Research of ULB
Provenance research takes a material look at the holdings of historic collections and sheds new light on them. The book as an object comes to the fore, and is researched on the basis of provenance features.
- What history, or object biography, can be reconstructed since it was published?
- Which owners of the book and changes in ownership can be identified?
These questions are pursued in historical research. Along with the books, databases, literature and archive sources are also evaluated in order to learn about the previous owners.
This makes the historical development of the library's holdings visible. Today's University and State Library has grown over centuries through the acquisition of dissolved libraries, antiquarian purchases and from many private donations.
Entire libraries were taken over by private individuals or institutions. They can be reconstructed by provenance research and displayed in the ULB catalogue. The research project on Nazi loot deals with a chapter in the library's history in which books were stolen from their former owners as victims of National Socialism and unlawfully acquired by the library.
Nazi loot
Nazi loot refers to books that were confiscated during National Socialism from individuals who were persecuted for racist, political or religious reasons. In the ULB's research project on Nazi loot, project staff search a book for provenance features that refer to the previous owners.