Johannes Dietrich Eduard Schmeltz (19 May 1839 – 26 May 1909) was a German

ethnographer Ethnography (from Greek ''ethnos'' "folk, people, nation" and ''grapho'' "I write") is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. Ethnography explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject o ...

and naturalist. Schmeltz had no formal scientific training but studied with many well established Hamburg naturalists including Georg Semper, Otto Semper, Carl Friedrich August Alexander Crüger and

Johann Georg Christian Lehmann Johann Georg Christian Lehmann (25 February 1792 – 12 February 1860) was a German botanist. Born at Haselau, near Uetersen, Holstein, Lehmann studied medicine in Copenhagen and Göttingen, obtained a doctorate in medicine in 1813 and a do ...

. A keen

lepidopterist Lepidopterology ()) is a branch of entomology concerning the scientific study of moths and the three superfamilies of butterflies. Someone who studies in this field is a lepidopterist or, archaically, an aurelian. Origins Post-Renaissance, t ...

he corresponded with

Philipp Christoph Zeller Philipp Christoph Zeller (8 April 1808 – 27 March 1883) was a German entomologist. Zeller was born at Steinheim an der Murr, Württemberg, two miles from Marbach, the birthplace of Schiller. The family moved to Frankfurt (Oder) where Philipp ...

. In 1863 Schmeltz became "Kustos" or senior

curator A curator (from la, cura, meaning "to take care") is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the parti ...

of the

Museum Godeffroy The Museum Godeffroy was a museum in Hamburg, Germany, which existed from 1861 to 1885. The collection was founded by Johann Cesar VI. Godeffroy, who became a wealthy shipping magnate a few years after the expansion of the trade towards Austral ...

in Hamburg, which specialised in the natural history and ethnography of the

South Seas Today the term South Seas, or South Sea, is used in several contexts. Most commonly it refers to the portion of the Pacific Ocean south of the equator. In 1513, when Spanish conquistador Vasco Núñez de Balboa coined the term ''Mar del Sur'', ...

. The museum was described in Dutch, Danish, German, English, and Austrian scientific journals as one of the best collections of its kind. His main business was to transfer all the natural and ethnographic material, which had been collected, to the accordant university departments for identification. After being sent back he had to fill it into the collection. He remained in this post after suspension of payment of J. C Godeffroy & Sohn in December 1879. In 1885 all inventory has to be sold as the whole quarter, where the museum had been located, would break down for new buildings. By then an authority on the ethnography of the Pacific islands he left Hamburg in 1882 to become the conservator of the Rijks Ethnographisch Museum in

Leiden Leiden (; in English and archaic Dutch also Leyden) is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. The municipality of Leiden has a population of 119,713, but the city forms one densely connected agglomeration wi ...

. He was director of the museum from 1897 to 1909. Schmeltz was one of the founders and editor of ''Internationales Archiv für Ethnographie'' (Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde in Leiden, 1888-1968), an anthropological journal. Amongst the contributors and editorial panel were

Otto Finsch Friedrich Hermann Otto Finsch (8 August 1839, Warmbrunn – 31 January 1917, Braunschweig) was a German ethnographer, naturalist and colonial explorer. He is known for a two-volume monograph on the parrots of the world which earned him a doctorate ...

and

Rudolf Virchow Rudolf Ludwig Carl Virchow (; or ; 13 October 18215 September 1902) was a German physician, anthropologist, pathologist, prehistorian, biologist, writer, editor, and politician. He is known as "the father of modern pathology" and as the founder ...

and

Edward Burnett Tylor Sir Edward Burnett Tylor (2 October 18322 January 1917) was an English anthropologist, and professor of anthropology. Tylor's ideas typify 19th-century cultural evolutionism. In his works ''Primitive Culture'' (1871) and ''Anthropology'' (1 ...

. At this time he had the title "Doktor". The correspondence of Johann Schmeltz (more than 3,000 letters, mainly from the period 1887-1900) is kept in

Leiden University Library Leiden University Libraries is a library founded in 1575 in Leiden, Netherlands. It is regarded as a significant place in the development of European culture: it is a part of a small number of cultural centres that gave direction to the developme ...

. A species of Australian lizard, '' Carlia schmeltzii'', is named in his honor.Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . ("Schmeltz", p. 236).

Works

One of Schmeltz' museum duties was to produce sales catalogues, since the museum was independent of the mercantile and shipping company J. C Godeffroy & Sohn. These were lists with descriptions of duplicate (''Doubletten'') natural history specimens and artifacts offered to private collectors or other museums. Some of the catalogues began with narratives of collecting expeditions and collecting details (Topographische und zoologische Notizen).

The Catalogues

* year?' ''Catalog I der zum Verkauf stehenden Doubletten aus dem naturhistorischen Expeditionen der Herren Joh. Ces. Godeffroy & Sohn in Hamburg'. Hamburg * 1865 ''Catalog II der zum Verkauf stehenden Doubletten aus dem naturhistorischen Expeditionen der Herren Joh. Ces. Godeffroy & Sohn in Hamburg''. Hamburg. iv + 33 pp. *1866 ''Catalog III der zum Verkauf stehenden Doubletten aus dem naturhistorischen Expeditionen der Herren Joh.Ces. Godeffroy & Sohn in Hamburg''. Hamburg.iii + xii + 52 pp. *1869 ''Museum Godeffroy. Catalog IV, nebst einer Beiläge, enthaltend: topographische Notizen; Beschreibung neuer Bryozoen von Senator Dr. Kirchenpauer zu Hamburg und einer neuen Asteriden-Gattung von Dr.Chr. Lütken zu Kopenhagen''. Wilhelm Mauke Söhn Perthes-Besser & Mauke, Hamburg xxxix + iii + 139 + 2 pp. *1874 ''Museum Godeffroy. Catalog V. Nebst einer Beiläge enthaltend topographische und zoologische Notizen''. L. Friedrichsen & Co., Hamburg. xxxvi + ii + 215pp. *1877 ''Museum Godeffroy. Catalog VI. Nachträge zu Catalog. V.''. L. Friedrichsen & Co., Hamburg v + 108 pp. *1879 ''Museum Godeffroy. Catalog VII. Wirbeltheire(Animalia vertebrata) und Nachträge zu Catalog V & VI aus den übrigen Thierklassen''. L. Friedrichsen and Co., Hamburg. viii + 99 pp. *1881 ''Museum Godeffroy, Hamburg. Catalog VIII. ''Zoologischer Anzeiger'' 4 (91) (Beilage) Other (partial list) *1881 with R. Krause ''Die ethographisch-anthropologische Abtheilung des Museums Godeffroy''. 1881 687 pages, 46 tables, 1 map., Hamburg (L. Friedrichsen & Co) *1888 with R. Krause. ''Die ethnographisch anthropologische Abtheilung des Museum Godeffroy''. ''Archiv f. Ethnographie'', Bd. I, 60-7. *1897 with Johann Stanislaus Kubary, der Erforscher der Südsee-Inseln, gest. im Oktober 1896 auf der Insel Ponape'. ohann Stanislaus Kubary, the researcher of the South Sea Islands, who died in October 1896 on the island of Pohnpei ''Internationales Archiv für Ethnographie'' 10, pp. 132–136. Long obituary of Kubar

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schmeltz, Johann 1839 births 1909 deaths German entomologists German anthropologists Dipterists Scientists from Hamburg