Cartographers in pubs – The publishing house Justus Perthes Gotha and the Natural Science Association 1875–1920

The employees of the Justus Perthes publishing house were active in a wide variety of Gotha clubs and groups in their free time: From shooting clubs to antiquarian and singing societies to political associations, there were numerous opportunities. Several cartographers were also members of the city's natural science association. They met weekly in one of the city's inns to discuss their own theories about the origin of the world and scientific publications. The meetings were always accompanied by beer and singing. Sources relating to these meetings reveal, among other things, that Hermann Habenicht, a cartographer at the Perthes publishing house from 1859 to 1914, had a wide range of interests and talents alongside his professional activities. Anna-Maria Hünnes will provide these and other interesting insights into what people actually did in Gotha in the 19th century after work in her lecture on 18 June.

In its "Perthes im Gespräch" series, the Gotha Research Library regularly provides information on the progress of the cataloguing of the Gotha Perthes Collection, current finds and ongoing projects in workshop reports, discussion rounds and themed guided tours. The events are organised with the kind support of the Friends of the Gotha Research Library.