Digitization of the registers of the University of Göttingen

• Applicant: Dr. Christian Fieseler, since 1/2024
• Subject Area: Early Modern History ; Modern and Contemporary History ; History of Science
• Term: from 2020 to 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 442861192

The aim of the project is the complete digitization of the registers of the Georg August University Göttingen and the description of the contained writs („Reskripte“) by means of structural data. The 20 registers date from 1734 to 1866, when the University of Göttingen was a centre of European Enlightenment and one of the leading universities in Germany. With their instructions referred to as „Reskripte“, the government of Hanover regulated all affairs of its state university in detail. The university collected copies of these letters in its registers. There are more than 9,000 writs on 14,000 pages reflecting 130 years of European history of science, universities, and society. The content covers the internal and external development of teaching and research as well as finance and constitution, personnel matters of professors, and political crises such as the dismissal of the Göttingen Seven; at the same time provides micro-historical insights into the everyday lives of teachers, students, and the surrounding urban society. These volumes are a central fund of Göttingen University Archive, a division of Göttingen State and University Library, but were so far only inadequately accessible in the original. In addition to image digitization, each individual writ will be described by structural data in the form of summaries (Regesten). This will allow for systematically searching and using the volumes for the first time. The digitized materials will be available online via the Göttingen Digitization Centre and various archives portals.

• DFG Programme: Cataloguing and Digitisation (Scientific Library Services and Information Systems)
• Co-Investigator: Dr. Holger Berwinkel
• Ehemaliger Antragsteller: Professor Dr. Wolfram Horstmann, until 12/2023