Mainz publishing archive

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Mainz Publishing Archive (MVA) of the Institute for Book Studies at the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz , founded in 2009, contains the legacy of several publishers who shaped cultural and intellectual life in Germany after the Second World War.

history

First of all, Rowohlt Verlag made its archive available. In cooperation with the German Literature Archive Marbach (DLA) , the Rowohlt publishing archive was split up: In accordance with its specialization in German-language literature, the DLA took over the area of fiction ; The areas of non-fiction, paperback, children's and youth books went to Mainz. This includes author correspondence, production and marketing documents, dust jackets and specimen copies.

In 2004 Sabine and Kurt Groenewold sold their three publishers Europäische Verlagsanstalt (EVA), Rotbuch and Syndikat . In order to preserve the archive material of historical importance, the Groenewold couple donated their archives - including numerous unique manuscripts - to the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz. The head of the Institute for Book Studies, Stephan Füssel , acquired the foundations for Mainz. As of 2009, the holdings of the Frankfurt publishing house weissbooks.w , which was founded in 2008, were added as a deposit and, in 2012, the latest addition was a partial inventory of the Eichborn publishing house .

Stocks

  • As the oldest German paperback publisher, Rowohlt Verlag also has one of the most extensive backlists among German public publishers. The Rowohlt archive clearly shows the division of the paperback program into numerous rows (some with sub-rows). The area of ​​children's books (series red fox and panther) is particularly well documented, which has already been extensively researched as part of a master's and doctoral thesis. The large number of cover drafts has already been recorded in detail , offering a good insight into the importance of the cover as an interface between editing, production and marketing.
  • The European Publishing House (EVA) was founded in Hamburg in 1946 as the first socialist publishing house to be established in the three western zones. A special treasure in the EVA archive (as with Rotbuch) is the extensive inventory of manuscripts and typescripts and the materials from the marketing department that have been handed down in full since Sabine Groenewold took over. Brand building, development of a new corporate identity and finally the establishment of an umbrella brand for the Groenewold publishing houses are documented here.
  • The Rotbuch Verlag, founded in Berlin in 1973, had a special position in Germany as a collectively managed publisher. Particularly interesting in the Red Book Archive are the numerous minutes, policy papers, press releases and other documents that document the function and development of the collective working method over 20 years. The collaboration with Eastern European authors such as Carmen-Francesca Banciu, Miklós Haraszti or György Dalos can be explored in manuscripts and correspondence. The author Herta Müller has a special position here : the edited manuscripts and the numerous letters and postcards show the close working relationship, but also the private contacts of the publishing house employees and how they thought of the future Nobel Prize winner during her time in Romania, during and after her departure Germany supported.
  • Syndikat Verlag was founded in Frankfurt am Main in 1976 and was both an authoring publisher and a book company . In contrast to the Rotbuch and EVA archives, which offer complete documentation of the publishing processes in many areas and thus make them so valuable for research, Syndikat was only able to take over part of the archive, as the rest is still privately owned. However, it allows interesting conclusions to be drawn about the questions of author participation and the dual character of the publisher / book company.
  • The holdings of the independent publisher weissbooks.w, founded in 2008 in the MVA, differ from the others: While the other publishers are - more or less - complete collections that are only added sporadically and at greater intervals, the archive of weissbooks.w a constant flow of archival material is planned. About twice a year, documents that are no longer required are removed from ongoing business operations and handed over to the archive. Due to the previously short collection period, the Weissbooks archive is still relatively small, but it is recorded in great detail. In addition to a complete collection of specimen copies, the holdings include the areas of editing , production, sales, press work and advertising, but not finance. These current archive materials have not yet been released.

activities

Numerous courses take place in the rooms and with the holdings of the archive: In seminars, the students deal with publishing history research using the archive material. In addition, former employees and authors of the participating publishers could be won as guests and contemporary witnesses . The practical relevance is even stronger in the exercises, which are offered, for example, by the publishers Rainer Weiss and Sabine Groenewold in the archive, and in the archiving exercises. Here the students can intensively deal with individual bundles from an archival point of view and regularly organize exhibitions of the archive with publishing documents, for example in the institute on the campus for the Rowohlt series “Anders Reisen” (2012).

The courses result in topics for final theses at all levels: Several bachelor and master theses as well as dissertations have been written, so far mainly for the publishers Rowohlt and Rotbuch; Work on the syndicate and EVA is in progress (status: 2013). This work is funded through the award of the Dr. Sabine Groenewold scholarship, which was made possible by a donation from the Groenewold couple. The fact that in addition to the publishing couple, other former employees of the publishing house are also available as contemporary witnesses, also helps the Mainz Institute for Book Studies to accomplish its central project of a history of the book trade in the Federal Republic of Germany.

The Mainz publishing archive is not only used for research by employees and students of the institute: Scientists from other universities, but also former employees and authors of the publishers represented, repeatedly contact the archive with research requests. Cultural institutions and authors also use the archive's image and text material for editions , exhibitions and films. Students at the institute can complete internships in the archive - either as a trial internship or as the mandatory internship stipulated in the study regulations.

The archive is presented at events such as the conference of the International Society for Book Studies, the Science Market and the Foundation Day of the University of Mainz. In 2011 the institute's annual book studies colloquium, with strong participation from the Mainz publishing archive, was devoted to the topic of “Unopened royal tombs. Opportunities and Benefits of Publishing Archives ”. The contributions as well as further research on the Mainz publishing archive were included in volume 24 of the series “Mainz Studies in Book Studies” (Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 2013).

The Mainz publishing archive regularly exchanges ideas with related institutions at the international KOOP-LITERA workshops and works with Kalliope , the portal for personal papers and autographs in Germany.

literature

  • Friedrich Christian Delius: When books still helped. Biographical sketches. Rowohlt Berlin, Berlin 2012, ISBN 978-3-87134-735-1 .
  • Hermann Gieselbusch, Dirk Moldenhauer, Uwe Naumann, Michael Töteberg: 100 years of Rowohlt. An illustrated chronicle. Rowohlt, Reinbek 2008, ISBN 978-3-498-02513-7 .
  • Sabine Groenewold (Ed.): With license. History of the European Publishing House 1946-1996. European Publishing House, Hamburg 1996, ISBN 3-434-50095-2 .
  • Corinna Norrick, Ute Schneider (Hrsg.): Publishing history. Models and archival finds. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 2012, ISBN 978-3-447-06693-8 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Book Studies. Mainz publishing archive opened. In: Süddeutscher Zeitung . October 7, 2009.
  2. ↑ We can show the entire course of the publishing activity on these archives. on: boersenblatt.net , December 6, 2009.
  3. ^ The publishing archive is dedicated to Herta Müller's manuscripts. In: Rhein-Zeitung. December 9, 2009.
  4. ↑ Florian Balke: Messages from the country behind the wooden fence. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung. December 6, 2009.