Archivportal-D Germany's National Archives Portal (Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek)

History and Founding

Archivportal-D is a sub-portal of the Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek (DDB), Germany's digital cultural heritage infrastructure. The project was funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) and developed collaboratively from October 2012 to April 2017, with the Landesarchiv Baden-Württemberg serving as project manager alongside FIZ Karlsruhe – Leibniz-Institut für Informationsinfrastruktur, the Marburg School of Archives (Archivschule Marburg), the Landesarchiv Nordrhein-Westfalen, the Sächsisches Staatsarchiv, and the DDB itself. The portal went live in September 2014 and entered regular operation from May 2017, when it became the central reference portal for German archival records online. In 2016 it won the Heritage in Motion award for best website or online content in the European multimedia cultural competition.

Collections and Holdings

Archivportal-D provides access to information about approximately 2,500 archives across all German federal states and to more than 30 million archival records from partner institutions. Its collections span federal and Länder state archives, municipal and community archives, ecclesiastical archives, economic archives, and independent private collections. Partner archives include the major federal and state archival institutions, and the collection is growing continuously. Alongside general archival search, the portal hosts dedicated thematic portals covering the Weimar Republic and the Wiedergutmachung (reparations) for National Socialist injustice, bringing together relevant finding aids and digitised materials from multiple institutions on each theme.

Relevance to Journalism and Media History

The portal provides access to extensive documentation on the political and social history of Germany including press-related collections across its many partner archives. Researchers studying twentieth-century German journalism, broadcasting, political propaganda, and media policy can locate relevant finding aids across numerous state and federal collections through the portal's unified search interface.

Access and Usage

Archivportal-D is freely accessible online in German and English. Users can search for individual archives by region or type, browse finding aids, view digitised documents, and access personalised features such as watchlists and download functions. Where records are not digitised, the portal provides contact information to request in-person access at the relevant institution.