Historische Arbeitsstelle (Department of historical research)

The Historische Arbeitsstelle with its historical collections of images and documents is one of the world’s most significant archives on the history of sciences with a focus on biology. The department, which is closely connected to the scientific collections of the Museum für Naturkunde, comprises documents covering more than 200 years of national and international history of science. Letters, administration documents, itemised lists, expedition reports and journals are complemented by bequests, teaching material, maps, drawings, photos and a comprehensive collection of historical portraits.
History

The department was first established and run as an administration archive for the Museum’s directors, and its contents go back to 1810, when the University of Berlin was founded. They began to be used and indexed in the 1930s, and since 1964, the department was run as a separate curatorship, first under the name Historische Bild- und Schriftgutsammlungen (historical collections of images and documents) and from 1994 as Historische Arbeitsstelle (Department of historical research).

Exchanges of letters, memorandums, invoices, reports and other documents were collected here and later complemented by material from bequests, letters or teaching material from the various curatorships. The collections now include letters, administrative documents, expedition reports and journals, maps, portraits, photographs and drawings from three centuries and all parts of the world.
Mission

The Department of historical research is a collection for research and has the mission to view the vast documentation of an estimated 30 million items stored in the Museum, index it, research it and make it available for further research.

Correspondences, journals or itemised collection lists that belonged to explorers and collectors of the 19th century are of special interest, as these documents are often the only existing proof of origin of collection items on which modern biodiversity research is based.

The collections provide not only globally accessible research infrastructure for historical and scientific research, but they are also gaining importance as a resource for other cultural and artistic purposes.

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