Dear Colleagues,
Following the recent conference on ‘Die DDR aus
britischer Perspektive’ (July 2006) and the gift of a large amount of material
from the Stiftung Aufarbeitung der
SED-Diktatur, the Centre for East German Studies (CEGS) at the University of
Reading is pleased to announce a new area of
co-operation.
The Stiftung
has for years supported the publication of a series of volumes cataloguing
archives and other significant collections relevant to research in GDR, post-GDR
and Cold War studies. They are published as a Vademecum, and the next volume will be
devoted to the
This publication will be organised by CEGS and offers an
excellent opportunity to publicise relevant collections. Like the other volumes,
it will, we hope, become an essential reference volume in this area of research.
It is anticipated that the volume will also be published
on-line.
We know that we all have to look to our personal and
departmental research, but there is a life beyond the next RAE, and we would be
grateful for your co-operation.
The Vademecum
will focus specifically on material relating to the following
areas:
a) Political history of the
GDR
b) The division of
c) GDR culture in
a political context
d) Transformation processes in the Neue Bundesländer after
1989.
Emphasis will lie on research material, so most normal
University libraries will be excluded, but if you are aware of anything in your
library or institution that is out of the ordinary this will be included. Random
examples of the sort of material that we would be interested in cataloguing (and
that may not be as widely publicised as they deserve) include the following:
Stefan Heym archive in Cambridge, various collections in the Public Record
Office, the Childs-McCauley-Wallace Newspaper Archive at the University of
Nottingham, and the Glaessner Collection at KCL, as well as the archive of the
Centre here at Reading.
We are aware that the vademecum involves a search that is
potentially open-ended and we are casting our net very wide, because it is
inevitable that we do not know of the many possibly highly specialised
collections that exist. We would be grateful, therefore, if you could not only
provide details of any collections/archives/libraries for which you are
personally or professionally responsible, but also offer any suggestions
concerning other areas or institutions of which you are aware.
Attached below is the questionnaire. I am sorry that we cannot send this directly via the list as an actual attachment. If you would prefer an attachment get in touch with me personally and we will send one.
We would be grateful if you would complete it and return
it to CEGS as soon as possible. I would also appreciate it if you sent copies of
this e-mail to anyone else who might be interested. Material will be collated by
Dr John Wieczorek, who undertook the 1995 publication GDR Studies in the United Kingdom (CEGS
Occasional Publications No. 1). We intend compilation
of the vademecum to be
completed by July 31st 2007.
With thanks in advance for your
co-operation.
As stated above, we are interested in material on the
following areas:
a) Political history of the
GDR
b) The division of
c) GDR culture in a political
context
d) Transformation processes in the Neue Bundesländer after
1989.
We are provisionally dividing addressees into five sections, with cross-referencing and multiple entries depending on the information gathered.
Libraries
Archives
Research centres
Organisations
Museums
Libraries. We
are looking for libraries (university and other) that have collections of
GDR-relevant material that you consider more significant than the standard
selection of texts for undergraduate readers. This includes anything on any of
the four subjects given above. If you have had a number of post-graduates
completing dissertations on any of the above subjects, the chances are that your
holdings will deserve mention.
Archives.
Please inform us of any collections of material that relate directly to any of
the above thematic areas.
Research
centres. Self-explanatory. Please inform us of any research
centres.
Organisations/Societies. This includes
any organisation devoted in whole or part to encouraging personal or academic or
local interest in any of the above areas. Any town or district twinned with
somewhere in
Museums. It is unlikely that there are many provincial museums with a special collection devoted to these areas, but if you know of any, please inform us. If in doubt, please let us make the decision whether to include or not.
_________________________________
Questionnaire
Please complete the following. Not all questions will apply to your organisation / library / archive / institution. Simply answer those that are relevant, and also (a special plea from the Stiftung) do not attempt any formatting – it will only have to be unpicked afterwards.
If appropriate, and if you have an up-to-date web page which contains all or most of the required information, please just send me the web address. I will complete the questionnaire myself and return it to you for confirmation.
Name of institution:
Type of institution: [This will not be published as a
separate field, only used by us to ensure that our entry is placed in the
appropriate section.]
address:
tel:
fax:
e-mail:
website/homepage of
institution:
head of institution:
e-mail of head:
contact (if different from
above):
e-mail of contact:
other staff members:
financing (if applicable):
(in case of archive or library) institution’s holdings or
collections. Please summarise, indicating particular strengths, in less than 100
words.
(in case of research centre) institution’s area(s) of
activity. Please summarise in less than 100 words.
(in case of organisation) aim and activities of
organisation. Please summarise in less than 100
words.
opening hours:
regular publications:
Please return to [log in to unmask]
Thanks
John
Wieczorek