Linga library

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Linga library for

Latin America Research

Photo-request.svg
Image wanted 
founding 1957
Duration 45,000 media units
Library type Special library
place Hamburg
management Wiebke from Deylen
Website http://www.sub.uni-hamburg.de/linga

The Linga Library for Latin America Research of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg is one of the largest special libraries on Latin America in Germany and, due to its valuable old holdings, one of the most important libraries for Latin America research in Europe. It is located at the Hamburg State and University Library and is funded by the Linga Library Foundation in the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg.

profile

The Linga library collects current research literature on history, politics, economics, ethnology, regional studies, geography as well as on the art, culture and literature of Latin America as well as rare works from past centuries. The current library holdings of over 45,000 media items originally came from the bibliophile collection of Carlos Linga (* 1877; † 1963) with 6,000 predominantly antiquarian works, which formed the basis of the library when it was founded in 1957. In the following decades, the focus of the collection shifted increasingly to the acquisition of current literature from Latin America, which is supplemented by German and English-language studies. The geographical focus expanded to all Latin American regions, the time frame now extends from pre-colonial cultures to Latin America in the 21st century. Newer research focuses such as cultural studies and studies on Hispanics in the USA have been added. In addition to scientific literature, the library also has numerous other offers such as novels, source editions, illustrated books, current travel literature and a collection of Latin American films.

Valuable old stock

Since the beginning, the library's treasures have included rare sources from the 16th to 19th centuries, available as contemporary original editions or as facsimile editions. In addition to the first editions in Latin and Spanish, the corresponding German, French or English (contemporary) translation can often be found. Books about Mexico initially formed the regional focus. In terms of themes, the collection initially mainly comprised the age of American discovery and conquest, the colonial era as well as travel literature and studies on pre-Hispanic cultures. The holdings include, for example, first editions of the letters from Hernán Cortés to Emperor Charles V and a description by Bernal Díaz del Castillo about the conquest of the Aztec Empire as well as the travel reports from South America by Hans Staden and Ulrich Schmidel from the 16th century. These European representations are supplemented by indigenous interpretations of history in facsimile editions of old Mexican illuminated manuscripts (codices). Another special feature is the "Humboldtiana", an extensive collection of works by and about the German explorer and natural scientist Alexander von Humboldt , who explored Latin America between 1799 and 1804. In his successor, numerous European scientists and artists traveled to the newly formed states of Latin America. Their testimonies as illustrated travelogues, treatises and atlases in original editions also form a focus of the collection.

history

The library, which opened in Hamburg on October 12, 1957, was named after Carlos Linga (born April 20, 1877 in Altona, † October 20, 1963 in Cuernavaca, Mexico ). At the age of 17, Linga went to Mexico in 1894 after completing a commercial training as a representative of the Hamburg trading company Wöhler, Bartning Sucesores. From 1904 he worked there as an independent entrepreneur, mainly in the sugar trade. Not only was Linga a merchant and entrepreneur, he was also interested in Mexican history and pre-Hispanic cultures. He became a member of various scientific societies, gave lectures and published articles, for example on the history of printing in colonial Mexico. In the following decades he began to build up a bibliophile book collection, which he offered to his hometown, the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg , in the early 1950s . At that time, the Hanseatic city was trying to expand its position as a location for Latin America research and trade and made space available in the newly established Ibero-America House. The Ibero-Amerika-Haus was intended to promote the exchange between the various academic and economic institutions located in Hamburg that dealt with Latin America. The Linga library was opened there on October 12, 1957, at the same time as the inauguration of the Ibero-America House. Linga had his own study on site and personally took care of the further expansion of the collection until shortly before his death. After decades of steadily growing library holdings, the premises of the Ibero-America House were no longer sufficient. The Linga library has therefore been housed in the old building of the Hamburg State and University Library since 1991.

Foundation of the Linga library in the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg

The further development of the library was secured after Linga's death by his widow, Bertha Probst de Linga (born March 13, 1891 in Allgäu, † October 26, 1982 in Hamburg), who founded the Linga Library Foundation in the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg in 1967 . Since the main purpose of the foundation is to promote the Linga library, the acquisition of current research literature and the addition of the antiquarian collection can be reliably financed from the foundation's income. According to the statutes, the chairman of the foundation is the respective director of the Hamburg State and University Library; Gabriele Beger currently holds the office. In addition to representatives from the State Library, the board also includes Hamburg merchants and scientists. The latter were initially represented by employees from the Ibero-America House, this function has now been transferred to representatives of Latin American Studies at Hamburg University. With its interdisciplinary orientation, the course reflects the various branches of science involved in Latin America and ensures close links to the library's important target groups, researchers and students.

Library use

The library holdings are listed in the campus catalog of the Hamburg State and University Library. For targeted research, there is the option of searching within the campus catalog in the specialist section for the Linga library. In addition, the holdings are also recorded in national catalogs and in the Cibera Virtual Library . Another option for a thematic search is online research using the Linga system. With the exception of the present copies and valuable old holdings, the books can be borrowed with an ID from the Hamburg State and University Library or ordered within the framework of German and international interlibrary loan .

literature

  • Uta Ahmed: Linga library of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg . In: Paul Rabe (Hrsg.): Handbook of the historical book stocks in Germany . Vol. 1: Schleswig-Holstein, Hamburg, Bremen . Hildesheim u. a. 1996, ISBN 3487101351 , pp. 252-255.
  • Uta Ahmed: The Treasures of the Linga Library . In: Welthandel - Das Internationale Wirtschaftsmagazin 12 (1992) Issue 5, ISSN  0720-3683 , pp. 19-24.
  • Wiebke von Deylen: Between books and balance sheets: the Hamburg businessman Carlos Linga and his library . In: Jörn Arfs and Ulrich Mücke (eds.): Traders, pioneers, scientists: Hamburgers in Latin America . Berlin u. a. 2010, ISBN 978-3-643-10617-9 , pp. 89-107.
  • Wiebke von Deylen, Anne Slenczka, Otto Danwerth: Linga library for Latin America research: a door to the new world . Hamburg 2007. ( PDF; 2.1 MB )
  • Francisco Morales Padrón: El Instituto de Estudios Iberoamericanos y la Biblioteca Linga de Hamburgo . In: Historiografía y Bibliografía Americanistas (Seville). Volume XVIII, no. 1, 1974, ISSN  0439-2477 , pp. 79-88.
  • Linga Library Foundation . In: 100 forays: private funding in Hamburg's cultural life . A publication by the Elsbeth Weichmann Society. Hamburg 2010, ISBN 978-3-9813044-0-4 , p. 121.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of November 9, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Retrieved on December 3, 2014.
  2. ↑ http://linga-bibliothek.de/aktuellezugaenge.htm Retrieved on December 3, 2014.
  3. ↑ http://blog.sub.uni-hamburg.de/?p=16216 Retrieved on December 2, 2014.
  4. ↑ Morales Padrón: El Instituto de Estudios Iberoamericanos y la Biblioteca Linga de Hamburgo , 1974, pp. 81-88.
  5. ↑ Deylen, Slenczka, Danwerth: Linga-Library of Latin American Research , 2007, pp 20-23.
  6. ^ Deylen: Between books and balance sheets: the Hamburg businessman Carlos Linga and his library , 2010, pp. 92–93, 97–98, 105.
  7. ↑ Ahmed: Linga Library of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg , 1996, pp. 252-255.
  8. ^ Foundation of the Linga Library . In: 100 Streifzüge , 2010, p. 121.
  9. ↑ Deylen: Between books and balance sheets: the Hamburg businessman Carlos Linga and his library, 2010, pp. 104-105.
  10. ↑ https://kataloge.uni-hamburg.de/DB=1.23/LNG=DU/ Retrieved on December 2, 2014.
  11. ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of December 11, 2014 in the Internet Archive ). Retrieved on December 2, 2014.