Grand Ducal Oldenburg Military Library

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The Grand Ducal Oldenburg Military Library was established in 1814. After the Oldenburg-Prussian military convention of 1867 and the dissolution of the military school, the library remained in Oldenburg due to a special arrangement and was still financed by the Grand Duke with 200 Reichstalers annually, so that purchases could continue to be made until the end of the First World War in 1918. Since the staff of the Reichswehr Infantry Regiment No. 16 in Oldenburg obviously had no use for the library, it was handed over to the Oldenburg State Library around 1921 and incorporated into the normal library inventory. With around 5,600 titles with 11,200 volumes and 306 maps with 3,100 sheets, the GOMB is one of the largest military libraries in Germany with a focus on the period from around 1765 to 1914.

Origin and development until 1867

The library was originally the home library of the military school, which was established in the so-called military house in 1814. In the first 15 years of its existence, both the school and the library led a rather shadowy existence, as Duke Peter Friedrich Ludwig was not interested in the military. This changed in 1829 with his son and successor Paul Friedrich August . The library has now been expanded considerably and historical military literature has been purchased, some of which goes back to the 17th century. The first printed catalog appeared as early as 1839, which already comprised a good 1,000 titles in 2,114 volumes as well as 146 maps with approx. 1,000 single sheets. In 1859 a greatly expanded edition appeared; In 1865 an alphabetical catalog was created, which was continued until 1914 with so-called bullet pages.

From 1867 to 1918

As a result of the Oldenburg-Prussian military convention of 1867, according to which the Oldenburg troops became part of the Prussian Army in the North German Confederation, the library basically became the property of Prussia. Due to a special agreement, however, it remained in Oldenburg and was still financed personally by the Grand Duke, so that further purchases could be made. In addition to normal specialist literature, from the 1870s on, specialist periodicals were purchased or subscribed to, so that today's state library largely has the most important German military journals of the empire at its disposal.

Systematics

The system of the catalog from 1859 has been retained to this day.

I. Military Scientific Writings

A. Historical writings
B. War Studies
C. Periodicals, journals, archives
D. Military entertainment writings and writings of various contents

II. General scientific writings

E. story
a) General history
b) History of antiquity and the Middle Ages. Translations of ancient historians
c) Modern history, history of individual states, cities and peoples
d) Biographies, memoirs and other historical writings. Antiquity, mythology and translations of old classics
F. Geography, statistics, travel
G. Mathematics
H. Science, astronomy, geography, optics, mechanics, technology, etc.
I. Political science, politics, economics, etc.
K. Linguistics, encyclopedias, dictionaries and journals
L. works of individual poets a. Prose writer. Philosophy, literary history, arts. Writings philosophical, aesthetic u. critical content
M. Writings of various content

III. cards

a) from Germany a. German countries
b) from other European countries
c) from non-European countries
d) Atlases and maps of all parts of the world

After 1918

With the abdication of the last Grand Duke Friedrich August on November 11, 1918, the military library lost both its special status and its financier. It was given to the Oldenburg State Library around 1921 by the Reichswehr stationed in Oldenburg, which had taken over the library from its Prussian predecessor, apparently because of the lack of possibilities for use and lack of interest. Here it was incorporated into the normal inventory. The library no longer exists as an independent collection; however, the copies are still marked with the signature “MB”. Although the State Library was damaged by an air raid in 1943 and a small part of its holdings were lost, the works in the old MB do not seem to have been affected, so that most of the 11,000 volumes handed over have been preserved and are still available for use. Most of the MB is not yet recorded in the IBIT catalog system. For a search it is therefore necessary to look at IBIT, the card catalog (author), the keyword catalog or the handwritten catalog for the MB. The printed catalog from 1859 is available for the period before 1859.

literature

  • Egbert Koolman: The Grand Ducal Oldenburg Military Library. In: Egbert Koolman (ed.): EX BIBLIOTECA OLDENBURGENSIS. Library research on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the Oldenburg State Library. Oldenburg 1992, pp. 97-130.
  • Catalog of the Grand Ducal Oldenburg Military Library. Oldenburg 1839.
  • Catalog of the Grand Ducal Oldenburg Military Library. Oldenburg 1859.
  • Alphabetical catalog of the Grand Ducal Oldenburg Military Library. Oldenburg 1865.
  • Bernhard von Poten : History of the military education and training system in the lands of the German tongue. Volume II, Berlin 1891, pp. 393-416 (here the Oldenburg institutions).
  • Louis von Weltzien : Military studies from Oldenburg's prehistory and history of the Oldenburg contingent. Oldenburg 1858.
  • Egbert Koolman: An Oldenburger in Berlin. Wilhelm Meinardus and the Prussian-Oldenburg military convention of 1867. In: Oldenburger Jahrbuch. Volume 100, 2000, pp. 49-88.
  • Egbert Koolman, Harald Schieckel (Hrsg.): Military and civil in old Oldenburg. The memories of Wilhelm and Cristoph Meinardus. Oldenburg 1998.