Missiemuseum Steyl

The Missiemuseum in Steyl was established in 1931 with the collection of objects that missionaries brought from their jobs in Asia and Africa. The exhibition of the museum has virtually not changed since 1934.

Description

In 1875, during the so-called Kulturkampf in Germany, the priest Arnold Janssen decided to found the Society of the Divine Word (Societas Verbi Divini, SVD) in Steyl, just across the border with the Netherlands. Ever since the mission to China in 1879, missionaries had been collecting objects and bringing them back to Steyl. In 1894, the mission house built a new printing workshop, where the collection was also given a place. This collection steadily grew with objects from various countries to which the Steyl missionaries travelled and was supplemented with taxidermy and preserved animals. Not all of the animals and objects are collected by the missionaries from Steyl, collections from other Christian communities were also incorporated. Due to the growing collection, the museum moved to a new location, where it remains to this day.

The museum as it opened in 1931 was completely furnished according to the idea of Brother Berchamns, who is also responsible for the museum's large butterfly collection. After Berchmans' death in 1934, the presentation of the collection at the Missiemuseum was virtually unchanged. Thus, in line with prevailing ideas in 1931, the showcases with ethnographic objects were arranged according to the supposed degree of ‘civilisation’ of different peoples. As the arrangement of the museum has remained virtually unchanged since 1934, the Steyl Mission Museum is a ‘museum within a museum’, giving a good idea of how ethnographic collections were perceived in the twentieth century.

Brother Berchams left little documentation relating to the museum collection after his death; for this reason, the precise provenance history of many objects is not known. Much of the natural history collection was bought from zoos and merchants. Ethnographic objects were mainly acquired by SVB missionaries. Unfortunately, little is known about the method of acquisition. The natural history collection of the Missiemuseum does not focus purely on flora and fauna from abroad, but also includes objects from the Netherlands. The Steyl Mission Museum also holds the Schmutzer collection, which is a group of wooden sculptures made between 1924 and 1927 by Indonesian artist Iko, commissioned by Joseph Schmutzer.

Provenance research

As Brother Berchams left little documentation regarding the Missiemuseum collection, the provenance history of many objects is sparse. A marginal register was noted and kept until 1934. There is also a museum archive, but it is not openly accessible. On request, researchers can use the archive, a message should be sent to the curator.

To date, the Missiemuseum's collection has not been fully registered. During this registration, it is planned that the museum collection will become available via the Limburgs Erfgoednet, where some objects from the museum are already visible. Besides the museum collection, the SVD also has a library with several natural history and ethnography books from the eighteenth and nineteenth century and a collection of photographs and glass negatives. The Collection Plan 2023-2028 (in Dutch) provides more information about the Missiemuseum Steyl's collection.

Resources

• Limburgs Efgoednet
  When the entire museum collection of the Missiemuseum is registered and digitised, it will be accessible via the Limburgs Erfgoednet website. — https://limburgserfgoednet.nl/
• Website Missiemuseum Steyl
  The Missiemuseum's website contains relevant (contact) information. — https://www.missiemuseum.nl/nl
• Collectieplan Missiemuseum Steyl 2023-2028
  The Missiemuseum's collection plan (in Dutch) contains relevant information about the origins of the museum's collection. — https://www.missiemuseum.nl/public/files/Collectieplan2023-2028_Publieksversie.pdf