Oath of the Licentiate of Rights
Files are texts. Their content is often legal, such as this oath that had to be taken by those who wanted to be awarded a doctorate (a kind of doctorate). These (empty) forms were needed for this. Pieces of records are "flat". They are important sources of historical research, but rarely objects of wonder. Some paper figures folded from the same forms illustrate the difference.
Secretariat of the University of Göttingen / 18th century
Revised directory of academic staff
Files preserve dynamics. People have used them to carry out tasks of the university. As the sum of the files, the archive is a collective memory. Here, a galley proof of the printed staff directory for the winter semester 1889/90 was used to plan the changes for the following summer semester in handwriting. In the performative act of writing, the future is shaped.
Secretariat of the University of Göttingen / 1889
List of students' names and matriculation cards
The archive does not collect, but to this day regularly takes over the files of the university administration for permanent storage. It documents what was administered: Buildings, instruments or people. All students were recorded in such card indexes and lists. Stamps documented the course of studies.
Secretariat of the University of Göttingen / 1918, 1934
Authority file in the archive box
The university archive preserves the university's historical files such as documents, official correspondence and registers. Files collect a wide variety of documents that were sewn into indestructible cardboard envelopes with needle and thread before the invention of the loose-leaf binder. In the archives, cardboard boxes protect the files from dust and damage.
Secretariat of the University of Göttingen / 1932
University Archives
The university archive has the function of a state archive for the university. It has the task of taking over the archives from the written records of all the university's institutions, making them accessible and usable. This includes all administrative documents that are of lasting value for the fulfilment of public tasks and historical research. The holdings of the Göttingen University Archives are particularly valuable because they provide a complete record of the central university authorities since the university was founded in 1737 and have not been decimated by war losses or destruction.
