ACTA CARSOLOGICA XXVI/2 14 139-147 LJUBLJANA 1997 GEODETIC SURVEY OF POSTOJNA CAVES IN 1891 BY J. SCHMID SCHMIDOVA GEODETSKA IZMERA POSTOJNSKE JAME LETA 1891 KARL MAISi Izvleček UDK 091:551.44(497.4)"1891" Karl Mais: Schmidova geodetska izmera Postojnske jame leta 1891 - Prispevek k transkripciji dokumentov, pisanih v gotici, pomembnih za zgodovino speleologije V zvezi s preučevanjem speleološke dokumentacije sta se Inštitut za raziskovanje krasa (Postojna) in Oddelek za jame in kras dunajskega Naravoslovnega muzeja lotila projekta - transkribiranje nemških rokopisnih dokumentov, pisanih v gotici. Prvi primer je zapis geodetske izmere Postojnske jame iz 1891 J. Schmida iz knjižnice na Dunaju. Trenutno so v transkribiranju dokumenti iz lastnih arhivov (F. Simony, G. Abel), načrtujejo še transkripcijo pisem in dokumentov F. Krausa, A. Silberhuberja, W. Puticka iz arhiva Inštituta za raziskovanje krasa. Ključne besede: zgodovina speleologije, jamomerstvo, dokumentacija, Avstrija, Slovenija, Postojnska jama, Schmid J. Abstract UDC 091:551.44(497.4)"1891" Kari Mais: Geodetic survey of Postojna Caves in 1891 by J. SCHMID - about the transscription of handwritten ("kurrent" - "german script") speleohistoric documents. For the purpose of speleo-documentation a project was started by the Karst Research Institute (Postojna) and the Department of Karst and Caves of the Museum of Natural History (Vienna) to transcribe documents in German Script into normal. A first transformation was made with geodetic survey record of the Postojna Caves in 1891 ("Berechnung der Adelsberger u. Ottoker Grotten - Vermessung... ausgeführt im Jahre 1891") by J. Schmid, from the cave departement library in Vienna. Now documents from our collections (F. Simony, G. Abel) are transcribed for further investigations. A greater project to transcribe the letters and documents from the archives of the Postojna Karst Research Institut (F. Kraus, A. Silberhuber, W. Putick) is foreseen. Key words: history of speleology, cave survey, documentation, Austria, Slovenia, Postojnska Jama, Schmid J. ' Naturhistorisches Museum Wien, Karst- und Höhlenkunde Abteilung, Messeplatz 1, Stiege 10/1, AT - 1070 WIEN, AUSTRIA About handwritten data Handwritten documents do constitute the most important sources for works about the history of speleology. Although it is rather difficult to work with these sources due to "old fashioned" CA'pressions and older hardly legible fonts. Especially young researchers face difficulties when dealing with documents which are written in gothic letters. Naturally for foreign researcher the comprehension of such original documents is even more arduous. Projects concerning the transcription of historic documents The Institute for Karst Research of Postojna and the Department of Karst and Caves of the Museum for Natural History Vienna do intend to transcribe and transform the documents concerned into a more comprehensible form in order to ease source research. Hence translation and interpretation will be less challenging. Josef SCHMID: "Vermessung der Adelsberger Grotten" dip ADELSBERGER U.OTTDKER GROTTEN-VERMESSUNG dtx/ S^iMi^uXaXicn/ i>-ci> Scx^uü-n^^, 'ÖJ^vÄenncM.X' '^'^'W^iArcaÄAv w. iw^cn' J.Schmid k.k.ObaraspksohEidBf Pribram. JM/ Certainly the transcription of the by Josef SCHMID of Pribram penned protocols was a paying subject. These protocols of 1891 were calligraphical transcribed ("mundiert") by Karl KORB in 1892 (Fig. 1). The protocol was written in a leather bound blank book. The embossed cover carries the title "Vermessung der Adelsberger Grotten 1891". The content of the first page is as follows: ''Berechnung der Adelsberger und Ottoker Grotten - Vermessung bestehend aus: der Triangulation des Terrains, der Aufnahme der Grotten, dem Nivellement im Terrain und in den Grotten und der Fig. 1: Title page of the geodetic survey of Postojna caves in 1891 by J. SCHMID (1892: page 1). Hi / - - / a / - ^ ^ M Za^iff • i. Ze^z-^-i i ^ • - J / [J. - z /Z. ZZ/J/- » ■ ZZ//4-Z \ ^ - - ^ z /Z ZZfMf ZZPO/- s -s / zszss:-^ , 6 - 30 ZZJ^SS-.f . 1/- ■ s Z ~ Y - // . jcr-3 - ■ JS ^Z ~ - /3 _ - ji = fz . // r ' 6 ~ r . ž/e- - Fig. 3: Measurings in the region of "Ottoker Belveder"; fonts, tabulations and sketch of the measure point situations (SCHMID 1892: part of page 52). 'TcT^irt-e.y' SZ3jf02. -yn^. ~F7r Fig. 4: Sketch of measure points with elevations, Main Entrance of the Postojna Cave; (SCHMID 1892: part of page 81). meters could be determined, as for instance, the height of the Dome of the Cave of Adelsberg in the river level {"vom Poik-Niveau") and on the "Calvaria Plateau". The survey lists also give evidence of the then used notations for the various rooms. When performing the transcription of the protocol it was subsequently paginated to enable the relation of textpassages to pages. Furthermore, the gothic writing was converted to a common printed font and normal writing and headings were converted to a bold font. Table contents were only converted if they had been in gothic writing. Numbers were left unchanged. Tables, drawings were numbered. A "T-" (T=Tabelle) stands for table and a "Z-" (Z=Zeichnung) for the drawings. Below the drawing often the description of polygons can be found as well as two index maps of the triangulation which indicate the cave entrances and drafts of some branches of the grotto. Additional remarks, not in the original text, figure between two slashes (/../). Further amendments of the protocol have not been made. Orthographic idiosyncrasies were left unchanged. The archaic spelling might confuse some readers (for instance "Tor" was then written as "Thor"), but they enables to read or to revert the original text. The original protocol is stored in the Karst and Cave Department of the Museum for Natural History in Vienna. Most probably it formed part of the stock of the Ministry of Agriculture which then had competencies in speleology and it was a entry gift founding the "Speläologisches Institut" in the 1921. It carries the institute stamp "B-33". Later on, after WW-2 the Speleological Institute was re-established and the library reorganized. The stock of Prof. KYRLE was added to the re-numbered Instituts library. Then the number "4001-D" was assigned to the new library hst. According to Andrej KRANJC a sketch of the 1891 survey is stored at the Postojna Institute. Other sketches and drawings of the here presented survey data are not yet ascertained. The big effort made in carrying out the survey, detailed calculations and the makeout of the here presented calculation protocol (sheet) make the official state importance of the Adelsberg Caves clear. Other documents Albert AUSOBSKY, a speleologist of Salzburg, left us a report concerning the discovery of the body of Franz RATHSCHÜLER for transcription. Rathschüler died by an accident in the "Frauenmauerhohle" in Summer 1928. His body was found by the two speleologists Johann GANGL and AUSOBSKY in December 1928. AUSOBSKY's report differs from the official pohce report, the reporting of the news papers and a report by HOFMANN-MONTANUS (1952) covering the same subject. Albert AUSOBSKY is holder of the original document. A copy of the report is stored with the transcription in the archive of the Department of Karst and Caves - Museum of Natural History Vienna for the purpose of further investigations. According to the will of AUSOBSKY the public does not yet have access to the document, likewise the report is not open for publishing. Further reports documenting the development of the Salzburg Caving Club are about to be transcribed by its members, as for instance the narrative minutes of the early discoveries in "Bücher der Expeditionen". Thus the younger members will gain interesting insights into the early works of their colleagues. Transcriptions of biographic documents about Walter CZOERNIG could already be used as interesting source for other works (MAIS 1996). The original documents are part of the archive staff "Material Gustave ABEE', stored at the Department of Karst and Caves of the Museum of Natural History Vienna. Parts of the dairy of Friedrich SIMONY (1813-1896) had been described as they were needed for current research work, e. g. a description of the "Loserhöhle" of 1848; he drew a V^i/Xy. sketch of the longi- tudinal section and of the horizontal projection (Fig. 5). The dairies of SIMONY contain several unpublished speleological obser- Fig. 5: Closing signature: Pribram im Monat August 1892, vations which are Josef SCHMID k.k. Obermarkscheider"; (SCHMID 1892: subject to a future Part of page 102). subscription. The Kg. 6; Map of Loserhöhle in horizontal and vertical projection ("Horizontalprojektion und Vertikaldurchschnitt von S nach N."); F. SIMONY's diary (Nr. 1756) withe the date of 3rd of august 1848, description of Loserhöhle; Original stored in the Department Archive of the Museum of Natural History Vienna. respective documents are stored in the Archive - Department of the Museum of Natural History, copies of parts with speleological content can be found in the archive of the Karst Department in Vienna. The transcription of the archive records of the Institute for Karst Research in Postojna constitutes a major projects. It is still in its beginnings. The documents concerned will reveal interesting details with respect to the "Karst-Comites" as the correspondence of E KRAUS, A. SILBERHUBER, W. PUTICK and others will be examined. Andrej KRANJC presented some of these documents at the ALCADI-94 Symposium in Semriach. Major revealings could not be made. The documents examined so far deal with the field work and frequent financial problems. The examination of these documents will offer a clearer picture of the local research work as it currently available reports do. The original documents are stored in the archive of the Institute for Karst Research in Postojna. Photocopies are kept in the Karst and Cave Department of the Museum in Vienna. The documents will be transcribed and indexed in a data base for easier information retrieval. CONCLUSION The Department of Karst and Caves (Vienna) offers interested colleagues the transcription of gothic writings (kurrent od german script) which are in the context with speleology or the biography of speleologists. These writings can be dairies, tourbooks, letters, post cards, biographical notes, etc. Thus we hope to save documents which otherwise would be lost due to their illegibihty. We suggest to store the original document with its owner and to deliver a copy of the original document and its transcription to the archives of official Karst Research Institutes. This would guarantee a competent source research and a save backup of the documents concerned. Archives in question are the respective institutes of Budapest, Postojna and Vienna. REFERENCES HOFMANN-MONTANUS, H.; PETRITSCH, F. (1952): Die Welt ohne Licht.- Regensburg, J. Habbel, 418 Seiten. MAIS, K. (1995): Zur Person Walter CZOERNIG 1883 bis 1945,- Atlantis (Salzburg) 1995(3/4): 40-49. SCHMID, J. (1892): Berechnung der Adelberger u. Ottoker Grotten - Vermessung. bestehend aus: der Triangulation des Terrains, der Aufnahme der Grotten, dem Nivellement im Terrain u. in den Grotten und der Höhenmessung in den Grotten. Ausgeführt im Jahre 1891.- Handschriftliches Protokoll, Pribram 1892, 102 Seiten; Original in library of the Deparment of Karst and Caves, Museum of Natural History Vienna, Copies with text-trascriptions in the Instituts of Postojna and Budapest. SIMONY, F: Tagebücher.- Sammlung Friedrich SIMONY. Department -Archiv of the Museum of Natural History Vienna. 1.: Title Page of the geodetic survay of Postojna caves in 1891 by J. SCHMID (1892: page 1). SCHMIDOVA GEODETSKA IZMERA POSTOJNSKE JAME LETA 1891 - PRISPEVEK K TRANSKRIPCIJI DOKUMENTOV, PISANIH V GOTICI, POMEMBNIH ZA ZGODOVINO SPELEOLOGIJE Povzetek Dokumenti, pisani v gotici, četudi v nemščini, često povzročajo težave preučevalcem zgodovine speleologije. Nekatere rokopise oziroma črke je težko brati celo v materinem jeziku. Iz leta v leto je manj ljudi, še posebej mladih, ki znajo brati nemščino, pisano v gotici. V zvezi s preučevanjem speleološke dokumentacije sta se Inštitut za raziskovanje krasa (Postojna) in Oddelek za jame in kras dunajskega Naravoslovnega muzeja lotila posebnega projekta. Originalni dokumenti, pisani v nemški gotici, bodo transkribirani v "normalno" pisavo in jih bodo lahko preučevali in uporabljah celo taki, ki bolj slabo obvladajo nemščino. Prvi primer takega dokumenta je zapis geodetske izmere Postojnske jame iz 1891 (Berechnung der Adelsberger u. Ottoker Grotten -Vermessung... ausgeführt im Jahre 1891), ki jo je opravil J. Schmid. To natančno geodetsko poročilo kaže tudi na tedanji pomen Postojnske jame. Original hrani oddelek za jame knjižnice na Dunaju. Trenutno so v transkribiranju, pripravljeni za nova preučevanja, dokumenti iz zasebnih zbirk, kot je npr. rokopisno poročilo A. Ausobskega o odkritju trupla F. Rathschülerja v jami Frauenmauer, dokumenti salzburškega jamarskega društva in dokumenti iz lastnih arhivov (o F. Simonyju, G. Ablu, itd.). Več dela bo potrebnega za transkripcijo pisem in dokumentov F. Krausa, A. Silberhuberja, W. Puticka in drugih, ki so shranjeni v arhivu Inštituta za raziskovanje krasa. To so dokumenti o delu nekdanjega "Kraškega komiteja" na Krasu v ISBOtih in 1890tih letih. Tako so oziroma bodo strokovnjakom za zgodovino speleologije dostopni transkribirani dokumenti, pisani v nemščini in gotici. S tem bo omogočena priprava prispevkov, pomembnih tako za dokumentacijo kot za raziskovanje zgodovine speleologije.