Provenance research in the ELM collection

"Is this art or can it go away?"

No, of course Dr Sebastian Sprute does not explicitly ask himself this question when he is currently in the attic of the Ludwig-Harms-Haus in Hermannsburg, getting an overview of the collection of the Ev.-luth. Mission in Lower Saxony (ELM). He would probably replace the word "art" with the term "cultural property" and instead of deciding whether to keep or throw away, he asks himself whether the object in question has already been inventoried and whether the ELM database contains further information on its provenance.

Sebastian Sprute is a provenance researcher and since January 2025 has been tracing the origins of the objects that Hermannsburg missionaries have brought with them from all over the world over the course of the museum's 175-year history. Some of these objects have already been on display in previous ELM exhibitions. With the planning of the current exhibition "time to change" on the upper floor of the Ludwig-Harms-Haus, the question arose at ELM management level as to what should be done with the collection, which consists of over 3,000 objects. In 2019, initial talks were held with the Landesmuseum Hannover, which signalled its interest. Then came coronavirus and the process stagnated.

Six years later, Sebastian Sprute, who is employed as an Africa scholar and provenance researcher at the State Museum, is on site in the Südheide. His goal: to transfer the collection to Hanover, where it is to remain permanently and where a missionary exhibition is also planned. Sprute and his colleague Leon Rösler have three years to get to the bottom of things. Their initial assessment is sobering: "The missionaries did not have a very pronounced documentation mentality," regrets the Africa scholar. At least this realisation applies to the objects that were brought back to Europe from Africa, Asia, Australia and America. On the other hand, even today it is still possible to read exactly what was sent or shipped abroad, Sprute marvels, citing lists from the missionary journal in which no pillow or item of clothing that travelled overseas went unmentioned.

So far, the provenance researcher has only found entries in the ELM archive or in the database about a fraction of the objects that ended up in Hermannsburg, showing who acquired them or received them as gifts, where and when. There are definitely some highlights among them: A kind of sceptre from the last king of the Wollega-Oromo from Ethiopia, a so-called head bench on which a chieftain from Natal/South Africa laid his head, or a whole collection of forged silver crosses from Ethiopia, which impress with their fine ornamentation.

Tropical helmets, drums, masks, weapons, works of art, carved spoons or even beaded jewellery - the origin of most of these items remains a mystery. In addition to meticulous archival work, the team of scientists from Hanover is relying on possible contemporary witnesses who can say something about the artefacts. Some days they make discoveries that advance their work. "For example, we have now found a folder with old negatives from the 1940s. That was probably the first time the collection was photographed," reports Sprute. These images at least help with the chronological categorisation of additions to the collection.

And what about ownership - one of the most important questions in provenance research? Sebastian Sprute is also concerned about this. "There are some ancestral representations. They are among the more spiritually significant objects. They should be returned to their countries of origin." The ELM also owns some so-called "soul catchers" from Australian Aborigines. Their repatriation has already been decided.

Even though most of the work still lies ahead of him and Sebastian Sprute has certainly already worked on better inventoried collections, he has words of praise for the ELM: "The fact that the missionary organisation is tackling this is progressive. Some others have not yet been able to get round to it."