Archiv des Deutschen Museums Deutsches Museum Archive

History and Founding

The Deutsches Museum was founded on 28 June 1903 by Munich engineer Oskar von Miller as an initiative of the Association of German Engineers (VDI). From its inception, the museum's collections were supported by a library and archive open to the public. The archive has formed a central pillar of the institution since the museum's founding, and holdings were built largely through donations and bequests from scientists, engineers, and industry. The museum's permanent building on Museumsinsel opened on 2 May 1925. The archive today operates as part of the Leibniz Association network and participates in a coordinated strategy of collective acquisition across German archives.

Collections and Holdings

The Archiv des Deutschen Museums is one of the world's leading specialised archives for the history of science and technology. Holdings span approximately 4.7 kilometres of shelving in the library building on Museum Island and encompass 285 collections of private papers from renowned scientists, engineers, and inventors; some 22,000 autographs and deeds dating from the 13th to the 20th century; more than 160,000 trade catalogues and product literature from approximately 14,000 companies; 120,000 plans and technical drawings from the 18th to the 20th century; 12,000 files on aviation and spaceflight documentation; more than one million photographs; and over 3,500 reports on German industry and aviation research. The oldest document in the archive is an Albertus Magnus codex on physics from the 13th century.

Notable Materials

Of particular significance are the personal estate of museum founder Oskar von Miller, the papers of Nobel Prize-winning physicist Rudolf Mößbauer (1929–2011), and the estate of physicist Paul Kienle (1931–2013). The archive holds extensive company archives from major German industrial firms and scientific institutions, as well as a portrait collection of 10,000 likenesses of scientists, inventors, and technicians, and a collection of 3,000 medals.

Access and Usage

Archive holdings are catalogued through the Deutsches Museum Digital portal at digital.deutsches-museum.de, where finding aids for approximately 160 holdings are available online, with selected materials fully digitised. Research enquiries can be directed to the archive by email. The archive is open to accredited researchers.