Link proven to the 1897 British military campaign Rosalie Hans with Annette Schmidt
The NMVW holds 115 objects, including carved elephant’s tusks, bronze plaques, Oba’s heads, pendants and figures that have a proven link to the military campaign of 1897. The objects entered the museum collections initially through traders in ethnographic materials from London and Hamburg, but also through exchanges with other museums and donations of private collectors. One object can be connected to named people in the royal court of Benin. Even though the Museum Volkenkunde was plagued by budgetary restrictions in the beginning of the 20th century, the then director Johannes Schmeltz managed to secure support through his fundraising activities. In so doing, he acquired collections from Webster, Umlauff and Von Luschan, collectors who were known to hold Benin City objects with secure provenance information.
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