Research data Forschungsdaten: Verzeichnis, Erschließung, Bereitstellung
This page is provided under the general requirement that public research institutions describe the data they hold. It is a catalogue and an explanation: the Institute operates no data repository, offers nothing for download and provides no query form. Data are supplied on written application, and then as image files, copies or transcripts, or by consultation on the premises. Most of what the Institute holds is paper cards, microfilm and photographic negatives, and a substantial part of the archive of files is closed to consultation for a period of years.
Please read this first. The table below tells you what exists, how it is described and how to ask for it — not the data themselves. Where the column headed "availability" says on application, on the premises or not supplied, that is the answer to the question, and there is no point in writing first to ask whether there is "a digital version". Every dataset listed has a reference number of the form described in § 1.2 of the internal data rules; quoting it saves a great deal of time.
1. Catalogue of datasets
| Reference | Dataset | Dates covered | Records | Form | Availability | Updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| KI-1 | Descriptions of charters, Overbeck index and supplements | 1248–1798 | 88,412 | cards, microfilm, images | on application, item by item | weekly |
| KI-3 | Descriptions of coins | c. 1100–1900 | 41,206 | cards, images | on application | weekly |
| KI-4 | Dies and seal impressions | 1250–1800 | 8,030 | cards, impressions | on the premises | monthly |
| KI-6 | Authority file, places and institutions | not limited | 10,260 | cards, extracts | on application, extracts | twice yearly |
| KI-7 | Scribes and hands | 12th–16th c. | 2,014 | cards, images | on application, extracts | twice yearly |
| KI-8 | Manuscript bindings, three supplements | 9th–18th c. | 41,206 | cards, microfilm | on application | not at present |
| KI-10 | Test records, index only, no measured values | 2009– | 18,740 | paper, spreadsheet | on application, index only | monthly |
| SG-1 | Archive of seal impressions | 1200–1800 | 2,380 | objects | on the premises | by batch |
| FM I–VI | Working papers of the coin catalogue, fascicles 1 to 6 | 1100–1620 | 6,180 | paper, images | on application, published parts | by volume |
| MK 1–3 | Microfilm of the cards and indexes | 1248–1900 | 1,340 reels | microfilm | on the premises | every 5 years |
| ED-2 | Register of corrections to the editions | 1968– | 1,140 | paper | on application, extracts | annual |
| UM 2019– | Environmental record of the stores | 2019– | 1,470 readings | paper, instrument record | on application, summary | weekly |
"On application" means that a request may be made under section 2 below and that the Institute, having considered it, will supply images, copies or transcripts. "On the premises" means that the material may not be taken away and is not supplied at a distance. "Not supplied" means that a closure period or the rights of a third party prevent it, except where the law requires otherwise. The figures in the "records" column are counted as on the Division V page: a card written for one item in several hands counts as several entries, and attached cards are not counted.
2. Volume of data
| Item | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 to 31 Aug. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cards in the eleven indexes | 226,144 | 232,070 | 235,180 | 236,540 |
| of which added during the year | 377 | 318 | 204 | 96 |
| Digital images | 211,077 | 221,090 | 223,450 | 224,100 |
| Silver negatives | 61,415 | 61,415 | 61,415 | 61,415 |
| Microfilm, reels | 1,284 | 1,340 | 1,340 | 1,340 |
| Electronic text, transcribed pages | 41,700 | 43,100 | 44,800 | 45,700 |
| Tables held in the internal database | 14 | 15 | 15 | 15 |
| Total volume of data, estimated | 4.4 TB | 4.6 TB | 4.7 TB | 4.7 TB |
| Applications for data received | 108 | 112 | 98 | 51 |
| of which granted | 92 | 95 | 79 | 38 |
The figures for the years to 2024 are given as they were published, for comparison. The rise in the total volume of data after 2025 is not new photography — none has been taken since December 2025 — but the renumbering and checking of files already held; the figure will not grow further until capture resumes. The total volume includes several resolutions of the same object and is not offered as a figure of merit; the manner of arriving at it is set out in Division V's media report of 2021. Applications refused were refused chiefly because the material was within a closure period, or because the applicant had not said what the data were for or how personal data would be handled. The numbers and the reasons are summarised each year in the "correspondence" section of the Mitteilungen; individual refusals are not published.
3. Description and metadata
Description follows the internal data rules, third edition, summarised under Statute and regulations, section 3. Data supplied to others are accompanied by the following.
| Element | Always supplied? | Remarks and examples |
|---|---|---|
| Reference number | Yes | For example KI-1/44120/03. Every file supplied carries one. |
| Name of the dataset | Yes | As in Table 1 and in Division V's list of indexes; no alternative names are used. |
| Date, or range of dates | Yes | Expressed in the three forms required by § 2.7 of the data rules: about, probably, not determinable. |
| Holding institution and former shelfmark | Yes | "WINDDEW.LAB" for the Institute's own holdings; the owner's name and shelfmark where material is on loan or the image came from elsewhere. |
| Capture parameters | With images | Resolution, colour mode, whether grey and colour cards were included, the date of capture and the operator's code. |
| May the image be altered? | Yes | Images are supplied with the words "not to be altered". Publication of a detail or an enlargement requires a separate licence. |
| Who described it, and when | Yes | The list of operators' codes is not published; a code stays with the same person over the years, which lets a researcher see whether the house style has been applied consistently. |
| Points in doubt | Yes, where any | Under § 7.5 a doubt is kept, with the name of the person who raised it and the date. It is never removed to make a record look tidy. |
| Measured values (fineness, specific gravity) | Yes, where any | Accompanied by the semi-quantitative warning and by the standard used for any conversion. Without that warning the figure may not be quoted as absolute. |
| Closure period | Yes | States whether the material is closed and, if so, the year in which it opens. |
4. Applying for data
| Step | What happens |
|---|---|
| 1. Write | By e-mail to benutzung [at] winddew.lab or by post to the academic office, marking the message "data". There is no application form, and nothing can be submitted through this website. |
| 2. What to say | Your name and institution; the subject and purpose of the research; the data wanted, as precisely as possible, with reference numbers; the form and resolution required; whether personal data are involved and how they will be handled; and how the result will be published — article, report, exhibition, teaching. |
| 3. Consideration | The division concerned reports, the academic office checks, and anything involving a closure period or the rights of a third party goes to the director. Routine applications are answered within ten working days, those involving a closure period within twenty. |
| 4. Supply | Image files, on media sent by post or by an agreed transfer method; or copies; or transcripts. Raw data files and database exports are not supplied. |
| 5. Charges | Free for research, teaching and public institutions, beyond which the cost of materials is charged; other uses are charged under section 4.4 of the rules of use. No receipts other than an invoice, and no card payments. |
| 6. Time | Images already captured are posted within four to six weeks, the despatch and the checking being done by two people who have other work; material that would have to be captured cannot be supplied at all while capture is stopped; copies from microfilm within fifteen working days, unchanged. |
Three things the Institute is not. It is not a data centre: it does not take in other people's data for safekeeping and does not offer a deposit service. Its card indexes are not a bibliographic database: they contain no records of books or periodicals, and the library's own catalogue is still on cards, as described under the reference library. And it does not supply data in bulk or through a programming interface: requests of that kind are answered by pointing to the procedure above, item by item.
5. Conditions of use, and how to cite
| Matter | Rule |
|---|---|
| Citing a card entry | WINDDEW.LAB, Wolfenbüttel, descriptions of charters, reference KI-1/44120/03; consulted 1 September 2026. |
| Citing test data | WINDDEW.LAB, Division VI, test record, reference KI-10/…, to be cited as semi-quantitative; date consulted. |
| Citing an image | The reference number and the words "not to be altered" must be reproduced, and the source and date given in the caption. |
| Acknowledgement | Work that has had substantial help from a member of staff should name that person. The Institute does not ask for an offprint but is glad of one. |
| Passing material on | Data supplied may not be passed to a third party or incorporated into a database or platform offered to others. |
| Commercial use | Requires written permission. The Institute considers such applications liberally but reserves the right to refuse. |
| Corrections | Where a conclusion published on the strength of the Institute's data has to be corrected, write and say so: the correction goes into the register of corrections (ED-2) and is noted in the next Mitteilungen. |
6. Disclaimer
- Research statements, not findings of fact. Descriptions, dates and test data are scholarly statements, and their degree of certainty is marked as the data rules require. Conclusions drawn from them are the user's responsibility.
- No authentication. Neither these data nor any part of them may be used to authenticate an object, to value it or as evidence in a sale.
- No warranty of completeness. The card indexes have been built up item by item over more than a century and their coverage varies with the material; there are gaps, as in KI-1 for the years 1908 to 1912, where only duplicates survive. A figure in Table 1 is not a statement about how much material of that period exists.
- Rights of others. The Institute claims rights only in its own descriptions and images. Rights in the objects belong to the holding institution or to a third party, whose consent must be obtained separately; the Institute does not obtain it on an applicant's behalf.
- No new images can be supplied for the present. Capture ceased in December 2025 with the departure of the technician who did it, and the post may not be filled. An application for an object not already photographed will be kept on file and answered if capture resumes, but no date can be given.
- No undertaking to keep data available. The Institute may change what it supplies if media deteriorate, if the rules are revised or if a closure period applies. Data already supplied are not maintained or updated.
The catalogue, the figures and the metadata elements on this page were compiled by Division V and read by the director. The next check is due in March 2027. Because the Institute is small, and smaller since 2026, this page is revised twice a year; temporary changes — a dataset withdrawn for a few weeks, for instance — are not announced here, and an enquiry will get the current answer.
Questions about the content of the data should go to the head of Division V, Dr Andersen, extension 41; questions about applying for it, to the academic office, extension 0.
Page WI-DATA-01 · compiled by S. Andersen and M. Tiedemann · read by the director's office · last modified 18 September 2026