The Münchner Stadtmuseum notes that this article discusses visual and textual sources that depict discriminatory power dynamics. The images and texts represent contemporary perspectives from which we distance ourselves. At the same time, we feel a responsibility to provide the interested public with access to these sources in order to facilitate a critical engagement with the historical material.
This photograph shows a church interior furnished in the style of a European basilica. The stone floor is appointed with wooden pews, the niches and side altars are decorated with the figures of saints, Madonnas, and angels, the columns have the appearance of marble, and the windows are of stained glass. In the center of the image, a nun kneels on the steps leading to the apse, before the altar with the tabernacle, flowers, and candles.
It is not immediately apparent that the plants in front of the windows in the sanctuary are palm trees. An inscription on the back of the photograph reveals the location and date of the scene: “Convent Church in the Motherhouse, King William’s Town, decorated for Christmas, 1931.” The photograph is part of the correspondence between Sister Aquinata and Anna Pfeufer (1912–?). Aquinata wrote to Pfeufer from King William’s Town in South Africa,[1] where the congregation of Dominican sisters had been established by Bavarian nuns from Augsburg in 1877. Pfeufer lived in Munich, where she worked in her father’s photography shop Kieser & Pfeufer.
This photograph is just one example from Anna Pfeufer’s correspondence—and in a few cases that of her father, Michael Pfeufer—with German missionaries in various continents, including Asia (China, India, Japan, Korea, Philippines, Taiwan), Afrika (Congo, Nigeria, Zambia, South Africa, Tanzania), South America (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Peru), and Australia (New Guinea) as well as Europe (Bulgaria, England, Austria, Rumania, Sweden). These include numerous (former German) colonies, in which the missionaries served different functions. Catalogued as the Kieser & Pfeufer Estate (FM-2025/5.1–293) in the photography collection at the Münchner Stadtmuseum, the holdings consist of photographs of mission stations that were sent to Anna Pfeufer with letters and orders, as well as carbon copies of her replies from the period between 1925 and 1939.
Glocalization
The photography shop Kieser & Pfeufer was founded in Munich by Ludwig Kieser and Michael Pfeufer in 1898 and continued to be run by Pfeufer’s daughter, Anna, who was known as Anni, until the 1970s. From the shop, located at Marienplatz 22 at the time of her correspondence, Pfeufer sent photographic materials, cameras, and literature to various continents. Sociologists have used the term glocalization since the 1990s to describe the reciprocal relationship between globalization and localism: In the same way that global events influence local life, local occurrences also have an impact on global events.[2]
This phenomenon can be applied to Kieser & Pfeufer since Anna Pfeufer’s interaction with missionaries brought goods and photographs into circulation. In this way she impacted both the global circulation of photographic materials—which can be read as a hegemonic trade network—as well as the production of images in the (former) colonies. In many places, it was only possible to produce photographs in such quantities because Pfeufer had sent supplies and instructions.[3] A photograph from Olinda, Brazil, where the Benedictines established a priory in 1903, is a case in point. The audio commentary describes the priory’s focus and the manifestations of colonialism in the picture.[4]
Unknown photographer, Olinda, Academia Sta. Gertrudis (l’Oeste), undated [1]
Munich is a decisive location for the Kieser & Pfeufer holdings since missionaries often came from the surroundings of Munich, such as the Dominicans from Augsburg and the Benedictines from St. Ottilien and Tutzing. The letters reveal that the Pfeufer family practiced Catholicism, meaning that they had a personal connection to many missionaries. This religious connection must have also been conducive to business.
It is worth noting that Pfeufer—who was one of the few visible women working in the photography trade—corresponded with a great number of women. This is not only reflected in the business relationship between the photography shop and amateurs; it is also apparent in the numerous photographs of women and girls. A good example of this is an additional photograph from Brazil depicting two girls by the sea wearing school uniforms and flowers in their hair. One of them holds a box camera in her hand—showing that the missionary sisters’ educational mission could also include knowledge about the medium of photography.
The Relationship Between Images and Texts
Although the missions from which the nuns and monks sent photographs were far apart, the photographs are similar: group portraits of nuns and monks; new buildings such as schools, homes, and churches; dams; regional plants and animals; and views of schools. They correspond to the categories of images for mission photography[5] that were outlined in 2022 by researchers studying Berlin missions between 1882 and 1914.[6] Many of the photographs were sent to Anna Pfeufer with letters; however, it is not always clear which pictures the texts describe.
The Kieser & Pfeufer Estate is an example of holdings within the photography collection that include written documents. As a collection focusing on the cultural history of photography, the photography collection at the Münchner Stadtmuseum incorporates a wide range of different areas that involve applications of photography, which is why the different collection areas contain various media. Cameras and photography equipment are just as much a part of the collection as various types of photographic material, including original photographs such as positives, negatives, and contact prints; photographic objects such as porcelain photography, jewelry, and photo sculptures; and reproduced photographs in printed form such as in newspapers, photobooks, and caricatures. Particularly in the case of larger holdings from collection area #2, which includes company and publisher archives, holdings of photographers donated before and after their deaths, and special collection of individual collectors, it is customary to also include additional written material to establish the context of the photographs. This is case for the Kieser & Pfeufer Estate. The letters in this estate have various functions: to describe everyday life, show the photographic production of missionaries, and give insight into the range of products sold by Kieser & Pfeufer.
Mother Aquinata explains in the corresponding letter from June 30, 1937, that the group portrait from King William’s Town in South Africa was taken following the spiritual exercises of investiture. Aquinata’s letter also reveals that such photographs were meant to be sent home to give an idea of living conditions at the mission. Pfeufer’s exchange with Aquinata is quite familiar, in contrast to her other letters that are devoid of personal anecdotes. The letters from Father Canisus Kügelgen (1884–1964), for example, are addressed to the “House of Photography Specialists” and only consist of orders for photographic materials and printed matter to be sent to China.
In addition to the nuns in South Africa and Tanzania, Anna Pfeufer maintained the most extensive correspondence with monks in China, including Father Canisius Kügelgen and Father Joseph Maria Funk. While no photographs of Kügelgen are included in the collection, it does contain, among other things, a portrait of Father Funk holding a calendar and a Chinese pipe, as well as a street scene in a public space. The audio commentary explains the photographs.
The examples show the close interconnection between mailed photographs and the corresponding letters in the holdings of the Kieser & Pfeufer Estate. It is only by collecting and evaluating both genres together that we become aware of the complex interconnections between the social, religious, and economic networks of which both Pfeufer and the missionaries were a part.
Access to the Material
Studies on mission photography to date have often focused on the period between the 1880s and the beginning of World War I, such as the research on the Berlin Mission in China and Richard Hölzl’s work on the Bavarian monks in Tanzania.[7] The reason that the end of the period is marked by World War I can be explained by the fact that due to the geopolitical situation, German missionaries were often expelled or interned in camps. The Kieser & Pfeufer holdings, which—as has already been mentioned—focuses on the 1920s and 1930s, provide an important coda to these studies since missionaries returned to Tanzania in 1926 and resumed photographing and sending photographs.[8] The audio commentary explores the arrangement of the group portraits.
Unknown photographer, Group of People with Two Cars, 1929 [3]
The research of Nancy Rushohora and Eliane Kurmann focuses on Bavarian missionaries in Tanzania. The historians describe the various reasons why they were barred from visiting the archives of the missions, which still exist.[9] In the video conversation, Rushohora shares her perspective on the significance of the Kieser & Pfeufer holdings in the photography collection at the Münchner Stadtmuseum.
Reframing the Collection: Nancy Rushohora on Mission Photography in Tanzania
Nancy Rushohora is a historian at the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania. In conversation with Clara Bolin, she discusses the state of archives related to missionary photography in Tanzania and, against this backdrop, highlights the significance of the Kieser & Pfeufer collection at the Münchner Stadtmuseum.
What is the situation of the archives on mission photography in Tanzania? Where are the photographs kept? Who can access them? Who works with them?
In this light, what is the significance of the Kieser & Pfeufer holdings in the photography collection at the Münchner Stadtmuseum?
Within this context, how important are municipal museums in comparison to mission archives?
Why is it our political responsibility to preserve these materials?
Prospects
As has already been mentioned, an in-depth study of the individual figures, mission stations, and their image production is long overdue. In addition to the local contexts of individual missions, Kieser & Pfeufer raises awareness for the subject as a focal point. Further important fields of analysis are the shop’s possible influence on the dissemination of photographic knowledge by amateurs who were also missionaries and the categorization of the holdings in comparison to official photographs—such as those published in missionary newspapers or postcards.[10] These aspects open up new perspectives on the role of photography in the interaction between colonial structures and commercial networks.
Image credits for selected objects
[1] Unknown, Olinda, Academia Sta. Gertrudis (l’Oeste), n. d., gelatine silver print, paper size: 13,8 x 8,9 cm, image size: 13,4 x 8,2 cm, © Münchner Stadtmuseum, Photography Collection, inv. no. FM-2025/5.270-3.
[2] Unknown, Monks and residents in front of a house, Kainei, n. d., gelatine silver print, paper size: 14,4 x 10,2 cm, image size: 14,2 x 9,8 cm, © Münchner Stadtmuseum, Photography Collection, inv. no. FM-2025/5.54.1.
[3] Unknown, Group of people around two cars, Tanzania, 1929, gelatine silver print, paper size: 13,9 x 8,7 cm, image size: 13 x 8 cm, © Münchner Stadtmuseum, Photography Collection, inv. no. FM-2025/5.140.2.
Endnotes
[1] King William’s Town is one of the cities with early photography studios. See Arthur D. Bensusan, Silver Images: History of Photography in Africa (Cape Town: Howard Timmins, 1966), 22.
[2] See, for example, Smitha Radhakrishnan, "Limiting Theory: Rethinking Approaches to Cultures of Globalization," in Bryan S. Turner, ed., The Routledge International Handbook of Globalization Studies (New York: Routledge, 2010), 23–41.
[3] For one of the first studies of the trade structures and gender aspects involved in the exchange with missionaries in Tanzania, see Clara Bolin, "Das Fotogeschäft Kieser & Pfeufer als Drehscheibe hegemonialer Handelsstrukturen," Fotogeschichte 46 (Spring 2026), special issue, "Fotogeschäfte/Photo Shops," ed. Burcu Dogramaci and Helene Roth.
[4] On mission schools and the use of children in photographs, see Gesine Krüger, "Schrift und Bild: Missionsfotografie im südlichen Afrika," Historische Anthropologie 19, no. 1 (2011): 123–43, and Richard Hölzl, "Mitleid über große Distanz: Zur Fabrikation globaler Gefühle in Medien der katholischen Mission (1890–1940)," in Hölzl and Rebekka Habermas, eds., Mission global: Eine Verflechtungsgeschichte seit dem 19. Jahrhundert (Cologne, Weimar, and Vienna: Böhlau, 2014), 265–95.
[5] These include health services, everyday life, a gender perspective on women and children, and the depiction of state and military. See Roland Herpich et al., eds., Bildkultur und Mission in China 1882–1914: Aus dem Fotoarchiv des Berliner Missionswerkes (Berlin: Wichern-Verlag, 2022).
[6] For an overview of mission photography, see Ulrich van der Heyden, Die Missionsfotografie: Genre, Entwicklung und Forschungsübersicht, Berliner Beiträge zur Missionsgeschichte 24 (Berlin: Wichern-Verlag, 2021).
[7] See, especially in the local context and the holdings of the Museum Fünf Kontinente in Munich, Richard Hölzl, "Rassismus, Ethnogenes und Kultur: Afrikaner im Blickwinkel der deutschen katholischen Mission im 19. und frühen 20. Jahrhundert," WerkstattGeschichte 59 (2011): 7–34, and Hölzl, Gläubige Imperialisten: Katholische Mission in Deutschland und Ostafrika (1830–1960) (Frankfurt am Main and New York: Campus, 2021).
[8] These restrictions have been sometimes avoided; see Christine Egger, "The Importance of Difference in the Making of Transnationality: Biographies and Networks of the Benedictine Mission in Tanganyika (1922–65)," European Review of History/Revue européene d’histoire 25, nos. 3–4 (2018): 457.
[9] See, for example, Eliane Kurmann, Fotogeschichten und Geschichtsbilder: Aneignung und Umdeutung historischer Fotografien in Tansania (Frankfurt am Main and New York: Campus, 2023), and Nancy Rushohora, "Demanding Images and Memories of Colonial Violence in Tanzania," History of Photography 47, no. 4 (2023), 355–67.
[10] See, for example, Christoph Rippe, "The Missionary, the Diviner and the Chief: Distributed Personhoof and the Photographic Archive of the Mariannhill Mission," in Christopher Morton and Darren Newbury, eds., The African Photographic Archive: Research and Curatorial Strategies (London: Bloomsbury, 2015), 39–57.
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