Dept. VI: Images, Rep. 1 Photographs and Rep. 2 Paintings, Graphics
Apart from a few paintings and the collection of graphics comprising some 85 pieces, the Department VI, Image Collection, contains approx. 110,000 systematically filed individual photos. The smaller part of these photographs is stored in approx. 500 albums.
The photographs are related to the Kaiser Wilhelm / Max Planck Societies in the period from approx. 1900 until today. The basis of this artificial collection is formed by the photo holding of the former documentation service of the Max Planck Society in Göttigen, with photos from 1949 until the early seventies, to which extensive supplements have been added in the form of photos from the personal papers of the Scientific Members or from Institute dissolutions. There are continual additions up to the present day.
As far as the collections’s content is concerned, the focuses are as follows:
Photographs of the Society’s scientists such as portraits, family photos, photos together with other persons/scientists, but also, for example, photos of equipment or of certificates, photos of houses where these mostly famous scientists were born or where they lived.
Photographs of the Society’s Institutes and facilities: indoor and outdoor photographs of almost all Kaiser Wilhelm and Max Planck Institutes, partly with photos of the laboratories and the employees.
Photographs of events in connection with the Society: e.g. the Foundation Meeting of the Max Planck Society on 26 February 1948, but also Institute inaugurations, congresses, General Meetings as well as other events of the Society.
Department VII: Film and Sound, Rep. 1 Film and Rep. 2 Sound
The Archives are in the possession of approx. 500 film and approx. 400 sound records related to the Kaiser Wilhelm / Max Planck Societies. The major part of these records comes from the former documentation service of the Max Planck Society in Göttingen. In the period from approx. 1950 until approx. the late 1960s, mainly the General Meetings of the Max Planck Society were recorded. These records form the foundation of the collection which, however, also contains internviews with or lectures by the Society’s scientists.
fig.: Photo stack; Film rolls; Audio recording at the Harnack House, Berlin-Dahlem, 1931.