Address:
Göttingen University Archives
Papendiek 14
37073 Göttingen
www.uni-goettingen.de/universitaetsarchiv
Open: Monday to Friday 10 a.m. to 7 p.m
Guided tours: by appointment
contact: Dr. Holger Berwinkel
Tel.: 0551 39-5309
E-Mail: archiv@sub.uni-goettingen.de
The university archive functions as a state archive for the university. Its task is to take over the archive material from all the university's facilities, to index it and to make it usable. This includes all administrative documents that are of lasting value for the fulfillment of public tasks and historical research.
The holdings of the Göttingen University Archives are particularly valuable because they provide a complete record of the central university authorities since the university was founded in 1737 and have not been decimated by war losses or destruction. The value of the archive materials is likely to be inestimable. The holdings that have been preserved include the Board of Trustees (1733 - 1960), the Secretariat (1733 - 1930), the Rectorate (1930 - 1995), the Faculty of Theology, the Faculty of Law, the Faculty of Medicine, the Faculty of Philosophy, the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences as well as the University Court, Church Deputation and the University of Applied Sciences Social Sciences Wilhelmshaven-Rüstersiel. In addition, there are submissions of institute files as well as copy, official and business books of the university.
The university archives are extremely intensively used compared to other university archives. Its holdings serve as a source for university, scientific and disciplinary history, biographical research, regional history and genealogy. They are mainly used by students and lecturers at the University of Göttingen. Foreign scientists, writers, journalists, local and family researchers as well as interested citizens also form a complex spectrum of users. In addition to its service functions in research and teaching, the archive provides services for academic university administrations.
The archive has existed as a legacy registry of the university administration since 1772, and as a historical university archive since 1925. The first university archivist was Götz von Selle (1893 - 1956), who headed the archive part-time as an honorary professor until 1956. Until 1980, his successor, the legal historian Professor Wilhelm Ebel (1908 – 1980), carried out the duties of university archivist. It was not until 1986 that the archive management was made full-time.
Ulrich Hunger
