Série - FHYA collation of the Father Franz Mayr Collection

[Source - Chloe Rushovich for FHYA, 2016, using material provided by Kevin Carney-Thompson for Bews: Reverend Father Franz Mayr was an Austrian missionary and collector active in southern Africa at the turn of the twentieth century. While living in southern Africa, Mayr was a proficient collector, amassing a wide range of different items, including examples of local medicinal plants, minerals, animals and ethnological artefacts, such as tools, household items, beadwork clothing and weapons, as well as recordings of local music.

The Mayr botanical collection, was first housed at the Natal Government Museum sometime between 1890 and 1910, and was then donated to the Bews Herbarium, possibly during the 1950 or 1960s when the Museum undertook rationalisation of its collections. In 2015 the Mayr collection was digitised by the Bews Herbarium for the Five Hundred Year Archive Project. The Herbarium retained a digital copy for its own use.]