Welcome to the Mailopu Archive!

The archive
This digital archive is part of the research project Markus Mailopu and the "II. Freiburg Moluccan Expedition" - Reassembling, reactivating and redistributing 'anthropology’s interlocutors' through the archive. Using curation as method, we reassemble dispersed archival materials to (re-)activate connections between people, places, and times. These documents, photographs, artefacts, and maps stem from the expedition and are housed in various collecting institutions. In doing so, the 'Mailopu Archive' constitutes a new digital collection, and will give rise to thematic digital exhibitions in due course.

The materials
The materials that you find in this archive are connected to the "II. Freiburg Moluccan Expedition." Between 1910 and 1912, the German scientists Karl Deninger, Erwin Stresemann, and Odo Deodatus I. Tauern traveled to southern Maluku to study the islands. On Seram, they met Markus Mailopu, who joined the expedition members on their excursions and return journey to Germany, and contributed to pioneering scientific research. Mailopu’s work and connection to German academia, as well as the history of the "II. Freiburg Moluccan Expedition" have gone largely unnoticed. This archive creates a hub for everyone interested in the legacy of this expedition and the associated sciences.

The invitation
With this comes an invitation to shape and extend the archive: Please share this website with people who might be interested. If you have information on a specific item or the topic in general and are willing to share it, then please use the comment function or send us a message using the contact form. The 'Mailopu Archive' is dynamic and will be extended, so make sure to bookmark this website and come back to browse and contribute to its evolving contents.

The 'Mailopu Archive' is constantly growing. At the moment you will find items provided by private collectors as well as the following partner institutions: the GRASSI Museum für Völkerkunde zu Leipzig (SKD), the Leiden University Libraries, the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin, the Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum Köln, and the Universitätsarchiv der LMU München.

The project is funded by the Fritz Thyssen Foundation.