New layer incorporated into Jacques Huber's Expeditions Maps

During his extensive travels, Jacques Huber not only maintained field notebooks but also actively corresponded with his family, particularly his wife, Sophie Huber-Müller, and professional colleagues, such as Emil Goeldi, the director of the Museu Paraense. 

Jacques Huber notebook from Ucayali River - Peru (1898)

Letter to Sophie Huber-Müller - Purus Expedition (1904)

These documents serve as invaluable records of Huber's daily experiences and the challenges he encountered during his expeditions. Moreover, they constitute significant resources for the study of construction of botanical knowledge in the field, shedding light on the diverse actors involved in this process - such as indigenous peoples.

As part of the "Visual Cartography of Jacques Huber's Botanical Collections" project, we have transcribed and translated excerpts from these letters and notebooks. These insights have been integrated into the expeditions maps under a new layer named "Notes."

You can access these maps in the Expeditions section. Navigate through the layers to view specific information or overlay them to have a contextualized perspective of Huber's journeys.

Lucas Monteiro de Araújo

Visual cartography of Jacques Huber’s botanical collections

Jacques Huber (1867-1914) made nearly 40 trips during his time in Brazil (from 1895 to 1914). Besides the scientific output of these expeditions, Huber was a pioneer in the use of photography in the field. His journeys through the Amazon, Northeastern Brazil, and the Far-Orient, resulted valuable documents like diaries and photographs that are preserved at the Goeldi Museum and the Cantonal Archive of the City of Basel, Switzerland. 

State of Ceará (1897)

Purus River (1904)

Jacques Huber kept several diaries while in the field. These diaries not only documented the day-to-day activities of the expedition, but also featured numerous landscapes and portraits of the people he encountered. Both visual records (photos and drawings) contribute to a novel perspective on the Brazilian environment and biodiversity, while serving as relevant sources for understanding the context of Huber’s expeditions.

View from Paca, Ucayali River (1898)

Shipibos that Huber met in Ucayali River (1898)

In the posdoctoral project titled “Visual cartography of Jacques Huber’s botanical collections”, conducted at the Goeldi Museum, we retraced Huber’s steps in three of his trips: the state of Ceará (1897), the Ucayali River (1898), and the Purus River (1904). The objective was to identify the places the botanist visited, the photographs and drawings he made, and the collections he gathered.

One of the results is presented in three maps (added to the “Expeditions” section), in which viewers may access the aforementioned information and cross-reference it for different perspectives of Huber’s journeys.

Lucas Monteiro de Araújo