Swiss
networks: science and politics in the correspondence of Johann Jakob Scheuchzer (1672-1733).
Person
in charge: Dr. Simona Boscani Leoni CV Network project Collaborators:
Dr. Bärbel Schnegg, Cand.phil Dunja
Bulinsky Translator Latin-German: Dr. Bärbel Schnegg
The
present project is structured in two parts. The first part of the research provides for the publishing
of a commented edition of part of the written correspondence between the scholar and doctor from Zurich
Jakob Scheuchzer (1672-1733) and his alpine correspondents, in particular those who lived in the Three
Leagues of Graubünden. This correspondence has shown itself to be a crucial factor within the processes
of collecting information on the mountainous regions and of valorising the homo alpinus helveticus, who
finds a first-class representative in the person of Scheuchzer in the pre-Enlightenment era. The “provincial” elite supplied the scholar with important information on their country and various
material (books, copies of historical documents, etc.) and in their turn became multipliers of epistolary
contacts. The project’s aim is to make new documents accessible in order to be able to analyse the knowledge
flow mechanisms at the local and international level in the modern era and to allow an original interpretation
of the role of correspondence among scholars in the 17th and 18th centuries, as well as to study the
alternative (and for this reason still largely unknown) processes of communication and circulation of
ideas.
The second aim of the project consists in creating
an online repertoire of Scheuchzer’s correspondence, which is constituted by about fifty mostly unpublished
volumes, which are kept by the Zentralbibliothek in Zurich. The research aims at cataloguing the fund
analysed for the preparation of the printed edition as well as other funds (at least ten volumes).
Reference
disciplines: Modern history/ History of communication/ History
of science
/ Cultural history.
Institutions involved in the project: Institut
für Kulturforschung Graubünden (Chur) Laboratorio di Storia delle Alpi,
USI (Mendrisio) Other contacts: Zentralbibliothek Zürich / Universität
Zürich / ETH Zürich / Universität Bern / Universität Luzern / Universität Heidelberg.
Financing: At
present the project is kindly supported by the Institut für Kulturforschung Graubünden (Chur) and by
the Swiss National Science Foundation. Project duration (approximate):
01.10.2005-30.08.2010. Contact: simona.boscani@usi.ch Web
site: www.kulturforschung.ch
Research 
