Partner institutions and the academic network Kooperationen und wissenschaftliche Verbindungen
A small institute cannot do its work alone: seals lie in one place and the charters they sealed in another, the hands of one scribe are scattered across several collections, and a laboratory needs objects to measure. The Institute has therefore worked through agreements since the 1950s, and has five kinds of them in force with fourteen institutions. Institutions are named in words throughout this page; this site carries no external links, and addresses should be obtained through library and archive finding aids.
1. The joint cataloguing agreement, 1971
The most important of the agreements was concluded in 1971 between the Institute and the archive administrations of Hannover, Brunswick and Hildesheim, and renewed in 1986 and 2004. Under it each institution describes its own charters using the Institute's card form and its vocabulary for dating; the Institute supplies duplicates of the cards, the institution supplies images or transcripts of what it holds; and where a description is disputed — most often the date range of an undated charter — one person from each side settles it together and both cards carry the result.
| Joined | Institution | Working of the agreement |
|---|---|---|
| 1971 | Hannover: the state archive | 6,400 duplicate cards supplied by the Institute; 12,000 images supplied by the archive. |
| 1971 | Brunswick: a branch of the state archive | 3,100 duplicates; 5,600 images. When the branch was merged in 1998 the agreement passed to the successor. |
| 1971 | Hildesheim: the city archive | 2,800 duplicates; 4,100 images. The church records held there are arranged with the Institute's help. |
| 1971 | Wolfenbüttel: the city archive, in the old archive building | 2,300 duplicates; 3,400 images. The two institutions stand in the same lane and work together daily; the archive's uncatalogued charters are being sorted with the Institute. |
| 1986 | Hildesheim: a church archive office | 1,900 duplicates; since 2022 the Institute has helped to arrange three of its parish collections (project WI-2022-06). |
| 2004 | Goslar: the coin department of a municipal museum | The Institute arranges and describes the collection; 1,240 coins are on long loan to the Institute, the museum keeping title. |
| 2004 | Wolfenbüttel: a local historical society | 1,200 duplicates; the society lends its collection of old photographs and local publications for the Institute to describe. |
One clause of the agreement, often quoted
Article 4 requires that where a date cannot be established, one of three expressions be used — about, probably, not determinable — and that no date be written down simply to fill the space. The negotiations of 1971 are recorded in the archive (Akt 17/1). One institution began by arguing that the date column ought to be filled in every case. The Institute's representative replied that a blank on a card costs less than a wrong date in a history book. The sentence was written into the minutes and settled the wording that is still in use.
2. Universities
| From | Institution | What is done together |
|---|---|---|
| 1965 | Hannover: the department of history of a university | Reading courses on original documents, one or two a term. From 2025 the joint holder of DFG project WI-2024-07; the project room is on the first floor of the Institute. |
| 1979 | Brunswick: the materials department of a technical university | Advice on the laboratory's methods of testing; the X-ray fluorescence instrument is checked by the university every two years. |
| 2003 | Hildesheim: a university course in historical sources | The class visits once a year to see the reading room and the laboratory and to take part in the object class; most of the Institute's student assistants come from it. |
3. Corresponding associates
Since 1971 the Institute has appointed corresponding associates from among scholars in partner institutions who work on its projects over many years. The appointment carries no salary and no post. It gives the right to call for duplicates of the cards, to attend the house colloquium, and to publish work arising from an Institute project in the series. There are seven at present and they come to Wolfenbüttel once a year for three days; the list, with the projects each is concerned with, is on the staff page, Table 3.
| Period | Practice |
|---|---|
| 1971–1989 | The number of associates rose from three to six; the annual meeting lasted a day and settled the division of work. |
| 1989–2004 | With the founding of the series, associates could publish in it; the meeting became three days and a session for examining objects was added. |
| 2004–2019 | Six or seven associates. The terms were revised in 2004 to say expressly that the appointment carries no salary, no post and no authority to act for the Institute. |
| 2020–2021 | No meeting for two years; progress reports were exchanged in writing three times. |
| From 2022 | Meetings resumed; the most recent was from 27 to 29 June 2024, and the next is fixed for 25 to 27 June 2025. |
4. The image exchange agreement, 2016
Under the agreement of 2016 with four archive administrations in the Land, an institution sends the Institute images of its charters, the Institute describes them and returns a concordance between the descriptions and the image numbers. The images remain the property of the institution that sent them, and the Institute may not pass the images themselves to anyone else; it may supply descriptions and index information.
| Batch | Completed | What happened |
|---|---|---|
| First, four institutions | Jun 2023 | 18,400 images; descriptions absorbed into KI-1; seventy-four images returned for recapture because of folds or faulty focus. |
| Second | in progress | 2,400 images checked for numbering and completeness; eighty-six returned for recapture; expected to finish in autumn 2025. |
| Third, proposed | not fixed | To be discussed with the institutions once the second batch is done. The Institute's staff being what it is, no annual quota is promised. |
5. Exchange of publications
The exchange of periodicals with institutions abroad began in 1923; there are eleven exchanges at present and they are listed, with the year each began, on the reference library page, Table 3. The principle is a roughly equal volume of print and no money changing hands. The Institute does not use an exchange as a means of asking for unpublished material.
6. Working with the Institute
| Form | Suited to | What it involves |
|---|---|---|
| Joint cataloguing | Public archives, libraries, museums | Your charters are described on the Institute's card form, with duplicates and a common vocabulary supplied. An agreement is signed; the text may be had for €3.00. |
| Image exchange | Public archives | As in section 4. Numbers are limited by the staff available. |
| Work on a project | Universities and research institutes | Joint application for funding, or a division of the work, on a defined subject within the Institute's four fields. A proposal of one or two pages is required, and one paper at the house colloquium. |
| Testing and advice | Public and academic institutions | See the terms of Division VI; free for partner institutions. |
| Corresponding associate | Scholars in long-term co-operation | Nominated by a division and appointed by the director. Not more than eight at a time; there are seven. |
| Student assistantship and placement | Enrolled students | Two to four a year, eight hours a week. Vacancies are advertised in the diary in February and August. |
One limitation, stated in advance. The Institute has had about twenty-one posts since 2004 and cannot take on more work than those posts allow. It would rather work for years on a few subjects with a few partners than sign agreements it cannot carry out. A proposal is answered within fifteen working days with one of three answers — the Institute can take this on, it can take it on once a named project is finished, or it cannot take it on — and in the third case a reason is given, together with the names of institutions better placed to help, supplied in writing and without an introduction.
Compiled by the academic office from the texts of the agreements and from correspondence; last checked on 1 September 2026 and next due in 2027.
Page WI-SER-04 · compiled by M. Tiedemann · read by the director's office · last modified 18 September 2026