Who was Jutta Merensky? In search of a German photographer of the Pacific

Abstract

Outlined with this report is what is known regarding a significant donation of photographs received by the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (MAA), Cambridge, in 2010. The photographer was Jutta Merensky, later Jutta Gethen (1911–96). Information available at present indicates that she visited the Pacific twice or more, probably in 1961 and over 1968–69. Several hundred transparencies and prints now cared for in Cambridge feature landscapes, ceremonies, people and daily activities in Aotearoa New Zealand, Samoa, French Polynesia and elsewhere and notably include a sequence of tatau (tattooing) photographs from Samoa.