Richard Parkinson (1844, Augustenburg, Denmark – 1909,

New Britain New Britain () is the largest island in the Bismarck Archipelago, part of the Islands Region of Papua New Guinea. It is separated from New Guinea by a northwest corner of the Solomon Sea (or with an island hop of Umboi Island, Umboi the Dampie ...

, Papua New Guinea), full name Richard Heinrich Robert Parkinson, was a Danish explorer and

anthropologist An anthropologist is a scientist engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropologists study aspects of humans within past and present societies. Social anthropology, cultural anthropology and philosophical anthropology study the norms, values ...

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

origin.

Career

In 1875, he became a representative of the

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

trading firm J. C Godeffroy & Sohn in

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa and known until 1997 as Western Samoa, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania, in the South Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu), two smaller, inhabited ...

. He was, in part, employed to collect

ethnographic Ethnography is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. It explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject of the study. Ethnography is also a type of social research that involves examining ...

material for the Godeffroy Museum. He remained in Samoa until 1882, settling afterwards on the

Gazelle Peninsula The Gazelle Peninsula is a large peninsula in northeastern East New Britain, Papua New Guinea located on the island of New Britain within the Bismarck Archipelago, situated in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. The Rabaul caldera is located on t ...

German New Guinea German New Guinea () consisted of the northeastern part of the island of New Guinea and several nearby island groups, and was part of the German colonial empire. The mainland part of the territory, called , became a German protectorate in 188 ...

. From there he undertook larger and smaller journeys to the

Bismarck Archipelago The Bismarck Archipelago (, ) is a group of islands off the northeastern coast of New Guinea in the western Pacific Ocean and is part of the Islands Region of Papua New Guinea. Its area is about . History The first inhabitants of the archipela ...

, then the

Solomon Islands Solomon Islands, also known simply as the Solomons,John Prados, ''Islands of Destiny'', Dutton Caliber, 2012, p,20 and passim is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 1000 smaller islands in Melanesia, part of Oceania, t ...

and

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; , fossilized , also known as Papua or historically ) is the List of islands by area, world's second-largest island, with an area of . Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is ...

, at that time all parts of the

German colonial empire The German colonial empire () constituted the overseas colonies, dependencies, and territories of the German Empire. Unified in 1871, the chancellor of this time period was Otto von Bismarck. Short-lived attempts at colonization by Kleinstaat ...

. He also collected zoological specimens, especially

insects Insects (from Latin ') are hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs of jointed ...

. In the later 1890er years Parkinson began to sell parts of his collections to German museums, mainly in Dresden and Stuttgart. For this activities he was awarded the

Albert Order The Albert Order () was created on 31 December 1850 by King Frederick Augustus II of Saxony to commemorate Albert III, Duke of Saxony (known as Albert the Bold). It was to be awarded to anyone who had served the state well, for civil virtue, s ...

and the

Friedrich Order The Friedrich Order ( or ''Friedrichsorden'') was an order of merit of the German Kingdom of Württemberg. It was instituted on 1 January 1830 by the second king of Württemberg, Wilhelm I in remembrance of his father, King Friedrich I. In 1918, ...

.Rainer Buschmann: ''Richard and Phebe Parkinson, Two of the Most Prolific Collectors in the Bismarck Archipelago.'' Online-article on the webpage ''Michael Hamson Oceanic Art.'
Link.
Retrieved on 1st of August 2024. Although also the remaining collection might have brought him further government awards, Parkinson wanted to sell due to his deteriorating health. He offered about 1,500 artifacts to various German museums for 10,000 marks. Although this was a reasonable sum for such a collection, the German museums expressed no interest, so that the

Field Museum of Natural History The Field Museum of Natural History (FMNH), also known as The Field Museum, is a natural history museum in Chicago, Illinois, and is one of the largest such museums in the world. The museum is popular for the size and quality of its educationa ...

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

was ultimately awarded the contract for almost 3,000 objects belonging to Richard and his wife Phebe Parkinson.

''Thirty Years in the South Seas''

His masterwork ''Dreißig Jahre in der Südsee'', (''Thirty Years in the South Seas''), appeared in several editions first in 1907 and again in 1911. It describes in detail the islands, Neulauenburg ( Duke of York Islands), Neumecklenburg and New Hanover, St. Matthias Islands, the

Admiralty Islands The Admiralty Islands are an archipelago group of 40 islands in the Bismarck Archipelago, to the north of New Guinea in the South Pacific Ocean. These are also sometimes called the Manus Islands, after the largest island. These rainforest-cov ...

and Micronesian outliers in the

Bismarck Sea The Bismarck Sea (, ) lies in the south-western Pacific Ocean within the Papua New Guinea, Papua New Guinean exclusive economic zone. It is located north-east of the island of New Guinea and south of the Bismarck Archipelago. It has coastlines i ...

, the German

, their societies, masks and mask dances, legends and fairy tales as well as the languages.

Works

* ''Im Bismarckarchipel.'' Leipzig: Brockhaus 1887 (Repr. 2006 im Verlag Fines Mundi, Saarbrücken) * ''Dreißig Jahre in der Südsee. Land und Leute, Sitten und Gebräuche im Bismarckarchipel und auf den deutschen Salomoinseln.'' Herausgegeben von Dr. B. Ankermann, Direktorial-Assistent am königlichen Museum für Völkerkunde zu Berlin. Strecker & Schröder, Stuttgart 1907 (Neuausgabe ebd. 1911; 2. Auflage bearbeitet und herausgegeben von Prof. Dr. August Eichhorn, ebd. 1926) * ''Aberglaube und Zauberwesen der Südseeinsulaner.'' Ensslin & Laiblin, Reutlingen

932 Year 932 (Roman numerals, CMXXXII) was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * Summer – Alberic II of Spoleto, Alberic II leads an uprising at Rome against his stepfather Hugh of Italy, Hu ...

External links

*
Catalogue of the Library of the Deutsche Kolonialgesellschaft (''German Colonial Society'') in the City and University Library in Frankfurt a.M.

short biography

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Parkinson, Richard Danish explorers Danish entomologists 1844 births 1909 deaths People from Augustenborg, Denmark People from Sønderborg Municipality