Letters, plants and travel

The Biohistoricum at LIB Museum Koenig holds 80 postal items that Georg Schweinfurth sent to Friedrich August Körnicke between 1886 and 1907. Körnicke, who is mainly known as an agricultural botanist interested in cereals, received not only letters, but also many seeds of plants from Schweinfurth’s African expeditions for his experimental garden. Their exchange of letters suggests that their personal relationship changed over the course of the decades. However, the letters have to be evaluated within their historical context, and also the conventions of letter writing in the 19th century. Correspondence by letter was an important element in the development of the educated bourgeoisie (Bildungsbürgertum) and the emergence of scientific scholarship. A reliable and efficient postal network was the prerequisite for this, which in turn depended on the improvement of the transport infrastructure, especially the railways. Mail delivery was fast and only took a few days in the latter half of the 19th century, even internationally. This is reflected in the enormous increase in mail volumes at that time. The telegraph and the emergence of the telephone played only a subordinate role for the majority of the population. In contrast, the expansion of communication possibilities by mail promoted the cosmopolitan exchange that made the lively correspondence between Schweinfurth and Körnicke possible in the first place.