The collections of the German Historical Museum

The Collection "Documents 1" comprises about 35,000 printed and hand-written documents of the history of monarchies, economies, and everyday lives prior to 1914. The oldest manuscript -- the "Collectio Anselmo dedicata" -- dates back to the 9th century. The variety of the collection ranges from valuable medieval documents to small and inconspicuous religious icons and consists of legal documents, accounting books, cook books, files, autographs, albums, edicts, leaflets, newspapers, magazines, calenders, advertisements, post cards, caricatures, memorial sheets, programs, maps and many more.

Documents written on paper or parchment by scriveners to the church, monarchs, the nobility and townships remind us of wars, and peace treaties, estates, and privileges. The original document of the German constitution of 1849, for example, recalls the failed revolution of 1848/49 and the ill-fated attempt to establish a new German state.

Documents of everyday life -- military and civil passports, vaccination cards, travel books, certificates of apprenticeship and baptism, letters of citizenship, and diplomas -- show what life was like in schools, while travelling or when craftsmen took to the road. They also inform us about the progress of medicine and about the life of soldiers.

Those who are interested in autographs may study the hand-written documents of celebrities, be it the delicate handwriting of Queen Luise of Prussia or the more firm hand of Otto von Bismarck, who would often use a pencil. Books and diaries give information about everyday life during times of war, unspectacular facts about the lives of women, and the toils of traveling in the past.

A small collection of family registers and poetry albums with their scientific, literary, trivial, and sometimes even erotic entries tell us a lot about their time and show the change of meaning of the albums since they first appeared in the 16th century.

A broad space in the collection is dedicated to printed material. On hand are an abundance of decrees, edicts, mandates, with which the authorities showered their subjects, as well as newspapers, leaflets, pamphlets, menus, invitation cards, and other more casual documents. One piece of global importance is certainly the American Declaration of Independence, printed in 1776 in German!

The dissemination of printed maps changed the view of the world. Maps from the 16th to the 18th centuries came from famous cartographers and publishers, such as Sebastian Münster, Braun and Hogenberg, Gerhard Mercator, Abraham Ortelius, Joost der Hondt, Matthäus Merian, Willem Janszoon Blaeu, Danckerts, Peter Schenk, Johann Baptist Homann, Tobias Lotter or Georg Matthäus Seutter, and still impress today's observer with their artistic representation. The 19th century is represented by many political maps, city maps, railroad maps, and ordnance maps.

Have a look at the archive.