Johann Heinrich Schaumburg

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Johann Heinrich Schaumburg (* 1752 in Hanau ; † 1831 ) was a German ornithologist and taxidermist .

groomed toucan

Live and act

Due to the lack of biographical sources, it is difficult to reproduce details from Schaumburg's life. In Hanau he worked as court manager under Grand Duke Karl Theodor von Dalberg and, after 1813, under Elector Wilhelm I (Hessen-Kassel) . In the field of natural history, he made a big name for himself in ornithology and was considered an excellent taxidermist. The Offenbach ornithologist Bernhard Meyer , whose bird collection he built up, called him the " best stuffer in all of Germany ". Since he did not write his own work in the field of taxidermy , the Idstein high school rector Carl Philipp Christian Stein published Schaumburg's well-known balancing method in a book. But his own bird collection was also considered important. Goethe , who preferred to call him a " natural history artist ", noted about his collection that it " undoubtedly occupies the first place among the German private cabinets ". Because of his extensive knowledge of natural history, Schaumburg was made an honorary member of the Natural Research Society of Jena in 1801 . He was the founder and actual member of the Wetterau Society for all natural history, founded in Hanau in 1808 . With the three founding members Gottfried Gärtner , Karl Cäsar von Leonhard and Johann Philipp Achilles Leisler , he opened a “Natural Goods Exchange and Trade Bureau” in Hanau in 1809, which was primarily for the sale of exsiccates (dried plants). In 1811 he was appointed to the Zoological Museum in Berlin . He added rare pieces from the Hanau area to the young collection of the museum, which had only been founded the year before. In later years he moved to Kassel in his position as court manager .

Works

  • Message for ornithologists (with Bernhard Meyer & Johann Wolf): 178–179. In: Magazine for the latest state of natural history . Voigt, Friedrich Siegmund (Ed.) Weimar, 1806, Vol. 11 (2), 560 pp. [3]
  • Natural products catalog (with Gärtner, Leisler & Leonhard). Natural goods exchange and trade bureau in Hanau, 1809, 28 pp.

literature

  • Gebhardt, Ludwig & Werner Sunkel: The birds of Hesse . Kramer, Frankfurt am Main, 1954, 532 pp.

References and comments

  1. ↑ Gebhardt & Sunkel, p. 53
  2. ↑ Stein, Carl Philipp Christian: Handbook of the preparation and storage of animals of all classes, which are intended for natural objects cabinets . Körner, Frankfurt am Main, 1802, 159 pp. [1]
  3. ↑ Goethe's works: According to the most excellent sources . Gustav Hempel, Berlin, 1879, Vol. 25-26, p. 361
  4. ^ Hanauer New European Newspaper . Hanau, March 31, 1801, No. 52, p. 2. [2]
personal data
SURNAME Schaumburg, Johann Heinrich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German ornithologist and taxidermist
DATE OF BIRTH 1752
PLACE OF BIRTH Hanau
DATE OF DEATH 1831