Library and image archive

Collection

The museum library has a collection of approximately 64,000 books and magazines spanning the 15th to the 21st century.

The collection features publications from the fields of art, history, numismatics, archaeology and natural history. A special focus is on publications about the history of the city of Magdeburg. The old, bibliophile collection with various chronicles of rulers, wars and the city, ordinances and theological writings is also unique at the library.

The museum library is used primarily by museum staff to prepare exhibitions and for research. It is also open to the scientifically minded members of the public.

Part of the collection is stored in a stack-room outside the building. Access to this collection requires advance reservations of the desired volumes.

Research

The online catalogue of the museum library can be found at the following link:

electronic catalogue

Library

Use / Hours / Contact

The library is staffed Monday through Friday and can be used free of charge during these hours. The entrance is located on Anhaltstrasse. A total of four workstations are available for library users. External users are kindly requested to register in advance. It is not possible to borrow books from the library. In individual cases, and depending on the state of preservation of the book or journal, the librarian can make copies for a fee.

Contact:

Dipl.-Bibl. Elke Salomon

Phone: +49 391 / 540 35 12

E-mail: elke.salomon@museen.magdeburg.de

Image archive

Collection

The image archive contains close to 150,000 photographs and ranges from analogue image carriers since 1906, such as large-format glass plates, slides, roll films and 35mm material, to digital images from the present.

The main focus of the collection is on object photos and documentary photographs relating to the history of the collections and exhibitions of the Kaiser Friedrich Museum, the Museum of Cultural History and the Museum of Natural History. The holdings include the collection areas of art, archaeology, numismatics, urban history, graphics, arts and crafts, militaria and school history, as well as botany, palaeontology, entomology, mineralogy and zoology.

A special feature of the image archive are the glass plates (negatives and positives) with pre-war photographs, which depict the collection up to 1945 and document the museum’s wartime losses: see Database of Lost Art.

The image archive is responsible for making the historical holdings digitally accessible and undertakes image research and the creation of new photographic object documentation, as well as the management of digital image data.

Image archive

Research

The image archive holdings can be viewed only on site and by prior arrangement and cannot currently be searched online. If you require image material or a reproduction permit, please contact the archive staff member and use the forms for ordering images and/or reproduction permits.

Non-analogue image material can be digitised by our in-house photographer for a fee [see: Fee schedule and terms of use].

The terms and conditions for the use of the images can be found here [Fee schedule and terms of use].

Image archive