Wives and daughters of early Berlin geoscientists and their work behind the scenes

The lives and work and accomplishments of three women, Clementine Helm Beyrich, Clara Ehrenberg and Ina von Grumbkow Reck are described. All three were writers who in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries significantly contributed to the field of natural history and palaeontology even though they were not academically trained. Their work included the spread of general knowledge of geosciences including technical processes among women (C. Helm), the description and drawings of new microorganisms and curation of a major micro-palaeontological collection with several thousand type specimens (C. Ehrenberg) and the maintenance of logistics for two major expeditions to Iceland and to East Africa, the latter involving large-scale excavations for dinosaurs that are still among the highlights of the Berlin Natural History Museum's exhibition today.