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Alexander von Humboldt’s American Travel Diaries

Alexander von Humboldt’s diaries are, besides his letters, the most important surviving original documents of his travels. At the end of 2013, the Stiftung Preussischer Kulturbesitz (Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation) acquired Humboldt’s American travel diaries. This purchase was made possible by generous financial support from public and private donors.

Alexander von Humboldt's American travel diaries
The American travel diaries comprise nine volumes with a total of 4,000 closely written pages © Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin – PK / Carola Seifert
  • Alexander von Humboldt's American travel diaries
  • Letter from Alexander von Humboldt to Karl von Wildenow
  • Humboldt's measurements of temperature and humidity
  • Sketch of an electric eel in transverse section
  • Sketch of a piranha
  • Page with insert and supplementary note
  • Closely written page from Humboldt’s American travel diaries
  • Chart of the course of the Río Magdalena
  • Sketch of the volcano of Chimborazo
  • Geognostic section along the road linking Acapulco to Mexico City
  • Diagram of the positions of mine shafts in the Veta Madre of Guanajuato

Alexander von Humboldt travelled through Central and South America from 1799 to 1804. During this period, he produced nearly 4,000 pages of notes, sketches, measurements, and accounts of his travels – some written in German and some in French. They testify to research of equal importance to both the natural sciences and the cultural sciences. He made contributions to many branches that began to differentiate during the nineteenth century, such as astronomy, botany, geography, history, geology, climatology, cartography, cultural anthropology, plant geography, philology, philosophy, seismology, linguistics, zoology and contemporary history.

Links for Additional Information

  • Press release: "Jahrhunderterwerbung für die Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin: Alexander von Humboldts Amerikanische Reisetagebücher“ (in German) (04.03.2014)
  • Press release: "Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz erwirbt Alexander von Humboldts 'Amerikanische Reisetagebücher'“ (in German) (04.12.2013)
  • Presse photographs of the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin
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