The Life and Collection of Friedrich Julius Bieber: An Archival Study of Kafa at the Beginning of the 20^th Century

抄録

This report introduces the life and collection of Friedrich Julius Bieber. He visited Ethiopia several times, especially Kafa, at the beginning of the twentieth century and is recognized as the foremost authority on ethnological research focused on Kafa. Bieber left a great deal of property and written documents concerning both Ethiopia and his daily life. This collection included ethnological objects from Ethiopia, instruments used during his journeys to Ethiopia, photographs, books, and unpublished written documents, such as diaries, drafts, memoranda, letters, and postcards to his family and friends. Today, these items are housed in three places: the Ethnology Museum, the Austrian National Library and the District Museum of Hietzing in Vienna, Austria. They can help deepen our understanding of Kafa, both historically and in its current state, and of Ethiopia as a whole, providing insights that would be impossible to uncover by present-day fieldwork. However, we can gain significant knowledge from these items only if we construct a proper basis for the use of these valuable collections.