Overview

The Asian and African studies branch library keeps the Jahnheinz Jahn-Archiv, the Erica de Bary-Archiv and the Dambudzo Marechera-Archiv for research purposes.

Further Information

The archives can be used upon request. Please contact us for an English version.

The collection contains 1400 Autographs from the 19th and early 20th century. The autographs are recorded in their own catalogue. The catalogue contains information about the author and the addressee as well as a short summary of the autographs. Please note that the catalogue is only available in German.

Autographs can be used in the research reading room upon request.

Further Information

The library owns a collection of books about balneology, including books from the estates of Berlin physicians Emil Osann (1787-1842), Stephan Friedrich Barez (1790-1856) and Hermann Ludwig Helfft (1819-1869).

Emil Osann is regarded as the founder of scientific balneology. He was a physician and professor of pharmacology at the University. His collection comprises about 1100 books. This collection can be used in the research reading room. Please order the books that you want to use via Primus. Please note that not all of the books in the collection have been catalogued yet.

This collection once held about 12000 volumes, of which about 2500 are still available and catalogued. August Boeckh (1785-1867) taught classical studies and was one of the university’s most outstanding professors. Of all the private libraries that the Humboldt-Universität has received over the years, his was by far the largest. A selection of volumes, especially those with handwritten annotations, has been digitized and can be accessed online.

The books of the collection can be searched via Primus. There you can find also a list of the recorded stocks. They can only be used in the research reading room. 

Digitized Books

Johannes Bolte (1858-1937) was a scholar of German studies and folklorist. His most important work was the revision of the annotations to Grimms’ fairy tales. The collection contains about 670 volumes that can be used in the research reading room upon request.

Foreign Languages/Literatures Branch Library

Library of  Aleksander Brückner (1856–1939), professor für Slavonic language and literary history at the Berlin university. The library holds about 477 titels, with more titles added from time to time.

The museum’s library once owned about 5000 books of which many were lost during World War II. The remaining volumes are now owned by the Humboldt-Universität. They can be used at the theology branch library.

Between its founding and 1998 the university library collected about 1.2 Million dissertations, habilitation treatises and other theses of German and foreign universities. The volumes of the collection can be used in the research reading room upon request.

The collection can be found via Primus.

Further Information

Johann Gustav Droysen (1808-1884) was a historian and professor at the Humboldt-Universität. His private and academic library comprises about 1500 volumes. The books that have already been catalogued can be found via Primus. They can be used in the research reading room.

Paul Hermann Emden (1882-1953) collected about 350 volumes and documents about Theodor Fontane, including several of the author’s first editions. The collection was donated to the university library in 1930 and can be used in the research reading room.

Via Primus you can find a list of the recorded stocks.

Further Information

Foreign Languages/ Literatures Branch Library

Estimated amount of recorded stock: 743 volumes (please use Primus for finding a list of recorded stock)

Library of Robert Gragger (1887 - 1926), who was a professor of Hungarian language and literary history and founder of the Ungarisches Seminar der Berliner Universität

The Prussian State purchased Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm’s private library after their death. The 6.000 volumes reflect the brothers’ wide scientific interest and activities. Annotations, dedications and personal notes turn the books into a valuable source for historians and other scholars. Some books have already been digitized and can be accessed online. The collection can be used in the research reading room upon request.

Via Primus you can find a list of the recorded  stocks.

Further Information

Digitized Books

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The Haeberle-Hirschfeld-Archive of Sexology comprises 6500 books and scientific magazines. Most of the titles deal with sexology in its socio-scientific context. A written permission is required to access the collection in the research reading room. Some titles have been digitized and can be accessed online.

You will be asked to fill out a (registration) form prior to using the collection.

Further Information

Wolfgang Heise (1925-1987) was a German philosopher, professor and essayist at the Humboldt-Universität (HU). The university owns about 5.000 books and 30.000– 35.000 sheets private and academic documents. The collection can be used in the research reading room upon request.

Via Primus you can find a list of the recorded stocks.

Further Information

The collection was bought in 1913 and spans about 8.000 volumes. Leopold Hirschberg (1867-1929), a Berlin physician and bibliophile, collected works of German literature of the 18th and 19th century, including numerous valuable first editions. Books that have already been catalogued can be used in the research reading room.

Via Primus you can find a list of the recorded stocks.

The library owns a collection of about 150 medieval and early modern deeds. Most of the collection consists of private deeds of various origins. The collection was originally started as a resource for students and is based on a donation by Ulrich Friedrich Kopp in 1820. The deeds can be used upon request.

Further Information

The collection contains a broad stock of historical maps, aerial and landscape pictures as well as portraits and single archival materials of people related to the geographical institute of the Humboldt-Universität

August Wilhelm von Hofmann (1818-1892) was one of the most respected chemists of his time. He is the founder of the German Society of Chemistry and worked in London where he supported the composition of the Royal College of Chemistry. This collection contains about 8.000 volumes and can be accessed at the Erwin-Schrödinger-Zentrum in Adlershof.

The books that have already been catalogued can be found via Primus.

The library received several items from the former Royal Library from the Schloss Hohenzollern between 1892 and 1928. It includes private collections of Prussian kings and emperors from the 19th and 20th century, including Friedrich Wilhelm II., Friedrich Wilhelm III., Friedrich Wilhelm IV., Kaiser Friedrich III. as well as Wilhelm II. and his wife Empress Auguste Viktoria. The collections holds about 725 books and can be used in the research reading room.

Bernhard Hübler (1835-1912) was a professor of law and councillor of the consistory. His main field of research and work was ecclesiastical law. He held lectures and published several articles about this topic. The collection consists of about 500 volumes and can be used in the research reading room. From 1880 on, he was a professor of law after becoming councillor of the consistory in 1870.

The 252 volumes of Wilhelm von Humboldt’s linguistic library can be used in the research reading room upon request. Some of the items are available online as well.

Via Primus you can find a list of the recorded stocks.

Further Information

Incunabula are the earliest products of letterpress printing and were only made in the second half of the 15th century. The university library owns 54 incunabula. The items of the collection can be found via Primus or the Gesamtkatalog der Wiegendrucke. Please note that the latter is only available in German. The incunabula can be used in the library's research reading room.

Further Information

Philipp Jaffé (1819-1870), a German historian and medievalist, owned a library of about 1.500 volumes, including some valuable historical sources. The collection can be used in the research reading room upon request.

The books that have already been catalogued can be found via Primus.

Author and translator Janheinz Jahn is one of the most relevant mediator of African and Caribbean literature in Germany's postwar period. His extensive estate includes essays, tales, radio-features and many translations of African and African-American literature. The estate was purchased by the seminar of African studies in 2005. It poses as a central point for research and studies and is today kept in the university library. The estate has been fully digitized.

The estate can be used after completing this form.

The Joachimsthalsches Gymnasium was a secondary school for gifted boys that was founded in 1607 and located in Berlin from 1636.

The collection is located at the theology branch library.

The majority of this collection can be used in the research reading room. It contains several hundred volumes. The collection has not been completely recorded yet and its cataloguing is still in process.

Agathe Lasch (1879-1942) was the first female professor for German studies in Germany. Her private library was confiscated by the Nazis in 1942. The University owns about 60 volumes which can be used in the research reading room upon request.

Further Information

The bequest of Moritz Lazarus (1824-1903) comprises about 1.336 letters and documents. He was an ethno-psychologist and worked as a professor at the University. The letters can be found in the Kalliope Union Catalogue.

Further Information

The university library holds a number of leaflets and pamphlets from the times of the German revolution 1848/49. Most items are related to Berlin and contain political cartoons and statements. The collection can be researched via Primus and is open for use in the research reading room. It is also fully digitized.

Theology branch library

The estate of catholic dogmatist and Mainz bishop Karl Lehmann (1936-2018) includes about 12.000 volumes, mainly titles about catholic dogmatics and ethics and christian social studies and pastoral theology.

The library of Ernst von Leyden (1832-1910), who was a physician and head of the 1st Medical Clinic of the Charité, contains 174 volumes about the history of medicine. The books can be found via Primus and they can be used in the research reading room.

Further Information

Franz von Liszt (1851-1919) was one of the most relevant teachers of criminal justice in Germany in the late 19th and early 20th century. This collection is currently in progress with new items being catalogued from time to time. The stock includes about 12.500 books about criminal justice and law.

This private collection contains about 1.200 volumes about history, philosophy and German and French linguistics as well as theology and a collection of fairy tales. Many of the books are rare and can be used in the research reading room upon request.

Via Primus you can find a list of the recorded stocks.

The George Meyer (1860-1923) library is a unique collection of several thousand books about emergency medical care, disease control and the history of medicine in general. Meyer is considered to be a pioneer of rescue and emergency medical care. The books can be used in the research reading room upon request.

Karl Muellenhoff (1818-1884) was a medievalist and professor of German studies. The collection comprises 350 volumes and can be used in the research reading room upon request.

The books that have already been catalogued can be found via Primus.

The collection can be used in the research reading room upon request. This collection comprises manuscripts from medieval and early modern times. The manuscripts can be used upon request. Some of the manuscripts have been digitized.

Further Information

The Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin University Library currently holds 52 Arabic, Persian and Ottoman manuscripts. The stock is based on the reference collection of Julius Ruska (1867-1949), who held a chair for History of Oriental Natural Sciences in Heidelberg.

The majority of the collection consists of manuscripts about mathematics, astronomy and alchemy as well as many reprographies from Turkish and German libraries. They are currently only documented in a printed catalogue.

Further Information

This collection contains portraits of professors who taught at the Berlin University. The earliest portraits date back to 1810 with new portraits being added to the present day. The collection also contains pictures of professors of the University of Dorpat as well as a few portraits of professors who taught at the Universities of Bern, Halle, Innsbruck, Königsberg, Leipzig, Linz, Prague, Vienna and Würzburg. The collection currently comprises about 4.400 portraits. The portraits can be used in the research reading room upon request. If you need a master copy in high resolution for printing please contact the Historical Collections department via rara@ub.hu-berlin.de.

The collection can be found via a special online catalogue. Please note that this catalogue is only available in German.

Further Information

Folklorist Lutz Röhrich (1922-2006) was the first professor for folklore at the Freiburg University and later head of the German archive of folksongs. His estate and library contains about 12.000 books and documents and about 20.000 slides. The collection has not been catalogued yet. Please contact the department if you would like to use items in the research reading room.

The Adolf Spamer library consists of about 1.850 volumes. Spamer (1883-1953) was an ethnologist and scholar of German studies. He taught German and cultural studies and was a member of the German academy of sciences. The books can be used in the research reading room upon request.

Via Primus you can find a list of the recorded stocks.

Further Information

This collection consists of transcripts and notes of lectures by students of the University in the 19th and 20th century. The notebooks pose as a valuable historical source about science and the history of education. Most of the several hundred volumes of have been digitized and can be accessed online. Some of the 400 volumes are located at the Erwin-Schrödinger-Zentrum.

Via Primus you can find a list of the recorded stocks.

The literary society (Literarischer Sonntagsverein) “Tunnel über der Spree” was founded in 1827 and held a large archive of about 13.000 handwritten documents and printed material. Some of the most famous members of the society were Theodor Fontane, Emanuel Geibel, Moritz Graf von Strachwitz, Christian Friedrich Scherenberg, Adolph Menzel and Paul Heyse, winner of a Nobel Prize.

Archival material can be found via a special online catalogue. Please note that this catalogue is only available in German.

Further Information

August Twesten (1789-1876), professor of theology, collected about 6.000 volumes from the 18th century. He taught in Bonn, Kiel and Berlin. The books can be used in the research reading room upon request.

The books that have already been catalogued can be found via Primus.

The Karl Wassmansdorf collection is located at the Campus Nord branch library. Karl Wassmannsdorf (1821-1906) was a sport scientist and historian who translated many works about the history of sports and gymnastics. The collection consists of about 530 volumes and can be used at the branch library.

Via Primus you can find a list of the recorded stocks.

Wilhelm Wattenbach (1819-1897) was a historian and paleographer who also taught at the University. He was a professor of historical auxiliary science. This professorship was connected to the Koppscher Apparat, on which our collection of deeds is based. The collection contains about 300 volumes, including official deeds and limited edition prints.

The books that have already been catalogued can be found via Primus and be used in the research reading room upon request.

Professor Wilhelm Wengler (1907-1995) owned about 9000 volumes of books and magazines about international civil law and public international law. The collection is located in the law branch library and can be used there.

The books that have already been catalogued can be found via Primus.

Karl Gustav Wenzel (1819-1881) was a lawyer who collected German classical literature including works by Lessing, Goethe and Schiller. The collection spans about 8000 copies and can be used in the research reading room upon request.

The private library of Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorf (1848-1931), a scholar of classical studies, comprises about 300 volumes. Many of the books include handwritten notes and annotations.He was principal of the University in 1915/1916 and president of the "Preussische Akademie der Wissenschaften".

The books can be used in the research reading room upon request.

Via Primus you can find a list of the recorded stocks.

Further Information