Registers of Karlsruhe and Mannheim - Historical sources concerning the center and periphery oft two former residences

• Applicants: Dr. Ernst Otto Bräunche; Professor Dr. Ulrich Nieß
• Subject Area: Modern and Contemporary History
• Term: from 2019 to 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 415716921

The Karlsruhe Municipal Archives and the MARCHIVUM Mannheim in cooperation intend to digitize historical registers of the cities of Karlsruhe, former residence of the Margraves of Baden, and Mannheim, former residence of the Elector Palantine and later part of Baden. The main objective of the multi-annual project is to provide these valuable sources with focus on the 19th century for a broad scientific community.The diverse and historically important registers allow studies of the reciprocal networks and relationships between the two cities and their surrounding areas. Observations can be made concerning the process of industrialization in the urban centers and its effects on the rural environment or how did the village elites react to tendencies of assimilation. For both archives the registers are key fonds. They offer a wide range of information: “Bürgerbücher” or lists of residents provide details concerning the composition of the population and the social stratification, diaries from medics or meat inspectors as well as books of assistants and servants illustrate the work of different professional groups. There are far more types of registers such as lists of fire-insurances or burials.The Karlsruhe Municipal Archives plan to digitize a selection of historical registers including the registers of the core city of Karlsruhe and ten incorporated villages and towns. These are 2.202 volumes altogether comprising 143 serial meters and 1.7 million pages. The MARCHIVUM Mannheim intends to digitize 811 registers of the core city and eight suburbs comprising 51 serial meters and 475.000 pages.After digitization the resulting data will be imported into the archival databases of Karlsruhe (findbuch.net) and Mannheim (ScopeQuery) as well as in Archiportal-D and Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek where it can be accessed online. That way the project will provide convenient access to important and rich sources, which were neglected so far.

• DFG Programme: Cataloguing and Digitisation (Scientific Library Services and Information Systems)