Wilhelm Hoffmann (Librarian)

Bronze bust of Wilhelm Hoffmann in the Württemberg State Library, created by his wife Elfriede Hoffmann in 1958

Wilhelm Hoffmann (born April 21, 1901 in Stuttgart ; † March 27, 1986 there ) was a German librarian .

Life

Wilhelm Hoffmann, son of theologians , prelates and court chaplain Konrad Hoffmann (1867-1959) and Agnes, nee Lang, attended the Evangelical seminars in the monastery Maulbronn and the Monastery Blaubeuren , before turning to the studies of Protestant theology in Tubingen and Marburg and the Turned to pedagogy , history and philosophy in Tübingen, Marburg and Berlin . During this time he built up the German National Academic Foundation in Dresden as managing director and head . He put 1923 the first theological service exam, he was in Tübingen in 1928 to Dr. phil. PhD . In 1933 he passed the examination for the higher service at academic libraries in Berlin.

Hoffmann headed the Tübingen Student Union from 1923 to 1926 and the German National Academic Foundation in Dresden from 1928 to 1931 , before joining the library service in 1931 as a librarian at the Württemberg State Library in Stuttgart. In 1933 he became a library assistant there, and in 1937 a library councilor specializing in theology, philosophy and education as well as the history of Württemberg; since 1938 administrator of the manuscript department collection, since 1942 director of the newly founded Hölderlin archive. In 1945 he was appointed director of the Württemberg State Library. He held this office until January 1970. In addition, he was entrusted with the provisional management of the Tübingen University Library from 1947 to 1951 . In his function as director of the Württemberg State Library, he made particular contributions to the acquisition, maintenance and cataloging of manuscripts . From 1954 to 1979 he was also President of the German Schiller Society / German Literature Archive Marbach .

In 1962 he was made an Honorary Senator of the University of Tübingen, in 1978 he received the Medal of Merit of the State of Baden-Württemberg and in 1980 the Great Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. In Stuttgart, a path was named after Wilhelm Hoffmann at the Württemberg State Library.

Wilhelm Hoffmann married Elfriede Frances Hoffmann nee Müller (1898–1974) in 1928. The marriage resulted in two sons: the historian Peter Hoffmann (* 1930) and Claus-Wilhelm Hoffmann (* 1932), who was Lord Mayor of Biberach an der Riss from 1965 to 1994 . Wilhelm Hoffmann died in 1986 in Stuttgart, four weeks before he would turn 85.

Publications (selection)

• Basics and literary expression of the classic university idea , Tübingen: Tübinger Studentenwerk 1930, Tübingen, Univ., Diss., 1928.
• The way of the French illumination . In: Philobiblon, Vol. 10, 1938, pp. 491-497.
• The German libraries after the disaster . In: Der Standpunkt, vol. 1, issue 1, 1946, p. 48.
• After the disaster , Tübingen: Wunderlich 1946.
• Acquisition of foreign literature . In: Zentralblatt für Bibliothekswesen, vol. 61, 1947, pp. 206–215
• Reconstruction in the German library system . In: Der Schweizer Buchhandel, Vol. 5, Issue 23, December 15, 1947, pp. 939–942.
• The Swiss book aid . In: Zeitschrift für Bibliothekswesen und Bibliographie , Vol. 6, 1959, pp. 2–10.
• Seventy-five years of the German Schiller Society 1895–1970. A birthday speech was given in the Schiller National Museum in Marbach / Neckar on November 10, 1970. Marbach am Neckar: German Schiller Society 1971.

literature

• Congratulations from Bebenhausen. Wilhelm Hoffmann on his fiftieth birthday on April 21, 1951 , Stuttgart 1951 (pp. 69–80 List of publications)
• In libro humanitas. Festschrift for Wilhelm Hoffmann on the occasion of his sixtieth birthday, April 21, 1961 . 1962.
• Wilhelm Hoffmann . In: Werner Schuder (Ed.): Kürschner's German Scholars Calendar . Founded by Joseph Kürschner . 13th edition. De Gruyter, Berlin 1980, ISBN 3-11-007434-6 , p. 1593 .
• Hans-Peter Geh : Obituary. Wilhelm Hoffmann 1901–1986 . In: Zeitschrift für Bibliothekswesen und Bibliographie , Vol. 33, 1986, pp. 316–318.
• Hans-Peter Geh: Wilhelm Hoffmann . In: Baden-Württembergische Biographien Vol. 2, Stuttgart 1999, pp. 230-233.
• Ute Oelmann: Wilhelm Hoffmann, the Swabian citizen of the world . In: Christoph Perels (ed.): Fifty Years of the Stefan George Foundation 1959–2009, Berlin: de Gruyter 2009, ISBN 978-3-11-022084-1 , pp. 35–47.

Web links

• Literature by and about Wilhelm Hoffmann in the catalog of the German National Library
• Wilhelm Hoffmann at leo.bw