Dr. phil. Lorenz Beck
www.archiv-berlin.mpg.de
Phone: +49 30 8413-3701
Fax: +49 30 8413-3700
Archives
Archives of the Max Planck Society
The Archives document the scientific work of the Kaiser Wilhelm Society / Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science. The Archives hold not only documentation from the Administrative Headquarters, but also from the institutes and research units. The Archives focus primarily on preserving the legacy of outstanding personalities who were once active in the KWS/MPS. The goal is to open up the contents of the Archives and make them available after copyright expiration.
As a service unit the Archives support visitors in their search for information on the history of scientific and on the analysis of research organization and policy by providing documents and information. Internally, the Archives function as the memory bank of the Max Planck Society. In its capacity as a research unit, the Archives conduct research for the purpose of advising the President, Administrative Headquarters and, above all, the institutes in dealing with their history. The Archives help prepare publications and exhibits and assist foreign scientists and researchers, while at the same time focusing on the history of the individuals and institutes of the Kaiser Wilhelm Society / Max Planck Society and the research structures and disciplines caught between politics and society. The Archive publicizes the results of its work in the handbook "Archiv zur Geschichte der Max-Planck-Gesellschaft". In addition to these aids for the researcher which include in particular chronicles, source inventories, bibliographies, membership lists, and pictorial documentation, the Archives also publish lectures in the "Dahlemer Archivgespräche". The Archives also cooperate on the series "Berichte und Mitteilungen der Max-Planck-Gesellschaft". Meanwhile the Archives also contribute to the work on Pallas Athene. Moreover the Archives are active in public relations work, that is, in explaining knowledge-oriented basic research that is widely open to application through collections of lectures and colloquia and by offering tours through the Archives (occasionally expanded to science history walks through German Oxford). Furthermore, students at all three Berlin universities are introduced to archive evaluation techniques (historical auxiliary science of the modern age, archival science) in seminars and receive an exemplary introduction into the history of science.
