Wolfenbüttel, 7 October 2024
The innovative project looks at the knowledge practices of educated women in the 18th century, a topic that has received little attention to date. It thus fills in a major gap in the research. In recent years, scholars have taken an increasing interest in the female ownership of books, yet to date there has been no large-scale investigation of their scholarship practices, literary inclinations or the languages they preferred to read in. By creating an in-depth catalogue of sources that include inventories, catalogues and lists of acquisitions as well as preserved books, letters and diaries, the project will provide new insights into the scholarship and communications networks of female rulers.
The project will be conducted in close cooperation with the Trier Center for Digital Humanities. Through the support of various libraries and archives throughout the German-speaking world, which, alongside the HAB, play a central role in the logging and analysis of the libraries of female rulers, researchers will gain access to the necessary historical documents.
In a three-year pilot phase (October 2024 – October 2027) a digital research platform will be created where the data from the reconstructed libraries can be systematically recorded and analysed. This platform is designed not only to promote scholarly exchange but also to open up new perspectives on the role of female rulers in the knowledge society of the 18th century. The project thus makes an important contribution to rendering the cultural legacy and intellectual achievements of women in the German-speaking world in the 18th century more visible.
Image: Herzogin Elisabeth Sophie Marie portrays herself as a Bible collector. In Ludolph Otto Knoch, Bibliotheca biblica (Braunschweig, 1752), frontispiece, copper engraving. Herzog August Bibliothek, BA I, 633.
