The special collection comprising the so-called historical architects’ collections (late 19th/early 20th century) can serve as a suitable use case for setting up a catalogue environment, owing to its diverse composition, but also thanks to its manageable size (approx. 3,000 individual sheets, approx. 130 sketchbooks, documents, etc.). It will be designed for the digital cataloguing of a mix of collection types and can subsequently be reused for larger holdings.

By cataloguing the objects using Linked Open Data, it is possible to improve the findability and interlinking of information beyond the boundaries of one’s own institution, thereby virtually bringing together what was historically separated. One focus of the project is on the simplified integration of existing authority data and classifications; a second is on the generation of the building authority data itself, in particular the integration of an generation workflow into regular cataloguing work. In both cases, the aim is to make the data available for re-use from other cataloguing environments; open development standards are therefore intended to ensure compatibility and interoperability.

In setting up the cataloguing environment, developments from the DFG-funded projects GESAH and GESAH+ will be reused and adapted to suit the new material (Vitro software, GESAH Graphic Arts Ontology).

In collaboration with the Architecture Museum of the Technical University of Berlin (AMTUB), selected collections – in particular those of Carl Schäfer and Paul Kanold, but also the Messwarb collection – will be contextualised with a particular focus on their cross-collection interconnections. Whilst Schäfer features as a central figure in both institutions (TIB and AMTUB) with complementary materials, the Messwarb estate, owing to its legacy spanning four generations, offers a unique case study of the genealogical and regional relationships between architectural education, practice and documentation.

The overarching objective of the project is to improve the interlinking and findability of scattered collections and partial sets of architects by creating a suitable indexing tool with a workflow for generating authority data for buildings, which will be produced as Linked Open Data and made available to the public. The sub-objectives are as follows:

1. Digitisation of historical architects’ collection in accordance with the DFG’s practical guidelines and inclusion in the TIB’s digital long-term archive

2.a Specialist cataloguing of the historical architects’ collection as Linked Open Data (LOD) by generating authority data

2.b Historical contextualisation of the estates and exemplary preparation for research

3. Development of an LOAC cataloguing environment for architects’ collection, making use of the GESAH-Vitro system, and for the reuse of larger collections through the integration of lookups and the establishment of a workflow for generating building authority data
 

The TIB’s predecessor institution, the library of the former Technical University, acquired, in addition to the extensive collection of the architect, university lecturer and architectural historian Albrecht Haupt (1862–1932), a number of smaller collections of drawings dating from the pre-war or interwar years, the artists of which largely belonged to the circle of colleagues and students of Conrad Wilhelm Hase (1818–1902) or taught as colleagues of Albrecht Haupt at the Technical University. Other subsets appear, at first glance, to have no connection to the university or to Hanover – their provenance remains largely unexplored. The so-called historical architects’ collections – as distinct from the more recent or contemporary holdings – comprises approximately 3,000 items. It consists mainly of drawings, designs, plans, tracings and a few prints. In addition, there are publication projects, some of which are loose, some bound, some handwritten and some typescript, as well as approximately 130 sketchbooks and booklets containing lecture notes, which document the academic activities or studies of the architects at various technical universities.

List of architect's collections:

Otto Clingestein (1873–?)

Christian Eichwede (1853–1936)

Eduard Karl Ferdinand Eichwede (1878–1909)

Gustav Friedrich Halmhuber (1862–1936)

Paul Georg Kanold (1874–1946), Franz Lüderitz (1890–?)

Christian Messwarb (1770–1851)

Ernst Messwarb (1808–1873)

Christian Messwarb (?-?)

Wilhelm Messwarb (1839–1920)

Ernst Messwarb (1873–1960)

Wilhelm Alfred Sasse (1870–1937)

Carl Wilhelm Ernst Schäfer (1844–1908)

August Tiede (1834–1911)

Carl Maria August Werner Weber (1870–1915)

Rudolf Weber (?-?)

The TIB’s historical architects' collections do not comprise complete holdings of the respective architects. As is so often the case, the materials were scattered and have found their way into various collections and archives through different channels. The heterogeneity of the holdings makes it difficult to catalogue them and, consequently, to identify related collections, particularly in the case of lesser-known figures. Linking the collections together may offer a solution. To establish meaningful links with, or as, Linked Open Data, standardised data must be used and, where not available, created; for it is only through such ‘nodes’ – that is, only through a common terminology and, above all, through standardised data on individuals and works that are available to all – that lasting connections can be established.

The LOAC project aims to address two issues that have so far hindered the application of LOD in the context of collection cataloguing:

A) the simplified incorporation of existing authority data and classifications into one’s own cataloguing environment, whereby the aim of seamlessly integrating lookup functions requires individual solutions depending on the resource,

B) the integration of a workflow for generating authority data for buildings into regular cataloguing work.

Translated with TIB DeepL