Hustedt Diatom Collection

The Friedrich Hustedt Diatom Study Centre (previously Hustedt Arbeitsplatz für Diatomeenkunde) was founded in 1965 at the Institute for Marine Research Bremerhaven, around Friedrich Hustedt's private diatom collection and library. This collection was the largest private diatom collection at that time, and has, over the decades since, become the core of one of the most important public diatom collections. Several years of work were spent on documenting Hustedt's legacy, ranging from cataloguing entries (sample material, slides and literature) to typification of the around 2000 taxa newly described by Hustedt (resulting in Simonsen's "blue book"). Besides, the collection continuously received additional deposits from renowned diatom researchers, ranging from individual slides (often types) through project based sets of slides to whole personal collections. Two important recent larger additions include a full set of slides from Grethe Hasle's collection including numerous isotypes and Kurt Krammer's practically full sample and slide collection.

The greater part of the collection comprises the fruits of Friedrich Hustedt´s work. He left over 60.000 microscope preparations and over 20.000 samples of material (dried or on glycerin). As a rule, Hustedt made three preparations from each location and filed them in a geographical system. Examples of interesting and newly-described species were placed in a taxonomic system.

Hustedt´s herbarium is being continually added to today and includes the collections of Dr. Reimer Simonsen, Dr. Dietrich König, Prof. Dr. Grethe Hasle and as well as individual preparations of other workers. The collection has now grown to include over 100.000 slides and 50.000 samples of material with an up-to-date library.