Institute for Comparative Urban History
| Institute for Comparative Urban History (IStG) | |
|---|---|
| Category: |
Affiliated institute non-profit GmbH |
| Carrier: | Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster |
| Consist: | since 1970 |
| Seat of the wearer: | Muenster |
| Facility location: | Königsstrasse 46 48143 Münster |
| Type of research: | comparative city history |
| Subjects: | History |
| Areas of expertise: | Middle, Modern and Recent History |
| Management: | Werner Friday |
| Homepage: | Homepage of the Institute for Comparative Urban History |
The Institute for Comparative Urban History (IStG) is a scientific research facility and an affiliated institute of the Westphalian Wilhelms University with its headquarters in Königsstrasse in Münster . The institute's task is to promote interdisciplinary research on comparative urban history. Werner Freitag has been the scientific director of the ICTG since 2007 .
History and structure
The Institute for Comparative Urban History was founded in 1970 as a scientific research facility of the Kuratorium für Comparative Urban History eV, founded the year before, with the task of initiating and bringing together interdisciplinary research on urban history. The establishment of the institute was encouraged by a research program that had been developed by the Commission internationale pour l'histoire des villes (CIHV) of the International Association of Historians when it was founded in Rome in 1955 and was specified at its meeting in Oxford in 1969. The foundation benefited from the fact that the holdings of the Marburg Research Center for Urban History could be taken over. The IStG has had the status of an affiliated institute of the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität since 1987 and since January 1, 2005 it has been operated as a non-profit limited company with the name “Institute for Comparative Urban History - IStG - GmbH”.
Former institute directors:
- 1970–1979 Heinz Stoob
- 1979–1984 Wilfried Ehbrecht
- 1984-2007 Peter Johanek
Claim and task
The aim of the ICTG is to give international comparative urban research an institutional framework. Questions from the fields of history, art history, cartography, geography and sociology are related to the field of study “city” in the IStG and examined within the framework of basic research or scientific research projects. Accordingly, the development of city atlases , the publication of manuals and encyclopedias, the editions of written and pictorial sources on the city's history as well as bibliographical publications form the basis of the work. In addition, the IStG regularly organizes scientific events with the spring conference and the Friday colloquium. Thematically, the IStG is not limited to Westphalia or Germany; The European perspective is preserved not least through close cooperation with international partners. In terms of time, the IStG focuses on the European urban history of the Middle Ages, the early modern period and the 19th and 20th centuries.
Projects (selection)
- Cartography : The IStG has published the “ Westphalian City Atlas ”, the “ German City Atlas ” and its successor, the “ German Historical City Atlas ” since it was founded . With the “Westphalian” and “German Historical City Atlas”, the IStG is also involved in the multinational project “European City Atlases” to research the origins and developments of the European urban system.
- Dehio Handbook of German Art Monuments. NRW II Westphalia : The volume “Westphalia”, founded more than 100 years ago and last published in 1969, was completely revised by the IStG in cooperation with the LWL monument preservation, landscape and building culture in Westphalia and published in 2011. The handbook provides information on architecture, fine arts and the history of the monument landscape in Westphalia.
- Westfalia Picta : Between 1987 and 2007, the IStG developed the ten-volume work “Westfalia picta” together with the LWL Museum for Art and Culture . The project aimed to collect all image sources of Westphalia from the time before photography and make them accessible. A selection of the image sources from Volume VIII (Münsterland) of the series could be presented in a special way by publishing a CD-ROM with views and plans of the city of Münster from the 16th to 19th centuries in 2003.
- Handbook of Historic Sites in North Rhine-Westphalia : The “ Handbook of Historic Sites ” is a lexical work that presents selected locations in the various regions of Germany and other European countries in informative short texts. In the years 2000–2006 the regional associations Rhineland and Westphalia-Lippe cooperated with the IStG to develop a new, revised edition of the volume for North Rhine-Westphalia, which was last published in 1970.
- Internet portal Städtegeschichte.de : Work is currently underway on the establishment of an interdisciplinary and cross-epoch Internet portal for city history. The aim of the project is, on the one hand, to provide scientific overviews of European urban history and, on the other hand, to network the institute's own databases in a metasearch. A distribution map and interactive map offers , developed using the example of the city of Braunschweig , complete the offer.
Publications
In the series of urban research A: Representations monographs and anthologies are published. The contributions of the annual spring conferences and other conferences with urban history or cartographic reference appear in this series as well as qualification work by employees and external scientists. In the institute, the work is scientifically proofread, edited, professionally set and designed. 94 volumes were published between 1976 and 2017. In the series of urban research B: Handbooks , reference works appear on various topics of comparative urban history. The city research series C publishes editions of written and pictorial sources on city history.
Library and collections
The institute's own library, the holdings of which are indexed by the OPAC of the University of Münster, comprises around 60,000 volumes and around 120 periodicals and is the most extensive specialist library for historical urban research in Germany. It is a reference library, but the works can be borrowed by the user after consultation.
The IStG has numerous materials from various estates and its own collection. All media can be viewed in the institute.
- Maps: The collection includes around 20,000 topographical, historical and thematic maps and city maps, more than 6,000 of which can be called up in a database for online research.
- Postcards: The postcard archive is made up of various collections and comprises around 46,000 postcards. Most of the postcards show cityscapes from the prewar period. Around 5,000 postcards have already been digitized and can be called up in a database.
- Slide collection: The slide collection offers extensive image material on numerous cities in Germany and Europe. The holdings consist of private collections and recordings made during excursions.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ List of publications , accessed on February 1, 2018.
- ^ "Urban Research" series. Publications of the Institute for Comparative Urban History in Münster , accessed on February 1, 2018.