Princesses' Libraries and Knowledge Practices in the German-speaking Lands of the 18th Century: Reconstruction, Function, and Meaning

• Applicants: Professor Dr. Peter Burschel; Dr. Joëlle Weis
• Subject Area: Early Modern History
• Term: since 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 534456186

The aim of this project is to investigate knowledge practices and knowledge organisation of 18th century princely women based on the reconstructions of their libraries. This long-term project combines digital indexing and bibliographic data with hermeneutic research. A digital research platform will be will be established in which the extracted data on the copies and further bibliographic as well as biographic data can be recorded and accessed. This systematic reconstruction of the collections will, for the first time, enable quantifying and comparative statements on book ownership and the book practices of princely women. Bibliographic information on the books studied will be supplemented by copy-specific information (e.g. provenance characteristics or reading traces) and biographical data on the women collectors. Thus, knowledge and communication networks of princely women can be researched beyond individual protagonists for the first time. Based on the extracted data, six monographs on aspects of this topic, will be created during the project period. This large-scale project will structure and publish the data of 99 private libraries, making it freely accessible for researchers to reuse digitally. Additionally, the data repository of the digital research platform can be expanded by external contributors.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• Co-Investigator: Professorin Dr. Ulrike Gleixner