Cataloging and Digitisation of the papers of Karl Lamprecht

• Applicant: Dr. Renate Vogt
• Term: from 2015 to 2017
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 270315530

Karl Lamprecht (1856 - 1915) was one of the most innovative and idiosyncratic historians of his time. He is known as one of the precursors of research both in the history of economics and the history of culture and civilisation. Following the example of US American scholars he was a pioneer of a comprehensive view of history ("cultural history"), who contributed to transforming academic practice. His methodological approaches had a strong impact on other disciplines (sociology, economics) and due to his manifold connections and relations they also had a positive response from abroad. However, his impact on research in the German historical community at that time remained rather limited, mainly because of the Methodenstreit (struggle over methods, starting in 1895). His oeuvre has only been rediscovered and appreciated since the 1960s.Today Lamprecht is being greatly valued in the new cultural histories. All introductions into the science of history discuss his ideas. The voluminous and extensively used posthumous papers of Karl Lamprecht have been owned by Bonn University Library since 1957. They have been rounded out by two valuable complements in 2010 and 2012. Thus the complete known posthumous papers are owned by a public institution and have been made available for research for the first time. Cataloguing and digitising the most important items of the posthumous papers to make them available in electronic form are an urgent desideratum in order to allow better access to research on Lamprecht in Germany and abroad. Cataloguing and digitising Lamprecht's posthumous papers will probably stimulate researching and exploring in particular the roots of cultural history in Germany.

• DFG Programme: Cataloguing and Digitisation (Scientific Library Services and Information Systems)