Springer donates archive to Central and Regional Library Berlin

The historical archive of the scientific publishing house Springer will soon be kept by Berlin’s Central and Regional Library. The whole collection is said to include the correspondence archive and more than 15,000 books published by Springer up to 1945. The historical collection also includes around 1,250 licensed editions and journals, reviews, translation files and accounting records.

Derk Haank, CEO of Springer Science+Business Media, said: 'By donating Springer’s archive to Berlin’s Central and Regional Library, the company is entrusting this valuable historical treasure to an institution that specialises in the professional restoration of historical documents to make them available to the public. Springer wants to ensure that the collection is made accessible to the public, and is pleased to be entrusting it to the library’s competent staff, who will be able to ensure that the collection is maintained in the best possible manner for the long term.'

The first delivery includes the oldest author correspondence from when the publishing house was founded in 1842 up to 1936. The historical documents are initially being taken to Leipzig, where the material will undergo restoration work. The remaining documents will be moved to Berlin during a second stage scheduled for the summer of 2009.

Look out for more details of this move in the August/September issue of Research Information magazine.