then, his main work, 10 volumes, General Culturgeschichte der Menschheit , had also appeared.

Gustav Friedrich Klemm was one of the first scientists to realize that the manufacture of tools and the use of fire are the essential characteristics that separate humans from the animal kingdom. But he also advocated a theory of the inequality of human races, which he regarded as the essential engine of world history. Völkisch circles later adopted some of his views.

A great passion of Klemm was collecting ethnological-cultural-historical objects, whereby his numerous and far-reaching personal relationships benefited him. Since he hardly ever traveled, he gained knowledge of foreign cultures and peoples partly through the collectibles. His ethnographic collection last comprised around 15,000 exhibits, some of which he exhibited in a private museum set up in five rooms in a Dresden house.

After he suffered an eye disease in 1861 that resulted in complete blindness, he resigned from his office in 1864.

After his death, a group of Leipzig citizens called for a fundraising campaign for the purchase of the Klemm collection. This purchase enabled the collection as a whole to be preserved. The university, on the other hand, could not be persuaded to take over the collection, although a report from the professor of historical auxiliary sciences Heinrich Wuttke attested this collection to be of very high scientific value. It formed the basis for the Museum für Völkerkunde zu Leipzig , which is now located in the Grassi Museum complex .

Gustav Klemm was married to Amalie Friederike, born in 1831. Forester, the daughter of a tax collector. Her son Gustav Johannes (* 1832) was a mining engineer.

Honors

  • In 1852 Gustav Friedrich Klemm received the honorary title of Hofrat.
  • Because of its importance for Leipzig with regard to the Museum of Ethnology, a street in Leipzig- Connewitz was named Klemmstraße in 1903 .

Works (selection)

  • My life and my views on some parts of the library world. (= Dissertation). Jena 1825.
  • Attila according to the story, saga and legend. Leipzig 1827.
  • Herfest. Six chants. Zerbst 1829.
  • The Royal Porcelain Collection. Dresden 1834.
  • Handbook of Germanic antiquity. Dresden 1836. ( Google digitized version )
  • Chronicle of the royal Saxon residence city of Dresden. 3 volumes. Dresden 1837.
  • History of the collections for science and art in Germany. Zerbst 1837.
  • Italica; Journey through Italy. Dresden 1839.
  • Fantasy about a museum for the cultural history of mankind. Dresden 1843. ( digitized version )
  • General cultural history of mankind. 10 volumes. Leipzig 1843-1852. (1 Containing the introduction and the primordial states of mankind / 2 The hunting and fishing peoples of passive mankind / 3 The shepherd peoples of passive mankind / 4 The primordial states of the mountain and desert peoples of active mankind and their spread over the earth / 5 The states of Anahuac and ancient Egypt / 6 China and Japan / 7 The Orient / 8 Ancient Europe / 9 Cultural history of Christian Europe. Western Europe / 10 Christian Eastern Europe)
  • The spread of the active human races across the globe. Dresden 1845.
  • General cultural studies. Leipzig 1854–1855.
  • The women: Descriptions of cultural history of the condition and influence of women in the different zones and ages. 6 volumes. Dresden 1859.
  • 50 years ago. Letters of cultural history. Stuttgart 1865.

Web links

Commons : Gustav Friedrich Klemm  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Franz Schnorr von Carolsfeld:  Klemm, Gustav . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 16, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1882, p. 152 f.
  2. ^ A b Reinhardt Eigenwill: Klemm, Gustav Friedrich . In: Institute for Saxon History and Folklore (Ed.): Saxon Biography .
  3. Leipzig Lexicon