Kunstkammer birds in “Verzeichnis der Vögelsammlung” of 1812. An extract of a historic collection catalogue

This dataset translates historic catalogue information into a searchable research resource by transcribing entries on Kunstkammer birds from the Verzeichnis der Vögelsammlung des Zoologischen Museums, created in 1812 by Johann Karl Wilhelm Illiger (shelf mark: Archiv Museum für Naturkunde Berlin, S 01-01-01, 1982. Old shelf mark: HBSB, ZM S I, Verzeichnis der Vögelsammlung). The birds from the collection of the Brandenburg electors and Prussian kings (Brandenburgisch-Preußische Kunstkammer) are listed in the catalogue as coming from the “Königliche Kunstkammer” (royal cabinet of curiosities). They form an important part of the early collection of the Zoological Museum Berlin (ZMB) founded as part of Berlin University in 1810.

The publication of this research data, created within a project on the Berlin Kunstkammer funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG, Project no. 384478093; “Das Fenster zur Natur und Kunst” / “A Window on Nature and Art”) is intended to enable further reuse and integration of the data.

The information on the specimens listed reflect the status (number, determination) as of May 1812. They do not correspond to the current inventory of around 30 birds from that courtly collection that still exist at the Museum für Naturkunde – Leibniz Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity Science today.

The dataset contains verbatim information on species names, including historical variants; the structure of the original catalogue (order, genus, species); the number of specimens from the Kunstkammer held in the ornithological collection in May 1812; the assigned geographical origin (“Vaterland”); and references to the folio numbers of the catalogue.

In addition, the dataset includes links to AnimalBase, an open-access service providing digitized zoological literature from the 1700s hosted by the Zoological Institute of the University of Göttingen (Germany), referencing the first scientific descriptions of the species.

Further reading includes works by Anne MacKinney (2024), Sylke Frahnert, Jürgen Fiebig and Meike Knittel (2026), and Meike Knittel (2023) on the provenance and history of the Kunstkammer bird specimens and the development of the Zoological Museum collections.

Further information and images of the surviving bird specimens are available in the virtual research environment of the Berlin Kunstkammer: https://berlinerkunstkammer.de/en

Acknowledgements: The authors thank the archives team of the Museum für Naturkunde – Leibniz Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity Science, especially Mandy Ullmann, Fiona Möhrle and Jenny Elmers, for providing digital access to the material. Special thanks go to Janna Müller and Marna Schneider for their support as student assistants within the DFG-funded research project “A Window on Nature and Art”, as well as to colleagues from the Center for Humanities of Nature.