Holdings
Administrative Records
The Archive’s collection of administrative records contains information on all decrees issued by the mdw’s (Academy’s/Hochschule’s/University’s) head administrators; this makes it possible to reconstruct all decisions pertaining to organisational, personnel, and legal matters.
Following an introductory conversation with the Archive’s employees, one can access the files relevant to one’s purpose or queries by way of indices and databases in which personal names, keywords, and dates can be searched for in order to ascertain points from which to begin one’s research.
Personnel Records
The Archive is currently home to ca. 2,800 personnel records.
Archive users can view personnel records classified as accessible to the public for use in accordance with the Federal Act on the Safe Keeping, Storage, and Use of Archival Holdings of the Federal Government (Federal Archives Act / Bundesarchivgesetz) and/or in accordance with the mdw Archive’s Terms of Use. Personnel records contain data relating to individuals’ employment; they typically encompass teaching contracts, employment contracts, and appointment decrees, and they frequently also contain CVs and correspondence between the concerned individual and top-level administrators of the Academy/Hochschule/University. In some cases, one will also find concert programmes, press clippings, and/or other information. All faculty and administrative personnel records are listed in a database.
Student Registration Records
The Archive keeps student registration records from between the academic years of 1911/12 and 1983/84.
Up to the 1926/27 academic year, the individual student records were bound into books, largely according to year of enrolment; some of these records are not ordered alphabetically.
Research is therefore best begun by way of a database containing all students enrolled between 1911 and 1926 (over 7,000 individuals).
Above all concerning the years for which no annual reports were published (1919/20 to 1932/33), it is essential to use the books of matriculation numbers and/or the student database.
Alongside these materials, which are above all relevant to historical research topics, the Archive also holds all written materials concerning the Department of Studies and Examinations (today’s Studies Centre)—e.g., protocols from entrance and teaching certificate examinations, written examination submissions, etc.
Special Collections and Estates/Legacies
These include other written matter generated at the mdw as well as documents closely tied to the mdw’s history as an institution and materials that can provide insight into additional aspects of the University’s history. Alongside concert programmes, posters, and diplomas, these also include materials from the estates of former members of the mdw community. Most worthy of mention here is the estate of Emil (von) Sauer.
Holdings also include (partial) estates of Isolde Ahlgrimm, Rosalia Chladek, Josef Dichler, Rudolf Haase, Walter Kerschbaumer, Hans Sündermann, Margarethe Feiling-Tschurtschenthaler, Luise Walker-Hejsek, and Karl (von) Wiener.
Audiovisual Sources on the University’s History
The oral history interviews with (former) students, faculty, and administrative employees regarding the mdw’s history conducted as part of various projects form the core of the mdw Archive’s audiovisual holdings.
Library
Alongside the historical annual reports and study guides, the Archive’s library also contains and collects publications on the mdw’s history, reference works, and—whenever possible—publications authored by individuals attached to the institution.
To a limited extent, it is also possible to access written final submissions by students of the University for scholarly purposes insofar as the authors’ written consent to such access is on file.