"My dear friend, I have some Latvian songs here. Believe me, my dear friend, that I had never heard of this poetry. On the 30th day of this month, when I received your dear letter, I told my family of the requested songs, they were so captivated by the joy and yoke that I could barely restrain them. What I enclose here is just the beginning, and more will come. You will find here this and that what would not have been expected from Latvians."
Extract from a letter from Heinrich Baumann to Benjamin Fisher, October 31, 1777. Quoted in: Beata Paškevica. Latviešu tautasdziesmu teksti, to pierakstītāji un sūtītāji J.G.Herderam "Tautasdziesmu" izdevuma vajadzībām. book.: Vienotība un atšķirība: Johana Gotfrīda Herdera filozofija. Sast. R.Bičevskis. Rīga: FSI, 2017, 293. pp.
"Tell me, my dear friend! What does General Superintendent Herder - his quite successful portrait is in my Vidzeme collection - want to do with our Latvian folk songs? This great man! This is an enigma I can't solve."
Extract from a letter from Heinrich Bauman to Benjamin Fisher, March 13, 1778. Quoted in: Beata Paškevica. Latviešu tautasdziesmu teksti, to pierakstītāji un sūtītāji J.G.Herderam "Tautasdziesmu" izdevuma vajadzībām. book.: Vienotība un atšķirība: Johana Gotfrīda Herdera filozofija. Sast. R.Bičevskis. Rīga: FSI, 2017, 299. pp.
"Born Prussian and former Kurzeme pupil and student, Baumann, however, deliberately chose Vidzeme as his fatherland, denying Kurzeme. As a patriotic educated man, he did not think within the current political dimension: this dimension is not revealed by his efforts around the Latvian language related to its systematic understanding, nor his future historical and cultural interests, which always included Kurzeme, though he often encountered the strict boundaries set by his friends and acquaintances there, and he even found it difficult to obtain the information he needed from Kurzeme people. Baumann saw the promotion of homeland welfare in concern for its history, good school education and upbringing, and education in general [Der gebürtige Preuße und ehemalige kurländische Schüler und Student Baumann hatte sich dabei bewusst für Livland als Vaterland entschieden, in Ablehnung gegen Kurland. Als patriotischer Gelehrter wiederum dachte er nicht in aktuellen politischen Dimensionen: Nicht nur sein Bemühen um die systematische Erfassung der lettischen Sprache transzendierte nämlich diese Dimension, sondern auch sein weiteres historisches und kulturelles Interesse bezog Kurland immer selbstverständlich mit ein, obwohl er gerade hier oft an die Grenzen seines Netzwerks stieß und Schwierigkeiten hatte, die entsprechenden Informationen aus Kurland zu bekommen. Das Wohl des Vaterlandes zu befördern sah Baumann neben dem Bemühungen um die Geschichte im Bemühen um ein gutes Schulwesen und gute Erziehung und Bildung allgemein.]"
Anuschka Tischer. Der Sammler als Aufklärer: das Leben und Wirken Heinrich Baumanns (1716-1790). In: Aufklärer im Baltikum. Europäischen Kontext und Regionale besonderheiten. Hrsg. Ulrich Kronauer. Hedelberg: Winter, 2011, S. 160.