Paul Ladewig

Paul Ladewig (born October 25, 1858 in Brest-Litowsk , † March 30, 1940 in Berlin ) was a German archivist and librarian.

Life

Paul Ladewig, son of a businessman, studied history and German at the University of Berlin after graduating from high school in Danzig . There he received his doctorate in 1882 with a dissertation on Poppo von Stablo and the Lorraine-Cluniacensische monastery reform in the first half of the 11th century , which appeared in bookshops a year later. He began his career as a research assistant at the Baden Historical Commission in Karlsruhe . In June 1883 he joined the General State Archives in Karlsruhe. On behalf of the commission, he edited the regesta on the history of the bishops of Constance . The first of a total of five volumes by him and a co-author was published in 1905.

In 1889, Ladewig moved to work as an assistant at the Badische Hof- und Landesbibliothek , also located in Karlsruhe , which since 1872 has been transformed into a modern scientific library under its director Wilhelm Brambach . Here Ladewig got to know the library as a service company: It should be there not for the books, but for the users. This understanding of the purpose of a library like him have predestined, 1898 the offer of the Krupp company to assume in Essen build a modern general library modeled after the Anglo-American Public Library. The Krupp book hall, which was designed as a unified library, soon made its director well-known throughout the Reich and made him one of the founders of the book hall movement in Germany. He worked as a consultant in many libraries that were founded during this period.

Due to disagreements with the Krupp company, Ladewig moved to Berlin in 1909, where he joined the company of the newspaper publisher August Scherl . This had set itself the goal of contributing to the improvement of popular education by means of good books and the methods of the colportal book trade . But just a few years later, Ladewig resigned and devoted himself to journalism. In 1912 he published the book Die Politik der Bücherei , which became his main work. In 1914 his catechism of the library appeared for the first time , a collection of alphabetically arranged bullet points on library work. His understanding of the user-friendly library not only met with acceptance, but also with vehement criticism. During the so-called library dispute, his opponent Walter Hofmann from the city ​​library in Leipzig took the view that public libraries had an educational function in the sense of popular education, while Ladewig saw the library's task also in entertainment and neither wanted to patronize nor educate the user.

In 1915 Ladewig opened up a new field of work. The newly created foundation “ Central Institute for Education and Teaching ” in Berlin appointed him head of the affiliated “Zentrale für Volksbücherei”, to which a library school belonged, at which up until 1923 the youngsters were trained for the middle (later understood) library service. When the courses were discontinued, Ladewig remained head of the exhibition and teaching materials department as well as the library and the book show at the central institute for a few years. He expanded the library into an educational specialist library with 35,000 volumes.

At the age of 73, Ladewig retired in 1931. He bought the Sennewitzmühle estate near Vietz (Witnica) on the Ostbahn (Warthebruch), where he continued to work as a journalist. He died on March 30, 1940 in Berlin. Paul Ladewig (Protestant) had been married to Hedwig Müller from Stein am Rhein since 1898 and had four children.

Publications (selection)

• Poppo von Stablo and the monastic reforms among the first Salians . 1883
• Regesta episcoporum Constantiensium = Regesta on the history of the bishops of Constanz . Edit volume 1 by Paul Ladewig and Theodor Müller. 1895
• Palatinate goldsmith's calculations of the 16th century . - In: Zeitschrift für die Geschichte des Oberrheins 43 (1889), pp. 507-514
• The administration and furnishing of the Krupp book hall . 1905
• Library Policy . 1912. New edition 1934
• Library catechism . 1914. 2nd edition 1922
• The small library, its administration and facilities . 1922
• The Library of the Present: A Foundation and Introduction . 1923
• The library of the present . 1927
• Katechizm biblioteki . Bydgoszcz 2016 (new edition German, Polish, English, with biography and reception history)

Literature (selection)

• Martin Bollert: Paul Ladewig. 1858-1940 . - In: Zentralblatt für Bibliothekswesen 59 (1942) 3/4, pp. 160–168
• Library Policy. Paul Ladewig and the Younger Book Hall Movement . Compiled and introduced by Wolfgang Thauer. Wiesbaden 1963
• Adolf von Morzé: Ladewig, Paul . - In: Neue Deutsche Biographie 13 (1982), pp. 392-393.
• Ladewig, Paul . - In: Alexandra Habermann; Rainer Klemmt; Frauke Siefkes: Lexicon of German Scientific Librarians 1925–1980. Frankfurt a. M. 1985, pp. 181-182.
• Harro Kieser: Paul Ladewig, librarian, October 25th, 150th birthday . - In: Mitteldeutsches Jahrbuch für Kultur und Geschichte 15 (2008), pp. 232–233.

Web links

Wikisource: Paul Ladewig  - Sources and full texts

• Literature by Paul Ladewig in the German National Library
• Article on Paul Ladewig in the German biography