Collections
Here you will find information regarding the following collections of the UB Magdeburg:
- Walter Killy Collection
- Ute and Wolfram Neumann Foundation
- Collection Hans Freudenthal
- Virtual Collection "Historic Fiction and Movies"
In 1996, the University Library acquired the private library of the German literature scientist Walther Killy (1927-1995). This special collection contains 6,414 titles published from 1557 to 1995. Part of the Killy library is one of the most valuable Paul Celan collections in Europe with many dedicated copies.
This important private library contains extensive baroque literature, some of which can only be found in this collection, and works from dissolved working libraries of other scientists, such as Jakob Burckhardt. Through the countless notes, accentuations was well as inserted newspaper clippings, letters and other documents, Walther Killy's private library is also an archive of the history of science.
Walther Killy was Professor of German Studies in Berlin, Göttingen, and Bern as well as a visiting professor in California and at Harvard University. He was editor of many compendia and anthologies, e.g. the Bertelsmann Literary Encyclopedia, known as "Der Killy". For many years, he was director of the research program at the Herzog-August Library in Wolfenbüttel.
All titles of the Walther Killy Collection can be searched in the electronic catalogue of the University Library with the query "exk killy-nachlass".
Browse through the media in our libary catalogue
Literature:
Wolfgang Adam: Bibliothek als Organismus. Die Killy-Bibliothek und die Ute und Wolframm Neumann-Stiftung in der Universitätsbibliothek Magdeburg, in: Magdeburger Wissenschaftsjournal 9 (2004), No. 2, pp. 55-65. here
The Ute and Wolfram Neumann Foundation: Foundation for the preservation and care of the book culture of 20th century bibliophilic book series
At the opening of the new library building in 2003, Ute and Wolfram Neumann handed over the book series they had collected over many years - now more than 500 series with approximately 27,000 volumes - in the form of a foundation to the University Library. Thus, these books and book series are accessible to the public and available for scientific work. The holdings of the Neumann Collection are located on the first level. Please contact the information desk on the first level for access.
The books of the Neumann Foundation reflect the cultural life of Germany in the 20th century: from the German Empire to the Weimar Republic, the Hitler dictatorship, the establishment of the two German states - and finally their reunification.
The highlight of the collection is the almost complete Insel-Bücherei. This series offers - following a suggestion by Stefan Zweig - world literature in inexpensive and beautifully made editions. The special attraction of the Insel volumes, both for the reader and the collector, lies in the meticulous decoration with decorative elements, coloured cover papers and illustrations. The famous Insel volume 313 by Wolfgang Kayser (Poems of the German Baroque) is also available in the Neumann Foundation. With the destruction of the publishing house in 1943, the edition of this volume was almost completely destroyed. Only a few copies were sent to the publisher before the bombing. The rare individual items that still survive worldwide achieve prices in the upper five-digit range on the antiquarian book market. The copy in the Magdeburg University Library is, therefore, kept in a safe deposit box.
The Pandora series founded in the 1920s, an exquisite collection of texts of world literature in the original languages, can be found in the Neumann Foundation, as can many other series, such as the Piper series, the Weberschiffchen, Seemann's Library of Art History, etc. One of the most valuable and impressive collections of the foundation is the library published by Schocken. The volumes of the Neumann Foundation offer invaluable source material for the study of Jewish culture and German history and, as a whole, should be seen as a major field of research for literary sociological studies.
Prof. Dr. Wolfram Neumann, the emeritus director of the Orthopaedic University Clinic, and his wife Dr. Ute Neumann have provided financial means for the scientific preparation of this collection and will continue to contribute the annual new publications of the still ongoing book series to the foundation in the future.
On January 13th, 2022, Dr. Reiner Haselhoff awarded the medal of merit of Saxony-Anhalt's Prime Minister to Prof. Dr. Wolfram Neumann for his special achievements in preserving book culture. On the occasion of the presentation of the Medal of Merit in the University Library, the Prime Minister was informed in detail about the foundation's holdings.
Browse through the media in our libary catalogue
Hans Freudenthal was the founder of realistic mathematical education, which tries to teach mathematics not as a set of rules, but as an activity.
He was born in Luckenwalde on September 17th, 1905. In 1923 he began to study mathematics and the subsidiary subjects of physics and philosophy at the University of Berlin. In 1930 Freudenthal received his doctorate as Dr. phil. and then went to Amsterdam. During the time of the German occupation in Holland, the German Jew Hans Freudenthal was persecuted with a ban on his profession and isolation, up to his committal to the Havelte labor camp, from which he was able to escape in 1944 with the help of friends and the support of his Dutch wife Susanne. After 1945 Freudenthal devoted himself to his scientific studies at the universities of Amsterdam and Utrecht. Hans Freudenthal died on October 13th, 1990.
Scientific work:
- 1930 Doctorate (Dr. phil.), topic:: „Über die Enden topologischer Räume und Gruppen“ (engl. on the ends of topological spaces and groups)
- 1931 Habilitation with the thesis: „Qualität und Quantität in der Mathematik“ (engl. quality and quantity in Mathematics)
- 1945 After 1945, continuation of his mathematical work, occupation with special topics such as probability theory, octave geometry; topics from the mathematical history of algebraic topology, Lie groups and their geometries.
- 1962 Freudenthal published his first critical analysis of current reform efforts in mathematics teaching. A wealth of essays on mathematics didactic questions emerged.
- 1971 the "Institut voor de Ontwikkeling van het Wiskunde Onderwijs" was founded on Freudenthal's initiative. It is an institute that is intended as an advisory function for reforms in the teaching of mathematics and was renamed the "Freudenthal Institute" on September 14th, 1991.
By his testamentary disposition, the Faculty of Mathematics of the Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg received, as a gift, an extensive collection of literature from various areas of mathematics, didactics of mathematics, natural and technical sciences, which Freudenthal had collected over the past decades. The collection comprises a total of 739 individual volumes (textbooks, preprints, dissertations, encyclopedias, university publications from Europe and America, valuable biographies, collections of works by important mathematicians, conference proceedings, etc.). It is supplemented by 37 journal titles with a total of 1,596 individual issues, including numerous complete editions dating back to 1990.
Browse through the media in our library catalogue
Virtual Collection "Historic Fiction and Movies"
A study of history consists of more than the occupation with sober technical literature. Whether Hans Fallada or Ken Follett, Sönke Wortmann or Roberto Benigni - historical novels and movies are, in addition to scientific publications, a helpful and important complement to the study of history.
For this reason, employees and students of the Institute of History have compiled the virtual collection "Historical Fiction and Movies". In this collection you will find more than 150 books and movies mainly on topics of modern and contemporary history.
The media are located in the respective sections and can be borrowed for the most part at the usual conditions.
Browse through the media in our library catalogue