Foundation Archive of the German Women's Movement

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Archive of the German Women's Movement Foundation
(AddF)
Logo archive of the German women's movement.jpg
legal form Foundation, endowment
founding since 2003 (from 1984 to 2002 as an association)
Seat kassel
purpose Securing, maintaining and expanding collections on the history of women and the women's movement in Germany between 1800 and 1970
Chair Henny Engels, Susanne Kinnebrock and Elke Spitzer
Managing directors Kerstin Wolff and Gilla Dölle
Employees 5
Website www.addf-kassel.de

The Archive of the German Women's Movement Foundation ( AddF ) in Kassel is a non-university center for the transmission and research of the history of women and women's movements in Germany between 1800 and 1970. For this purpose, the AddF maintains a special library, an archive and a research center. In addition, it is an educational and cultural institution and publishes its own magazine twice a year, “ Ariadne - Forum for Women's and Gender History ”, as well as its own series of publications at irregular intervals. The facility is financed through institutional funding from the State of Hesse and the City of Kassel as well as third-party funding and a support association, the "Friends of the Archives of the German Women's Movement".

history

At the beginning of the 1980s there was more and more awareness that the history of the old women's movement of the 19th and early 20th centuries was in danger of being forgotten because the movement's sources were only rudimentarily preserved. At that time there were archives of some of the larger women's organizations, and parts of the proletarian women's movement were to be found in the archives of the labor movement. The first archives were also founded for the New Women's Movement, which was active from the 1970s. An archive, however, that collected everything about the “old” women's movement and its protagonists across all wings, be they bourgeois or socialist, denominational or not, “radical” or “moderate” - such an archive did not (yet) exist.

The archive of the German women's movement emerged from the motivation to finally found such an institution. It is an institution that was founded as a project in the political optimism of the 1980s and was and is anchored in the political and social ethics of the women's movement. The foundation followed the ideal of a feminist institution in which, in addition to the actual field of work, the social goal of a gender-equitable way of life and work should be pursued. The reason for the foundation was to preserve the history of the women's movement and to make this history available for research and educational purposes and to anchor the various wings of the women's movement as socially important currents both in social perception and in science.

The archive of the German women's movement was founded in February 1983, and the facility opened on March 8, 1984 (International Women's Day). The initiator Sabine Hering was quickly joined by a group of humanities and social scientists from the new women's movement of the 1970s, all of whom were based in Kassel and worked at the Kassel comprehensive university there , now the University of Kassel, or as teachers with the women's movement of the 19th century had busy. The founding premise was to create an institution by women for women. The organization of work should get by without a formal hierarchy, everyone should be paid the same - even for work that is valued differently in society - there should still be integration into the movement and joint political actions should be planned and mutual support should be achieved. The group of the first female activists at the Kassel Archive was rather heterogeneous. The unifying element of all was the common interest in discovering the history of one's own sex. The first reading on the life and work of Franziska zu Reventlow was presented in the founding year, and one year later (1985) the first issue of Ariadne magazine, which has been published in an uninterrupted series to this day. This makes Ariadne one of the oldest women's history magazines in Germany. In 1986 the first research results appeared, which were published in the company's own series of publications. The first volume examined the role of German women in the international women's peace movement between 1892 and 1933.

In the first few years the institution's work was mainly done on a voluntary basis and through project financing, today the AddF Foundation is institutionally funded by the State of Hesse and the City of Kassel. In addition, third-party funds are acquired for specific projects. In 1992, a group of women supporters, the “Friends of the Archives of the German Women's Movement e. V. ”, to which over 150 women now belong. In 1996 the facility moved to a larger house on Gottschalkstrasse, where it is still located today. In 1997 the first own homepage was activated, since 2000 users have been able to research the institution's inventory online via the OPAC .

The foundation was launched in 2003, on International Women's Day . In the next few years, it replaced the association, which was dissolved on January 1, 2005.

Today the Archive of the German Women's Movement Foundation is the largest and only institution for the history of the women's movement in Germany. It has become one of the most important (research) institutions in Germany in its field. The collections are growing continuously - meanwhile, an external depot had to be rented.

tasks

Maintenance of the collections

The goals of the foundation are on the one hand to secure, maintain and expand its unique collections on the history of women and women's movements in Germany between 1800 and 1970 (in some cases beyond). The AddF is in close contact with other archival and library specialist organizations, including ida - informing, documenting, archiving , the umbrella organization of German-speaking women’s lesbian archives, libraries and documentation centers, or the “Working Group on Traditions of the New Social Movements” in the Association of German Archivists , in whose establishment the AddF played a major role. As a scientific infrastructure facility, the AddF provides its holdings for research and education and is an ideal place for learning outside of school.

research

On the other hand, the AddF operates a research institute that initiates, works on or supports projects in the field of historical women's and gender history . To this end, it is networked with other research institutions and universities nationwide and cooperates with the interdisciplinary working group on women and gender research (IAG FG) at the University of Kassel and the working group on historical women and gender research (AKHFG).

Educational and cultural work

In addition to research, the AddF wants to anchor the importance of women's history more firmly in public awareness with its educational and cultural work (publications, lectures, seminars, conferences, series of events, guided tours, exhibitions, etc.) and to show the long lines of today's women's life. Overall, with its work, the AddF would like to contribute to the dismantling of social prejudices that lead to women's achievements not being placed on an equal footing with men's achievements.

working area

There are four work areas: the collections with archive and special library, the research center, the publications and the educational and cultural work.

Collections

The AddF collects and preserves unique materials on women's movements and women's history from the period from 1800 to the end of the 1960s, in certain areas (women's associations and Kassel women's groups) up to the present. All phases and manifestations of the organized women's movement are equally taken into account. In addition to the original sources, the history of reception is also documented to this day. Through the continuous cataloging of form and content, these sources are made available for science and research and thus a contribution is made to the transmission of female work in history.

The archive

The following inventory groups can be found in the archive:

  • Women's estates
  • Files from associations, groups or institutions
  • Archival collections on persons, corporations and topics
  • Photo archive
  • Press documentation on people and topics

The estate of the Kassel lawyer Elisabeth Selbert , who was instrumental in ensuring that Article 3, Paragraph 2 “Men and women have equal rights”, was anchored in the Basic Law, and the files of the German Evangelical Women's Association are particularly well known . Both holdings are fully indexed and can be researched online using online search books or the AddF database.

The special library

With its library, the AddF has the most comprehensive inventory on the history of women and women's movements in Germany. Books, periodicals (magazines, yearbooks, etc.), microfiches, electronic resources and gray literature are collected . All titles are fully accessible in terms of content and form and are recorded in a database. They can be researched online via the OPAC and are available to users in the reference library. Particularly noteworthy is the extensive collection of periodicals and brochures, in which the discussions of the women's movements are reflected in a comprehensive way; he gives information u. a. on women's suffrage , morality, women's professions and work , (international) women's congresses, international cooperation on the women's peace movement and much more. In addition to its own database, the periodical stocks are also recorded in the central journal database .

Research center

A central concern of the AddF is to research the history of the German women's movement in all its facets and forms and thus to make the importance of this movement better known. To this end, the institution carries out its own research projects and works together with other research institutions. Historical as well as social science, political science and philosophical issues of women's and gender history are dealt with. All research projects are financed by third-party funds that are independently acquired. Over the years a large number of research projects have been carried out and important publications have been presented. There are thematic approaches, such as B. in the project on anti-Semitism in the bourgeois women's movement or on the potential of women's associations in career planning. Or biographical works, for example works on Marie Stritt , Sophie Henschel , Helene Stöcker , Nora Platiel or Elisabeth Selbert . Together with the Federal Agency for Civic Education, an internet dossier on the history of the women's movement in Germany was presented in 2008.

Publications

The AddF has had its own magazine since 1985, “Ariadne. Forum for Women's and Gender History ”(subtitle up to issue 37 / 38.2000: Almanach of the Archives of the German Women's Movement). It has been published three times a year since 1985 and twice a year since 1990 (May and November). Each issue is dedicated to a specific topic. Since 1986 the in-house series has also been published at irregular intervals. It publishes the results of research projects, but also bibliographical aids such as register volumes for journals. A special volume was published for the 10th anniversary of the archive of the German women's movement.

Education and culture

With its diverse educational and cultural work, the AddF wants to awaken a greater awareness of women's history in the public and make the multi-branched roots of today's women's life in history visible. The range of topics is just as broad as that of the women's movement. The forms of presentation range from lectures, seminars, conferences, series of events and archive tours to readings by authors, concerts, exhibitions and city tours. The friends' association, the "Friends of the Archives of the German Women's Movement", organizes an annual series of readings with authors from German-speaking countries. Many events are carried out in cooperation with other institutions. City tours and walking tours have been offered since 1992.

FrauVerA project

FrauVerA (FRAUenVEReineArchivierung) is a project of the Archive of the German Women's Movement Foundation . As part of an internet presentation, it supports women's clubs and associations with tips and information on archiving their documents. The project was supported by the Federal Ministry for Family, Seniors, Women and Youth .

FrauVerA told was created as a sub-project between 2006 and 2009 in connection with the project Preserving memories - women's association work as a motor for political participation and equal opportunities. Four women's associations as an example. There, tips and information for women's clubs and associations for conducting interviews with contemporary witnesses were collected and published.

Honors

  • 1991: Kulturförderpreis der Stadt Kassel for the “work to establish an archive accessible to the public, but also for the popularization of important cultural topics related to women”.
  • 2001: The Ariadne editorial team is awarded the Elisabeth Selbert Prize of the State of Hesse.
  • 2006: Award as a place in the land of ideas .
  • 2008: Awarded the Hessian Archive Prize.
  • 2011: Inclusion of the Foundation Archive of the German Women's Movement in the directory of nationally valuable archives.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Review of the site
  2. ↑ a b Ariadne: Forum for Women's and Gender History ( ISSN  0178-1073 ), in the archive of the journal database (ZDB).
  3. ^ Cornelia Wenzel: The Foundation Archive of the German Women's Movement in Kassel , in: Communications of the Association for Hessian History and Regional Studies Kassel 1834 e. V. , No. 52, July 2011, pp. 7-10
  4. ↑ Jürgen Bacia, Cornelia Wenzel: Movement preserve , Free Archives and the story from below, Berlin 2013.
  5. ↑ Kerstin Wolff : Much more than an archive: The Foundation Archive of the German Women's Movement in Kassel, in: Christa Hämmerle, Claudia Opitz-Belakhal (ed.): Crisis (n) of masculinity, in: L'Homme. European journal for feminist history , 19th year, issue 2, special edition, Böhlau Verlag, Cologne. Weimar. Vienna, 2008, p. 126.
  6. ^ Foundation Archive of the German Women's Movement (Ed.): Info for Friends and Donors of the Archives of the German Women's Movement No. 29, May 2009, p. 2.
  7. ↑ Kerstin Wolff: Much more than an archive: The Foundation Archive of the German Women's Movement in Kassel, in: Christa Hämmerle, Claudia Opitz-Belakhal (ed.): Crisis (n) of masculinity, in: L'Homme. European journal for feminist history , 19th year, issue 2, special edition, Böhlau Verlag, Cologne. Weimar. Vienna, 2008, p. 126.
  8. ↑ Sabine Hering, Cornelia Wenzel: Women called, but you couldn't hear them. See the AddF series of publications ( Memento of May 30, 2013 in the Internet Archive ), Volume 1.
  9. ↑ German Evangelical Women's Association ( Memento from May 2, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
  10. ↑ Internet database of the AddF. Retrieved June 29, 2020 .
  11. ↑ Federal Agency for Civic Education: Women's Movement | bpb. Retrieved June 29, 2020 .
  12. ↑ FrauVerA. Retrieved June 29, 2020 .
  13. ↑ FrauVerA tells. Retrieved June 29, 2020 .
  14. ↑ a b c Archive of the German women's movement. Retrieved June 30, 2020 .
  15. ^ Archive of the German women's movement in the Land of Ideas ( Memento from November 14, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
  16. ↑ Protection of cultural assets in Germany ( Memento from June 30, 2015 in the Internet Archive )