The article describes the expeditions and the trajectory of the collection of Emil-Heinrich Snethlage (1897-1939). The German researcher had his vocation inspired by the ornithologist Emilie Snethlage, his aunt, who used to send to her family in Germany letters in which she reported her experiences as a researcher at the Goeldi Museum. Emil was encouraged to live adventures as his aunt and chose the same career. His first expedition in Brazil was held as an ornithologist in the Northeastern states, for the Field Museum of Natural History (Chicago, United States), between 1923 and 1926. In the second one, between 1933 and 1935, he traveled as ethnologist for the Ethnographic Museum of Berlin through Guapore River, state of Rondônia. Although his collection is the most complete source of information on indigenous peoples of the region in this period, his researches are little known because his untimely death prevented the publication of his studies. He collected over 2,400 ethnographic objects, made archaeological excavations, documented the lives of indigenous people in photographs and in a silent film, recorded songs and wrote lists of words of many languages. At the end, a list of indigenous words and three unpublished letters of Curt Nimuendajú are presented, one for Emilie and the others for Emil Snethlage.
Scientific expedition; Ethnographic collections; Ethnology; Ornithology; Guaporé River; Rondônia
