---Archived GRANGER REPORT dated 20 March 2007---

Masthead photos: Walter and Anna Granger, circa 1900.

RICHARD MARKGRAF - ADDITIONAL NEW MATERIAL FOUND ON THIS EARLY FAYUM COLLECTOR:
 
March 20, 2007
We are pleased to announce yet again that new material has been found on Richard Markgraf and his daughter Leopoldine. This material comes from Richard's European family through his sister Marie Hoffman Markgraf. The new information is:
 
* The Markgraf family came from the "Erzgebirge" a mountain site now in the Czech Republic but which once belonged to the Austrian empire until 1918. The town where Richard might have learned to play the violin, as Granger mentioned, must have been Presnitz, which has since been demolished in order to build a water reservoir. Presnitz was famous for a local music school and musicians. It is believed that Richard toured with one of its folkloristic bands before ending up in Egypt due to his illness.
 
* Marie visited Markgraf in Egypt and the purpose may have been to bring Leopoldine from Italy to her father.
 
* Leopoldine married an English officer and emigrated to Australia. She visited relatives in Munich at least once.
 
* Richard Markgraf was arrested by the British during WWI and brought to Malta where he died.
 
There are new photos, as well:

Leopoldine and Richard Markgraf in Egypt

 

Richard Markgraf

 

Leopoldine in her garden (Australia)
EARLIER NEW MARKGRAF MATERIAL:
RICHARD MARKGRAF
 
Early 1900s Fayum fossil collector Richard Markgraf has always been a bit of a mystery. Despite his great significance, he died in 1916 without apparently leaving much of a biographical trail for historians to follow. For example, no one named Markgraf's daughter or his deceased wife. One possible source, in German archives, was bombed out by the Allies during WWII. Another, American Museum of Natural History archives, contained some Markgraf letters, but seemingly little else.
 
In 1916, German paleontologist Ernst Stromer wrote an obituary of Markgraf which provided the only information we had to date. (A translation to English by Annie Gismann is held by this Project.) American paleontologist Elwyn Simons is thought to have visited Markgraf's old home in Sennouris in 1961.
 
Our knowledge was expanded slightly by the 1997 publication of The Granger Papers Project's Fayum expedition website, an abridged version of Walter Granger's 1907 Fayum expedition diary in which he recounted his visits with Markgraf. More was then added by the full publication of "Notes From Diary--1907 Fayum Trip" (2002, NMMNH&S Bulletin 22). Concurrent with that, we relearned that Markgraf had also assisted Stromer in finding dinosaurs in the Bahariya Formation, a site only recently rediscovered.
 
Now, we are pleased to disclose that material held by Markgraf's daughter, Leopoldine, has been passed on to a family member who is examining it now and who contacted this Project because of Markgraf's mention at the Fayum portion of this website. In addition to the unretouched photograph above, the material includes a medal (at right), a number of artefacts and other material. Markgraf probably was in his mid-40s by 1907. We now also know that Leopoldine eventually married an Englishman and emigrated to Australia. You will be kept posted on further developments. Most remarkable it is that, nearly 100 years after the event, relatives of Markgraf and Granger meet up again, in cyberspace.

MEDAL TO RICHARD MARKGRAF
 
I'm always happy to assist, chat and/or drop hints - you may contact me at: granger.nh.ultranet@rcn.com
--Vin Morgan

To inquire about prior issues of The Granger Report, e-mail us. The Granger Papers Project is an independent research, editing and writing project featuring the personal expedition diaries and letters of American paleontologist and explorer Walter Granger (1872-1941) and his wife Anna (1874-1952). In several significant respects, this is the first treatment of Walter Granger's era based on a significantly more complete documentary record. In addition to paleontology, the study of evolution, and Granger's pioneering fieldwork in the Fayum of Egypt in 1907, in China and Mongolia from 1921 to 1930 (Central Asiatic Expeditions), and in the American West throughout his life, research topics include: American foreign policy; western civilian, missionary, and military interests in Asia; the First and Second Asiatic Expeditions; The Explorers Club; the American Museum of Natural History; and previously published accounts of, by, or about the aforesaid. Address interest or inquiry to us at granger.nh.ultranet@rcn.com
The Granger Papers Project website was launched on 1 February 1997. We thank Kathleen Fetner for this website design.
In remembrance of Dr. Norman Charles Morgan (1919-1969), Jonathan Patrick Morgan (1945-1966), and Caroline Granger Morgan (b. 1980).
Copyright © by Vincent L. Morgan for The Granger Papers Project. All rights reserved.
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