Paul Barth, farmer, editor and museum curator, began his career as a naval officer from 1892 to 1904 and then served at the hydrographic office of the Deutsche Seewarte to 1908. The next year he came to Namibia and farmed in the Otjiwarongo district until 1920. He then became the manager of the Farm-Wirtschafts-Gesellschaft für Südwestafrika (Farming Society of South West Africa) and editor of its Mitteilungen (Communications). He also served as the editor of South West African Farmer and of the Allgemeine Zeitung, was a member of various commissions and boards, and an office bearer of various agricultural organizations.
In 1926 Barth accepted the position of honorary curator of the museum collection of the Scientific Society for South West Africa. The society was founded during the previous year and one of its aims was to gather the remains of earlier museum collections and to establish a proper museum. Barth served as honorary curator until 1937, when he was succeeded by Erich Zelle*. He could devote only part of his time to the museum and its development was further limited by a lack of funds, however, the collections continued to grow.
Barth produced two publications of scientific interest: "Meteorologie und Klimakunde Südwestafrikas" (Arbeiten der Farmwirtschafts-Gesellschaft für Südwestafrika, 1921, Vol. 2, pp. 1-29), which included tables of the average monthly rainfall of a number of districts, and an excellent geography of the territory, Südwestafrika; wirtschaflicher Ratgeber und algemeine Anleitung, besonders für Auswanderungslustige (South West Africa; economic advice and general guidance, especially for emigrants. Windhoek, 1926), which included a chapter on climate and references to water supply and the flora.
