Central database of estates

The Central Database Estates (ZDN) is a database created by the Federal Archives , in which at the end of 2017 over 30,000 estates from German-speaking countries were recorded, some even in several sub-collections. The entries are supplemented by ongoing updates and new registrations from mostly German archives . This provides a very comprehensive and valuable tool, especially for historical research. Many finding aids are linked to the ZDN. This provides quick access to the archive that manages the estate.

history

The central database of bequests (ZDN) is based on the directory Die Nachlätze in the German archives published by Wolfgang A. Mommsen (Part 1 1971, Part 2 1981), which contains approx. 7000 estates with their locations, brief information on their biography and type and The content of the tradition. In the past it was a tedious endeavor to find out about the whereabouts of an estate. It was necessary to look through several directories, which, however, could not guarantee that they were up to date. It usually took over a decade before an up-to-date directory could be published, as each publication of a volume required lengthy research. In addition, the volumes were already out of date when they were delivered to the bookstores. After completing his surveys, Mommsen, for example, needed no less than four years to compile the extensive indices and to go to print, so that Volume II, with the status of processing in mid-1979, could not appear until 1983. For personal reasons it was not possible to continue the work in the Federal Archives in the following years. Information on bequests was recorded in an estate index and passed on when inquiries were made, but it was no longer systematically collected.

In 1986 the Association of German Archivists (VdA) passed a resolution in which the updating of the well-known printed manuals by Mommsen using EDP was identified as an urgent task. However, even in 1992, it was not possible to start building the database. It was only at this point in time that the personnel requirements for a new survey were in place in the Federal Archives. Likewise, the technical conditions for processing the reports and storing them in an IT system were not previously available. In retrospect, it even turned out to be favorable for the quality standard that the update of the estate directory was not given at an earlier point in time.

In 1988, under the leadership of the German State Library (today: State Library of Berlin - Prussian Cultural Heritage), the compilation of a list of the bequests in libraries, archives and museums was started in the GDR , but the picture was still not complete, as the questionnaires were returned left a lot to be desired. For political reasons, a lot of information could not be passed on, so it was necessary to close some gaps in the directory.

The reunification of the two German states made it possible to supplement the incomplete information on legacies in the archives of the GDR and thus to remedy a major deficit in Mommsen's directory.

In the summer of 1992 it became known that the Berlin State Library was planning a new edition of Ludwig Denecke's list of bequests in the libraries of the Federal Republic of Germany (1969). The idea of working together on the revision of the estate directory met with a positive response from both institutions. In accordance with the division of labor with the Berlin State Library, legacies in libraries are identified in the online catalog of the Kalliope network , which goes back to the " Central Index of Autographs " (ZKA) founded in West Berlin in 1966 .

literature

Ewald Grothe : Cooperative indexing of manuscripts and personal papers. Part 2: On the way to Calliope. On the indexing situation in German libraries and archives since 1945. In: Zeitschrift für Bibliothekswesen und Bibliographie . 53 (2006), ISSN 0035-8126 , pp. 291-299 ( PDF; 217 kB ).
Ewald Grothe: The cooperative indexing of autographs and personal papers in the digital age. Problems and Perspectives. In: Library: Research and Practice . 30 (2006), H. 3, ISSN 0341-4183 , pp. 283-289 ( PDF; 89 kB ).
Irene Streul: Legacies Online: The “Central Database Legacies” in the Federal Archives. In: Archives in Thuringia. ZDB ID 22152052 . Special issue. Published on behalf of the Thuringian Ministry of Culture (TKM). 2004, OCLC 615105886 , pp. 34-37 ( PDF; 91 kB ).

Web links

The Federal Archives - Central Database of Legacies: Introduction. In: nachlassdatenbank.de, 2004/2005

Individual evidence

^ The bequests in the German archives (with additions from other holdings) (= directory of the written papers in the German archives and libraries. Volume 1, Part I and II; Writings of the Federal Archives. Vol. 17 / I and 17 / II). Arranged by Wolfgang A. Mommsen. Vol. 1: Boldt, Boppard 1971, ISBN 3-7646-1544-3 ( limited preview in the Google book search); Vol. 2: ibid 1983, ISBN 3-7646-1816-7 .
^ The bequests in the libraries of the Federal Republic of Germany (= directory of the written papers in the German archives and libraries. Volume 2). Arranged by Ludwig Denecke. Boldt, Boppard am Rhein 1969, DNB 458530786 ; 2nd ed. Completely revised. by Tilo Brandis . Ibid 1981, ISBN 3-7646-1802-7 .

[1] The bequests in the German archives (with additions from other holdings) (= directory of the written papers in the German archives and libraries. Volume 1, Part I and II; Writings of the Federal Archives. Vol. 17 / I and 17 / II). Arranged by Wolfgang A. Mommsen. Vol. 1: Boldt, Boppard 1971, ISBN 3-7646-1544-3 ( limited preview in the Google book search); Vol. 2: ibid 1983, ISBN 3-7646-1816-7 .

[2] The bequests in the libraries of the Federal Republic of Germany (= directory of the written papers in the German archives and libraries. Volume 2). Arranged by Ludwig Denecke. Boldt, Boppard am Rhein 1969, DNB 458530786 ; 2nd ed. Completely revised. by Tilo Brandis . Ibid 1981, ISBN 3-7646-1802-7 .