Wissenschaftsgeschichte als Objektarbeit am Museum für Naturkunde Berlin: Lehrtafeln bewahren und erforschen**

Historical teaching charts are often overlooked in museum collections, despite their potential as valuable sources for the history of science. This article examines how the documentation and contextualisation of such objects can generate new perspectives on scientific practice and knowledge production. It presents a collaborative university seminar at the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin in which students from different disciplines systematically documented a dispersed collection of 267 historical teaching charts and developed a documentation framework through object-based research. Using the teaching chart Anatomie von Helix pomatia as an exemplary case study, the article demonstrates how close examination of a single object reveals connections between scientific illustration, institutional practices, teaching, and the material production of knowledge. Rather than serving merely as visual aids, historical teaching charts emerge as material witnesses to scientific work, preserving traces of their production, use, and historical context. The project illustrates how the systematic documentation of neglected museum objects can provide a foundation for future research, collection management, and preservation. More broadly, it argues that the history of science begins with recognising, documenting, and interpreting material evidence as historical sources.