Bodmer_Publication

Prince Maximilian of Wied’s North America Collection
at the Linden-Museum Stuttgart – Far More than
a Testimony of Early Native American History
Sonja Schierle
Past and Present
Surrounded by pieces from Prince Maximilian of Wied’s collection, Malcolm
Wolf paid his respect to his great-great-great-grandfather by singing Mato-Tope’s
personal song. For a few minutes his chant, accentuated by the beat of the drum,
permeated the space and created an atmosphere that had an affect on all people
present, making them feel the emotional power of the connection between past
and present.
All this took place before the official opening of the temporary exhibition
“In the River of Time” at the Linden-Museum Stuttgart on 24 November 2000. As a
direct descendant of the famous Mandan chief Mato-Tope and as the representative
of the Tribal Council of the Three Affiliated Tribes of Fort Berthold, Malcolm
Wolf expressed in his speech his gratitude to Prince Maximilian of Wied for collecting
the exhibited pieces on his journey into the interior of North America
1832 – 1834 and, as such, rescuing them for history.
He also acknowledged the efforts of the Linden-Museum Stuttgart in preserving
the objects, thus allowing visitors from all parts of the world to learn about the
history and culture of his ancestors. The Native American guests were deeply impressed
by the excellent conservation of the pieces. To some it was an act of providence
that had made Prince Maximilian live among their ancestors, bring the
pieces back to Germany and safeguard them as visible documents of a long-lost
past. Viewing the items touched upon deep emotions. Especially direct descendants
of Mato-Tope experienced this encounter as a personal meeting with their
grandfather.
From the River Rhine to the Neckar
Already during his lifetime Prince Maxmilian had sold pieces of his North
America collection to the Berlin Museum of Ethnology. 1 Twenty-seven years after
his death, his ethnographic collection arrived at the Linden-Museum Stuttgart.
Of the totally accessioned 202 pieces, roughly hundred were identified as North
A merican. Most of the seventy South American items probably had been collected
during the Prince’s journey to Brazil from 1815 to 1817. 2 As to the remaining items,
India, Southeast Asia and China are listed as places of origin. Considering the
collec tion’s biography, it remains open which pieces Prince Maximilian had gathered
during his travels personally and which items had been added at an earlier, or
a later, date. Since the Prince was in frequent contact with other scientists and
travelers, we may assume that he not only received and exchanged information,
but also objects.
Addressing the acquisition of the Wied collection, the Linden-Museum’s longterm
curator Dr. Axel Schulze-Thulin wrote: “As early as 1902, Dr. Karl Earl of Linden
reported that Prince Maximilian of Wied’s collection was being stored in a sidewing
of the castle in Neuwied; it encompassed approximately a hundred pieces
from various North American Indian cultures and was, apparently, no longer of
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